Media isn’t a science, but at MIT it kind of is. Ergo, it makes perfect sense for The Boston Globe to work closely with MIT’s Center for Civic Media to create “experimental ideas” that play out on the Globe’s websites, Boston.com and BostonGlobe.com.
The hope is that this initiative with MIT will explore new ways of engaging citizens in the digital arena. “The relationships today between universities and media organizations in the same communities remain underdeveloped,” said Martin Baron, editor of The Boston Globe. “We see great promise in building strong bridges between these institutions.”
The collaboration will be overseen by Jeff Moriarty, vice president of digital initiatives at The Boston Globe, Chris Marstall, creative technologist for the Globe, and Ethan Zuckerman, director of the MIT Center for Civic Media.
“This collaboration will apply academic research at the forefront of new media technologies to one of the country’s strongest newsrooms,” said Michael Maness, vice president for journalism and media innovation at Knight Foundation, which ponied up $250,000 to support the effort.
The Center for Civic Media is itself a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. The center “works hand in hand with diverse communities to collaboratively create, design, deploy, and assess civic media tools and practices.”
Previously on AdPulp: Reporting Live from MIT’s Media Lab