On Friday, we opened our doors at the Berkman Klein Center for a Spring Synthesizer – bringing together our current projects, new ideas from our network, and engaging conversations between those passionate about the future of social media.
The keystone was our first session, Outsider Networks – Tooling Social Media Solutions Outside of Industry, where our three ASML Fellows capped off their tenures with us by presenting on their unique projects. Then, in our Open Showcase & Networking Reception, we hosted an interactive exhibition of posters and demos from ASML and RSM projects, as well as student and partner initiatives.
Watch the fellows’ lightning presentations below and scroll our gallery of photos from both sessions!
Fay Johnson presents CLR:SKY
Fay Johnson presented the thesis behind CLR:SKY, a new AI-powered interface enhancement for BlueSky Social designed to shift the tone of public discourse within the platform. Launched to showcase the possible application of nudges in the composer stage of social media engagement, whether the user needs a quick rewording suggestion, a tone check, or help seeing a different perspective, this technology incorporates non-violent communication frameworks and perspective API technology to offer instant feedback and genAI rewrites with a click of a button. Her presentation touched on why nudges and reframes can be useful in driving towards a more civil social discourse online.
Rudy Fraser presents BlackSky
Blacksky is often recognized for fostering an inclusive online space for Black community building through culturally relevant social feeds and context-aware moderation against anti-Black harassment and misogynoir. But Blacksky Algorithms’ work also functions as memory work—preserving the shared narratives and collective decision-making of the largest Black community on the decentralized web, while offering these tools to other autonomous communities. In this talk, Rudy Fraser shared recent developments in Blacksky’s `rsky` ecosystem, including the creation of one of the first archival AT Protocol relays built from scratch, the rsky-satnav app designed to make Content Addressable aRchives (CARs) more accessible to everyday users, and ongoing work on Personal Data Server (PDS) infrastructure.
Louis Barclay presents PikTop
Louis Barclay spoke about the PikTop platform he’s developing, which crowdsources the top TikToks by country and time. He demonstrated how it works, and talked a little about the problem of platform transparency: what solutions exist, how PikTop fits in, what he hopes PikTop will achieve in the world. He also shared about how he intends to get PikTop up-and-running and find it an audience, as well as, finally, how it links to his work on platform data access in the EU.
Event Photos by ASML/RSM Staffer, Shelby El Otmani
