https://civic.mit.edu Creating Technology for Social Change Fri, 05 Jun 2020 18:59:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.2 https://civic.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2018/03/cropped-CivicMedia_Symbol_K_RGB-32x32.png https://civic.mit.edu 32 32 https://civic.mit.edu/2020/06/05/a-moment-of-change-challenges-and-opportunities-when-covering-hate-speech-and-mis-disinformation/ Fri, 05 Jun 2020 18:59:28 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2927 By Aashka Dave, Claudia Chen, and Ethan Zuckerman Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, news coverage of hate speech and mis/disinformation has skyrocketed. What was once a sleepy beat led by freelancers and activists has become a central topic of coverage for almost every news organization. As the news cycle is transformed by coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and coverage of the 2020 presidential election ramps up, this beat is again at a critical juncture. […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2020/06/02/from-legislation-to-implementation-exploring-how-to-prototype-privacy-bills-through-human-centered-policymaking-design/ Tue, 02 Jun 2020 15:16:41 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2919 From legislation to implementation: Exploring how to prototype privacy bills through human-centered policymaking + design By Anna Chung, Dennis Jen, Jasmine McNealy, Stephanie Nguyen The rise of data privacy breaches and a look into policies that address these challenges “If a parent comes in and says, ‘Oh, I want to renew my son’s books,’ I can’t go on their son’s account without their son’s card. We never look at anyone’s reading history. We cannot tell […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2020/05/12/the-rise-of-sourdough/ Tue, 12 May 2020 15:38:14 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2890 My first sourdough starter was a dud, and I coveted my coworker’s. I had seen crusty masterpieces from Julia on the #bread channel. This was back in 2016, and after Julia enthusiastically shared her starter with me, I began caring for and baking my own boules. Google News has me figured out and sporadically presents me with breaking sourdough news, including Scientist Says Bread He Baked From 4,500 Year-Old Yeast Is Delicious. I covet. The […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2020/04/03/coverage-of-covid-19-and-political-partisanship-comparing-across-nations/ Fri, 03 Apr 2020 20:42:43 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2771 By Fernando Bermejo, Luigi Reggi, Simona Tiribelli, Ethan Zuckerman In US media, virtually every national or international news story is seen through a partisan lens. It’s reasonable to hypothesize that the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, would follow a similar pattern. In particular, given President Trump’s attempts to minimize the impacts of the disease, we might expect to see less attention from right wing media than from more mainstream sources popular with […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2020/03/31/taking-time-away-from-coronavirus-news-on-social-media-an-update-from-gobo/ Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:57:46 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2763 It’s difficult to browse social media these days without seeing news on coronavirus. In fact, every other post seems to be related to concerns, updates, and memes about coronavirus — and with good reason. These are unprecedented times where a health crisis has taken place on a truly global scale, and most of our daily lives have been impacted in some way. Given the nature of this virus, many of us are spending more and […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2020/02/24/data-design-impact-a-workshop-on-data-sculptures-and-civic-change/ Mon, 24 Feb 2020 18:43:14 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2636 Teaching data storytelling is difficult. The norms, “canonical” readings, and the cutting edge evolve every month! With such an evolving landscape to work within, I relish the opportunities I have to explore something new and different with students in a focused way. This past week I had the great pleasure of doing precisely that at the invitation of the FHNW Institute of Industrial Design as part of their International Design Workshop. The week, which reminded […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2020/01/19/give-your-smart-devices-the-silent-treatment-with-this-hardwear-kit/ Sun, 19 Jan 2020 17:54:00 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2629 “Go Ahead, I’m Listening…” — Siri Ever had a conversation with a friend, only to see a related ad on your social media feed some hours later? You’re not alone. Everyone I’ve spoken to in the past months has a story to share. “I was talking about needing a break from work… next thing I know, I get an ad for plane tickets on Instagram!” “A friend and I were talking about a new acquaintance […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2019/10/02/whose-deaths-matter-new-research-on-black-lives-matter-and-media-attention/ Wed, 02 Oct 2019 17:05:59 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2597 What influences do social movements like Black Lives Matter, MeToo or Occupy have on society as a whole? One hope movement leaders express is that a successful movement can change how we think and talk about key social issues. Champions of Occupy argue that one of the movement’s achievements was getting Americans to talk about economic issues in terms of inequality and the power of the 1%. But it’s difficult to quantify claims like this: […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2019/09/26/liveblog-catherine-dignazio-data-feminism/ Thu, 26 Sep 2019 19:44:06 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2585 This talk was given on September 24, 2019 in the Stata Center at MIT as part of HCI seminar series. Catherine D’Ignazio is a Center for Civic Media alum, and will be coming back to MIT in January 2020 as an assistant professor of Urban Science and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. This talk was a presentation on her forthcoming book Data Feminism, coauthored with Georgia Tech’s Lauren Klein. It will […]]]> https://civic.mit.edu/2019/09/18/what-happens-when-we-dance-our-data/ Wed, 18 Sep 2019 14:31:45 +0000 https://civic.mit.edu/?p=2569 by Victoria Palacin, Laura Perovich, Rosalie Norris, Rahul Bhargava  More and more decisions each day are made using data. Data scientists and policy makers are usually the only ones with the expertise to engage with data. If we want to empower others to find and tell stories with data, we need to create new ways to engage with information. Over the past decade, we have been exploring community engagement in a variety of creative ways, […]]]>