What’s New at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media?

Based on this roster of speakers, the MIT Center for Future Civic Media exists in a constant state of productive ferment, if not adrenaline rush. In a series of brief, timed talks, 13 (!) researchers describe projects to help communities leverage self-knowledge into useful change or even transformation. Ryan O’Toole is coming up with methods for people to share financial data “in a way that’s respectful of their consumer rights, and also privacy.” His project, Red Ink, allows individuals to aggregate personal data from a variety of financial institutions, and then to share that data to enable collective action. Nadav Aharony’s work on Sensible Communities involves developing a cross platform toolbox for “close proximity communications,” so people who reside in physically close spaces can pass data to each other “with no need for deep networking knowledge,” and using any type of device. This will allow peers to connect off the grid — particularly useful for activists worried about surveillance. With Sourcemap, Matthew Hockenberry is trying to reveal global supply chains for the most ubiquitous products in daily life, such as beds and laptops. Online collaborators contribute to the data bank, mapping parts and services that go into a commodity throughout its lifecycle, enabling an accounting of both carbon emissions and money. Moderator Chris Csikszentmihalyi presents the Landman Report Card, a tool for helping communities contend with oil and gas companies eager to lease private land for energy drilling. In these deals, a salesman comes by with a pitch and a contract, leaving some property owners to deal with disastrous environmental and health consequences of energy exploration. LandMan is a community- based review site, intended to hold accountable both the salesmen and the companies for whom they work. Christina Xu has been working on the News Positioning System, helping people organize their online news collections by subject and geography, a...

Channel: MIT World Video Length: 0s Date Found: Tue, Mar 23 2010 4:24 AM Category: Science Date Produced: Tue, Dec 01 2009 12:00 AM View Count: 0