Back in November, Associate Professor of Civic Media and Center principal investigator Sasha Costanza-Chock spoke with NPR's Brook Gladstone about what comes next for the Occupy movement (image and link courtesy of shass.mit.edu and NPR's On the Media:

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Who should decide what products, services, and structures shape our lives? In political debates, our answers play out between markets on one hand and the state on the other. On issues including power generation, healthcare, or transportation, we tend to argue about accountable corporations versus the accountable state. But accountability is only a retrospective tool of democracy. It says nothing about a question of fundamental importance to any group: who should design the things which shape our lives? Is it even possible for values of democratic participation to apply to the way we design our streets, devices, and media? Or is it best to provide feedback through our votes, purchases, and tech support phone calls?

Events This Week

• "Mapping Media Ecosytems". Civic Media Session, Wednesday 5pm w/ Hal Roberts, Erhardt Graeff, Gilad Lotan cot.ag/uad5Sz
• Mitch Resnick joins us Thursday for free lunch (RSVP). "Launching Projects into the World": cot.ag/uwCU4G
• Join Nathan Matias, Matt Stempek, and Daniel Schultz at the Civic Media London Social Thu 3 Nov @ 6:00pm bit.ly/uUzVK6

Civic Videos and Podcasts

• Video: Civic Media Session: "Civic Maps" cot.ag/vwolZi
• Video: Ethan Zuckerman on "Networks Understanding Networks" cot.ag/tCdCFc
• Video: Benjamen Walker talks "Too Much Information" at our Civic Media Lunch: bit.ly/vKJvyv (Great example of "civic fiction" as a genre…)
• Podcast: "Surveillance and Citizenship" cot.ag/saThfE
• Molly Sauter interviewed by BBC4 about Anonymous and hacktivism cot.ag/vwfnHR (~13:50)

Benjamen Walker is the host of the program "Too Much Information" a radio show (and podcast) about life in the information age. He reports on many of the issues and topics of the day (Wikileaks, Anonymous, online porn, surveillance, net neutrality) but he also throws in conspiracy theories, fiction and interviews with ordinary people trying to make sense of their digital selves.

Download or watch below.

Early on the morning of October 11, the Boston PD arrested over 100 people who were part of the #OccupyBoston camp. Oliver Day has posted a recording of police scanner activity from that night to SoundCloud, where it's been getting some great annotating attention. Being able to establish a timeline of events for that night is extremely helpful from academic, legal and logistical perspectives. If you've got any info on the events of Tuesday night, please contribute to the annotation. Everyone else, check it out!

If you know of any other police scanner recordings, either referencing the Boston camp or other #Occupy camps, please leave links in the comments!

Upcoming Events

• RSVP for our Civic Media Lunch with Zeega http://cot.ag/nMzel8
• 10/4: *Tuesday* Lunch: "Empowering Culture and Context": http://civic.mit.edu/event/tuesday-lunch-empowering-culture-and-context
• 10/6 Thursday Lunch: "Collectivities and Disappearance": http://civic.mit.edu/event/thursday-lunch-collectivities-and-disappearance
• 10/20 Civic Media Session: "Civic Maps": http://civic.mit.edu/event/civic-media-session-civic-maps

From civic.mit.edu/blog
(You can read a ton of insightful posts from Sasha Costanza-Chock's introduction to civic media students)

From the Center

My Dot Tour

• @ReganStP: My Dot Tour kicks off today in Fields Corner - add your voice! timenesia.org @deptofplay @civicMIT @DotNews @DorchesterNews
• Dorchester walking tour strengthening youth leadership skills http://mydottour.org/?page_id=2

AAGO

• AAGO: an iPod app for engaged youth http://cot.ag/pHPRfL

Hero Reports

• Cronicas de Heroes moving toward bi-national rollout, creating hero reports along the U.S.-Mexican border http://cot.ag/plXgzP
• "Heroes in Juarez: Citizens Challenge a City’s Reputation" http://cot.ag/nJXjmA
• @ernestopriego: Sobre Juárez, Hero Reports y @civicMIT: http://wp.me/pXF0u-hD #vocesmx #SinLugar

Digital Signage in Union Square, Somerville

I had the opportunity recently to speak with Jesse Shapins of MetaLAB at Harvard, co-founder of Zeega, a new platform for creating interactive documentaries and inventing new forms of storytelling. As the Zeega team have just been named a Knight News Challenge winner, I thought it would be nice to get a better sense of their innovative platform and what they're planning for the fall.