Center for Civic Media

Channel | updated March 26, 2013

The Center for Civic Media supports research at MIT to innovate civic media tools and practices and test them in communities. Bridging two established programs at MIT—one known for inventing alternate technical futures, the other for identifying the cultural and social potential of media change—the Center for Future Civic Media is a joint effort between the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. It is made possible by a four-year grant from the Knight Foundation.

Civic Media Session: "Representing Islam"

Intisar Rabb, Amir Ahmad Nasr, and Nasser Weddady Moderated by Ethan Zuckerman Media dialogues in America have often centered on the role of Islam in US and global society. The representation of Islam in debates over the Park 51 Mosque in lower Manhattan, for example, ...

Crowdsourcing Crisis: How Civic Media Informs Breaking News

The first half of 2011 has seen dramatic events -- some tragic, others encouraging -- take place across the globe. From revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia to an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan, breaking news has been reported by individual citizens as ...

Summary and Collaboration Contest results

Knight Foundation's Michael Maness emcees an audience discussion about the 2011 MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference, and we announce the winners of the conference's collaboration contest, where attendees can work together to win small pots of funding for civic media ...

Mobile Storytelling in Real Time

Andy Carvin, National Public Radio Liz Henry, BlogHer Dan Sinker, Columbia College Chicago, @mayoremanuel

Plenary: "Civic Media Mobilization"

Successful civic media tools - especially ones designed by this conference's attendees - reengineer how mass-mobilization happens. But does that mean we should turn the page on old lessons? Originally envisioned as a way to connect the like-minded across borders, civic media is proving just ...

The Future of Civic Media

A plenary from the 2011 MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference, featuring: Sasha Costanza-Chock, MIT Comparative Media Studies Chris Csikszentmihályi, MIT Center for Civic Media Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center/MIT Center for Civic Media

Lightning Talks by News Challenge winners

Announcement of 2011 Knight News Challenge winners

Civic Media Session: "Civic Disobedience"

2011 has seen a wave of popular protests threaten authoritarian regimes around the world. Protests in Tunisia removed a much-loathed dictatorship, and the occupation of Tahrir Square in Cairo promises to reshape the government of Egypt. Even in countries where ...

Civic Media Session: "Design for Vulnerable Populations"

Designers often want to help people that they perceive as being in need -- whether those affected by natural or human-caused disasters, the economically or physically disadvantaged, or those who are on the losing end of a cultural power dynamic. However, naive ...

Steve Kurtz: Cultural Resistance

A Civic Media Session about models and techniques for public interventions and soft subversions aimed at undermining authoritarian tendencies in a time of neo-liberal domination. Known for his work in Electronic Civil Disobedience and BioArt, Steve Kurtz is a founding member of the Critical ...

Tool for Consensus Building

Charlie DeTar walks us through prototype software to aid medium-to-large groups in consensus-based decision making.

Sourcemap

Leo Bonnani updates the civic media community on Sourcemap, a Center-sponsored project to help citizens map where things come from...from laptop parts and IKEA beds, to campaign contributions.

Lost in Boston: Realtime

Rick Borovoy explains the benefits of displaying relevant community information -- such as realtime bus location data -- using inexpensive displays in public-private spaces like coffeeshops.

Junkyard Jumotron

Rick Borovoy demos the Junkyard Jumbotron, an easy method for linking together multiple cheap displays to create a single large image.

Hero Reports / Cronicas de Heroes

Lorrie LeJeune describes Hero Reports/Cronicas de Heroes, a project currently deployed in Juarez, Mexico, to help residents report and map incidents of heroism, large and small.

Grassroots Mapping

Jeffrey Warren presents his work in grassroots mapping -- helping citizens make their own free, open, high-resolution maps with common resources like kites, balloons, and inexpensive cameras.

Between the Bars

Charlie DeTar presents his blogging platform for prisoners.

Cities, Code, and Civics: "Customizing tools from city to ...

Cities, Code, and Civics: "Customizing tools from city to city?"

Nick Grossman of OpenPlans, Nigel Jacob of the City of Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, and Max Ogden of Code for America respond to questions about how civic tools do (or need to) vary from city to city.

Cities, Code, and Civics: "Enhanced serendipity"

Max Ogden of Code for America discusses taking "treasure troves" of government datasets to bring citizens and friends together.

Center for Civic Media

Channel | updated March 26, 2013

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