J. Nathan Matias

At the MIT Media Lab Center for Civic Media, I make art, software and social processes which empower people to become more creative, more effective, and more informed. My recent projects include the Festival of Learning, research on gender representation in the news, and tablet tech for social checkups.

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Latest posts by J. Nathan Matias

Rising Voices: Wiring Offgrid Villages & Preserving Language Online

  July 3, 2012

Around the world, an emerging group of language activists are recognizing that participatory digital media can play a part in engaging and encouraging the next generation of speakers of endangered and indigenous languages. Eddie Avila (Bolivia), Oliver Stegen (Germany/Kenya), Abdoulaye Bah (Guinea) and Boukary Konaté (Mali) discuss the challenges.

Are They Watching Me? Internet Surveillance

  July 3, 2012

Jillian York (Global Voices and Electronic Frontier Foundation) starts off this session by asking participants if they think their government is monitoring their electronic communications. She goes onto explore new trends in technical surveillance and censorship with Rob Faris (Berkman Center for Internet & Society), Ellery Biddle (Center for Democracy & Technology), Afef Abrougui (Global Voices, Tunisia) and Mohamed El Gohary (Global Voices, Egypt).

The State of Kenyan Citizen Media

  July 2, 2012

Kennedy Kachwanya is chairman of the Blogger's association of Kenya. Collins Mbalo won the Best African Blogger award, a global voices author, who blogs from a Kenyan perspective. Judith Owigar is the cofounder and president of Akirachix.

Opening Panel: The Global Rise of Citizen Media

  July 2, 2012

Is Citizen Media many movements, or one movement, and how can we work together? Moderating this discussion is Ethan Zuckerman, co-founder of Global Voices, with panelists from South East Asia, the Middle East and Pakistan.

J. Nathan Matias's space

At the MIT Media Lab and Center for Civic Media, I make art, software and social processes which empower people to become more creative, more effective, and more informed. My recent projects include the Festival of Learning, research on media representation, and tablet tech for social checkups.

I'm an intentional polymath and range widely across the arts, tech, charities, ideas, and education. Before MIT, I worked in UK startups SwiftKey, Dressipi, and Texperts, developing technologies used by millions of people worldwide. I also helped start the Ministry of Stories, a creative writing center in East London.