Description: Advertising is the dominant business model online today – and it has allowed a plethora of platforms, services, and publishers to operate without direct payment from end users. However, there is clearly a crisis of trust among these end users, driving skepticism of advertising, annoyance, and a sharp increase in adoption of content blockers. Ad fraud, adtech centralization, and bad practices like cryptojacking and pervasive tracking have made the web a difficult – and even hostile – environment for users and publishers alike. While advertising is not the only contributing factor, it is clear that the status quo is crumbling. This workshop will bring together stakeholders from across the online ecosystem to examine the role that ethics, policy, and technology play in increasing online trust, improving end user experience, and bolstering sustainable economic models for the web.
Expected Outcomes: Participants will have the opportunity to join the rarest group on the Internet: the advertising optimists. We’ll learn how advertising doesn’t have to be just a low-value, creepy intrusion on the web, but a way to sustain news and cultural work the way that print advertising did.
