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Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Personal Data Stores (PDSs) have been proposed as a privacy-preserving approach to data sharing that increases individual control over personal data while enabling new forms of cross-organizational collaboration. This collaboration leads to the emergence of Personal Data Ecosystems (PDEs). Despite growing interest in PDEs, limited research has examined how the organizational and economic barriers identified in prior studies manifest in practice. This paper investigates these challenges through a case study of the Flemish media sector within the Solid4Media project, which explores the use of PDSs to support data sharing and personalization across media organizations. Using a qualitative research design, data were collected through interviews and multi-stakeholder workshops, involving public and commercial media- and culture organizations, technology providers, intermediaries, and policy actors between 2024 and 2026. The findings confirm three key challenges for PDEs. First, provider incentives limit achievable sovereignty. Media and cultural organizations are willing to share metadata and aggregated audience insights but remain reluctant to share content catalogues and detailed behavioral data. Second, the intermediary layer is primarily driven by organizational value creation rather than user empowerment. Participants emphasized the need for an integrated profile platform that supports audience growth, cross-platform recommendations, and competitive positioning against global technology platforms, while depending on participation from influential actors such as major media organizations. Third, governance emerged as a critical challenge to prevent lock-in. Participants supported decentralized control in principle but remained divided between cooperative and independent governance models, each raising concerns about trust, influence, and the risk of recreating ecosystem lock-in. The study thus demonstrates how PDE tensions surrounding sovereignty, intermediary design, and governance materialize in a real-world media context.

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