Category Archives: Media Lab

What comes after election monitoring? Citizen monitoring of infrastructure.

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Ethan

I spent last week in Senegal at a board meeting for Open Society Foundation, meeting organizations the foundation supports around the continent. Two projects in particular stuck in my mind. One is Y’en a Marre (“Fed Up”), a Senegalese activist … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, ICT4D, ideas, Media Lab | 7 Comments

Jose Gomez-Marquez, bringing maker culture to medicine

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Ethan

Jose Gomez-Marquez teaches at MIT’s D-Lab, a remarkable lab focused on the problems of the developing world. He’s a recognized and awarded innovator in the field of health innovation and won Technology Review’s Humanitarian award. Gomez-Marquez’s talk focuses on democratizing … Continue reading →

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Steven Johnson’s Peer to Peer Politics at MIT Media Lab

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Ethan

(Nathan Matias, Matt Stempeck and others at Center for Civic Media have put together an excellent blog post on this event as well – I encourage you to read their post as well.) Election’s eve at the MIT Media Lab … Continue reading →

Posted in CFCM, Media Lab | 5 Comments

How do we make civic crowdfunding awesome?

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Ethan

Ten people each contribute $100 a month into a pool. They meet once a month and discuss possible projects to support. Each month, they give a grant of $1000 to a project that meets a simple criterion: it’s awesome. That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in CFCM, ideas, Media Lab | 30 Comments

Kenya, power and questioning my assumptions

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Ethan

I’m discovering that one of my special joys in life is having my presumptions proved wrong. I’ve just returned from a ten day trip to Kenya, helping host the fifth Global Voices summit, attending board meetings for two companies, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, ideas, Media Lab | 7 Comments

Opening notes from Media Lab spring meeting

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Ethan

Radio host John Hockenberry introduces the first day of the Media Lab’s spring sponsor meeting. He suggests that the lab is an “infectious idea”, a way of working and thinking that spreads well beyond the walls of the building. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Lab | 1 Comment

Tim O’Reilly at MIT Media Lab

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Ethan

Legendary technology publisher Tim O’Reilly is the speaker at today’s Media Lab Conversations with Joi Ito. O’Reilly Media is one of the best respected technology publishers in the industry, producing many of the books working programmers rely on to build … Continue reading →

Posted in ideas, Media, Media Lab | 5 Comments

Wadah Khanfar, former director general of Al Jazeera, to speak at MIT Media Lab

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Ethan

A little more than a year ago, the world changed in a sudden and dramatic way. The long-time leader of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was ousted after a month of largely peaceful street protests demanding an end to … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Media, Media Lab | 1 Comment

News in the Age of Participatory Media

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Ethan

I’m teaching my first class at MIT this spring, a “special topics” class at the Media Lab. (This is evidently how new classes get launched at MIT -they’re “special” the first year before they become official. All that means, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Media Lab | 2 Comments

MIT Media Lab opposes SOPA, PIPA

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Ethan

I’ve been working with friend (and boss) Joi Ito to help the Media Lab put up a statement about our collective opposition to SOPA and PIPA. Joi and I are both posting this piece on our personal blogs, and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Media Lab | 29 Comments