Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Comparative Media Studies, Center for Civic Media

The MIT Center for Civic Media (the Center) is an applied research lab focused on the development and study of new technologies that support and foster civic media and political action. As a founder of participatory civic media as a field of study and practice, the Center is using this unrestricted support to explore the ways in which people are using new media tools to create, remix and disseminate media in an effort to influence cultural norms and foster social change. Significant projects include community use of sensor networks to monitor government programs, the development of new tools that enable community groups and everyday citizens to use and understand big data sets, and a new media tracking tool for activists to measure the impact and reach of emerging social movements.