This talk argues that it has become increasingly clear that the media sector and society is in need of alternative platforms for creating and sharing media content that do not rely on central authorities. The MediaVerse project was conceived within a fast-evolving media industry characterized by incumbent platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) with content creation and sharing as the basis of their business model. These have grown to act as central authorities, imposing their own terms on what type of user-generated content is desirable, visible or even allowed to be shared and monetized. MediaVerse has the mission to create a decentralized network of intelligent and accessible tools for digital asset management, allowing barrier-free and fair usage and integration of media in different platforms. MediaVerse aims to achieve progress beyond the state-of-the-art in several areas, including web-based XR experience authoring and consumption, novel AI-based media annotation and content moderation methods that can be configured to the needs of different communities. This network will enable the monetization of media content directly by its owners and the development and deployment of novel services by third parties.
