Organized by: Dr. AJ Escoffery, Margaret Walker Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern University & Visiting Scholar, Institute for Rebooting Social Media, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University
Where:
Cambridge, MA, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society (Harvard Law School campus) &
Boston, MA (Harvard Business School campus)
When: April 25-26, 2025
Sponsored by: Ford Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, Northwestern University
With support from: OTV | Open Television, Reparative Media Projects
The Social Media & Tech Solidarity Workshop asks leaders in academia, organizing, and storytelling (journalism, documentary & entertainment): can social media—or other communication technologies—power cultural solidarity?
Major social media platforms automate the distribution of our knowledge and stories, discriminating between who is heard and valued, and who is not. They spread problematic stories and data, dividing and misrepresenting people and communities, while using our stories and data to develop AI (artificial intelligence), threatening human cultural production. Most at risk on these platforms are historically oppressed communities, particularly those who identify with multiple communities facing harm because of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, nationality, citizenship status, disability, and class. Corporate platforms challenge community-based ways of knowing and making, which can impede healing and solidarity or cause immeasurable harm.
This invite-only conference brings together individuals leading labs, organizations, networks, collectives, and funding/resourcing institutions to discuss the challenges of cultivating a solidarity-based social media system and brainstorm opportunities for developing reparative interventions. Every invitee will have the option to be interviewed by Dr. AJ Escoffery before the workshop—to be publicly released on YouTube and in a published report—but the workshop will be closed door with “Chatham House” rules (off the record).
This workshop convenes leaders in academia, technology, media, art, and community organizing on the Harvard Law & Business School campuses in April 2025 to discuss:
the changing nature of social media and other communication platforms;
how companies have leveraged social engagement and artistic production on these platforms to develop big data social platforms and AI;
the impact of social media & AI on cultural production and social engagement;
the value and limits of alternative platforms;
the possibilities, constraints, and resources needed to develop alternative platforms.
OUTPUTS
PODCAST
All interviews will be recorded on Zoom and released on YouTube.
PUBLIC REPORT
Notes from the convening and interviews conducted in the preceding months will be summarized in a public report. This report will provide guidance to developers, entrepreneurs, media corporations, artists, and regulators on:
PROJECT PLAN
Based on the interviews and conversation at the workshop, a plan may be developed for an alternative or decentralized social media platform or network power collective to intervene in the current landscape.