Year 3 for DTI brings growth
We’re two years into our journey at the Data Transfer Initiative. To me, that’s one of those time periods that feels like forever, but at the same time, hardly any time at all. In the same way, it feels like we’ve had some significant wins already – and yet, we’re only just getting started.
Today, I’m happy to share our 2024 Annual Report, which showcases DTI’s accomplishments during our second year of operation. This year we:
- Partnered with Apple and Google to ship new Data Transfer Project (DTP) tools for photo and music playlist transfers;
- Produced multiple original outputs on data portability and trust, including a threat model, trust report, and granular trust model;
- Launched the first-ever Portability Map;
- Published an original compendium of independent scholarly research, The Present and Future of Data Portability;
- Expanded our impact and built on our prior work in the European Union through key events such as a Data Portability Summit in Washington, DC and two events in London; and
- Took on new challenges related to Fediverse standards and AI.
We’ve built a strong substantive and operational foundation at DTI. And now – we’re ready to grow.
At this point in time, I see three dimensions to our growth. The first is scope. To date, we have worked on building tools, related technical developments, and public policy for data portability. This is a lot to take on already for an organization of our size, but we are strategic and efficient, and in fact we believe there’s even more we can do.
One critical angle that we are excited to build out, in particular, is public engagement. By listening to people’s experiences and feelings about their data and portability options, teaching broader audiences about portability tools, and channeling the signals we receive back to tool developers and regulators, we can refine our technology and policy efforts, and help ensure that users remain at the center of data portability in practice.
The second dimension is staff. In 2024, we didn’t add any new headcount, but now we’re adding two new full-time team members, bringing our total to five, along with a fantastic (though also small!) team of contractors. One of those new roles will lead our public engagement workstream, and for that, I’m delighted to welcome Jen Caltrider as DTI’s Director of Research and Engagement.
The second role will establish a presence for us across the Atlantic, allowing us to contribute even more effectively to critical conversations about portability in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Tom Fish will be joining us in a couple weeks as our Head of Europe, reporting into Delara Derakhshani, our Director of Policy and Partnerships.
Finally, we are growing our network, the group of organizations we work with to deliver results. Last year, we welcomed two new partners, ErnieApp and Amazon, who join our founding members Apple, Google, and Meta as core supporters and collaborators to our work at DTI.
We’re always on the lookout for new partners. But for organizations who want to test the waters of portability rather than dive in headfirst with us, we’ve introduced a new category: Affiliates. Affiliates work with us on specific projects, strategies and processes. Inflection AI has joined as our first affiliate and we’re hopeful to add a few more in the coming weeks.
This blog post has focused on DTI and our growth, but I wanted to give context: The world of data portability is expanding rapidly. There is rising awareness of its importance in several markets, along with opportunities to build effective, user-centered solutions that serve people’s needs. More and more people are running events, undertaking initiatives, and holding conversations on data portability. DTI is growing not only because of our strong foundation, but also because the need for our work is growing too.
I couldn’t be more excited for the year ahead for DTI, and for the data portability ecosystem.
Come – join us!