Download!

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

The MIT Center for Civic Media designs tailored civic media tools and jointly develops them with communities like yours. We want to showcase the possibilities for community-wide empowerment, so we are looking to partner with activists and non-profit organizations in the U.S. and around the world.

What you get
As a community partner, you will receive free open-source resources and technical support to address your most pressing civic media issues, whether it’s how to highlight local business, ways to engage kids in local issues, or even something seemingly too daunting for mere technology. You can be an early adopter of tools to support and foster local civic media and community action.

This June's Civic Media Conference was described in glowing terms by so many of you who attended, but no term was as oft-repeated -- and to me, as heartwarming and frustrating -- as the word "reunion".

Why would a reunion be heartwarming and frustrating, assuming you're not meeting your high school sweetheart? Well, we love it that so many past attendees are able to get together again, collaborate again, have a few drinks again. But we hate it that we haven't found a way to keep attendees together, collaborating, and socializing throughout the rest of the year.

That is, in the word "reunion" is an implication that we've been apart.

So I wrote to our 200+ attendees and asked a simple question: how can we better collaborate in person throughout the year? In fact, what already works well in your organization, your community, and your neighborhood?

We got some great responses and want your thoughts in the comment field below:

I would suggest creating a think tank of sorts, a place that people can post their ideas, thoughts, etc, in a casual way so we can share our musings.

New Name, New Funds, New Leader, New Site

• A kick in the future. @c4fcm is now @civicMIT, reflecting our new moniker
• @knightfdn announces new round of funding for us: $3.76m over three years
• Ethan Zuckerman to lead MIT Center for Civic Media http://cot.ag/m8yasp @ethanz #civicmedia
• #Civicmedia rule number 1: It's all about the Zuckermans. http://cot.ag/mQ2lfu
• Quietly, sneaking into your life as you think about the #civicmedia conference and #NewsChallenge, is our new site http://civic.mit.edu

MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference

(For great detail about the "Civic Disobedience" session, check out moderator Ethan Zuckerman's write-up.)

Download!

Watch the full video...

About "Civic Disobedience"

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 attempts to "help" through simplistic techno-centric design can be at best ineffective, and at worst counter-productive.

What can designers do to better connect with the communities and individuals they wish to serve? How can design projects avoid patronizing attitudes and economic colonialization? How can a designer be effective in promoting social change while following their conscience?

This panel brings together designers who have worked in the mental health industry, international development, the prison system, and community environmental action to discuss what has worked and what hasn't, and what approaches designers can take to increase their chances of success.

• Charlie DeTar (Moderator) Co-founder of Between the Bars, a blogging platform for prisoners. Fellow at the Center for Future Civic Media, and PhD student at the MIT Media Lab.
• Patricia Deegan Creator of the CommonGround web application which supports shared decision making in psychopharmacology consultation. Adjunct Professor at the Dartmouth College School of Medicine and at Boston University, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
• Liz Barry Director of Urban Environment at Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science, a collaborative developing inexpensive and community-led means to explore environmental and social issues; Co-founder of TreeKIT, an initiative to collaboratively measure, map, and manage urban forests.
• Nathan Cooke Born and raised in California, USA, Cooke works at MIT’s D-Lab documenting technologies and working with students on design projects. He has previous experience working for Frog Design in San Francisco and at Autodesk as part of their Sustainability division.

Download!

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

Download!

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.

Download!

Cross-posted at PBS Idea Lab.

As we wind the way toward the end of our four year grant, I thought it would be nice to describe some of what we've learned at MIT's Center for Future Civic Media (C4). In the coming weeks, I will call on a few of our researchers to offer similar blog reflections on our unique blend of communities, information, and action.

First, though, I want to describe some of the exciting project highlights from the last few weeks. Because C4 is a multi-disciplinary institution, different projects end up affecting different audiences, so I wanted to put them all in one post.