To promote more civic dialogue and exchanges of diverse ideas in our digital world, Germany’s two public broadcasters – ZDF and ARD – are working in partnership with public media organizations in Europe, Canada and Australia to move their Public Spaces Incubator project to the next phase.

Started in 2023, the initiative focuses on developing digital tools to help public service media (PSM) prioritize the public interest, create healthy online communities and host enhanced public discourse on their platforms.

By offering alternatives to commercial, algorithm-driven social media platforms, the goal is to support the work of broadcasters and other organizations in creating digital environments that are transparent, user-friendly and aligned with public values rather than profit motives.

Last year, ZDF kicked off the project with CBC/Radio-Canada, RTBF (Belgium), SRG SSR (Switzerland) and the non-profit organization New_ Public. More recently, ARD and Australia’s ABC added momentum by becoming members.

“As public service media, we want to support civic discourse that is easily accessible and creates space for respectful and constructive dialogue online,” said ZDF Director General Norbert Himmler. “The Public Spaces Incubator is one big way that we’re contributing to a well-informed and democratic way of using the Internet in our society.”

The project encourages open collaboration, allowing broadcasters to manage their own spaces while fostering connections and shared dialogue between platforms.

So far, the Public Spaces Incubator has produced more than 100 functional prototypes – with nine chosen to be developed into minimum viable products.

The project is now in stage 2, aiming to turn the minimum viable products into a completed solution that could be more easily adopted by other media organizations.

The project owner at ZDF – Robert Amlung at amlung.r@zdf.de – is happy to share more information.

With innovation in mind, ZDF and ARD move to share digital assets

At the same time, ZDF and ARD are promoting communication, collaboration and innovation in the public media space by agreeing to provide open-source access to their streaming platform technologies.

Called Streaming OS, the joint project is set to encompass various components – including the media player, recommendation engine, login components and other supporting systems.

By opening their systems to the broader community, the broadcasters hope to benefit from the contributions of developers and tech enthusiasts in fostering creativity and innovation on their platforms.

Importantly, the approach has the potential to engage the community in shaping the future of digital media consumption.

“If other institutions – and this could also be media companies that compete with us – use the software, then one could see this as the nucleus for a larger future German-language platform," said SWR Director General and current ARD Chair Kai Gniffke.

Beyond the collaborative benefits of open-source practices, ZDF and ARD are particularly optimistic about enhancing the long-term quality of their products.

For Himmler from ZDF, the move means “contributing something back to society, for which it has paid us” and also helping to deliver "innovation through exchange and transparency”.