August 8, 2023
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (in-person)
9 a.m. - 1 p.m. (live-streamed)
University Memorial Center room 235
University of Colorado Boulder
What if we valued local technology the way we value local food and local businesses?
This event explores opportunities and challenges for building healthy tech ecosystems that are focused on the needs of local communities—with a focus on projects active across Colorado's Front Range. What kinds of social media could bring people together rather than driving them apart? What kinds of gig platforms could put workers and small businesses above global monopolies? How can regional journalists develop tools truly suited to their needs? The event will make space to introduce projects already cultivating local tech ecologies in Colorado and beyond, and we will discuss strategies for more intentionally developing those ecologies in the future.
Speakers
- Aaron Brockett (mayor, City of Boulder)
- Ann Marie (RemainNA) (CU Gaming)
- Becks Boone, Jamie Anderson (Rootable)
- Caroline Savery (Bloom Network)
- Erika Iacono, Trish Uvenferth (Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center)
- Ethan Zuckerman (UMass Amherst)
- Fernanda R. Rosa (Virginia Tech)
- Josh Ritzer (Nigh)
- Joshua (Fastrr) Sharpe (CU Esports)
- LeeLee James (Slay the Runway)
- Leysia Palen (CU Boulder)
- Linda Shapley (Colorado Community Media)
- libi striegl (Media Archaeology Lab)
- Mike Perhats (Nosh)
- Nikhil Mankekar (Colorado Venture Capital Authority)
- Pat Kelly (ReWild
- Rossana Longo (Colorado News Collaborative)
- Saleh Khaled Ibrahim (VR Technologies & Natural Disasters)
- Stacy Feldman (Boulder Reporting Lab)
- Taylor (MustardSauce) Clark (CU Gaming)
- Ted Striphas (CU Boulder)
Lunch will be served, along with snacks and a reception at the end. This is a free event, but please consider making a donation to MEDLab to support our work.
"Has the Bear Market Called Crypto's Bluff?"
New from MEDLab director Nathan Schneider in CoinDesk:
When crises decimate an economy, governments try to look like they are doing something about it. The Great Depression spurred the New Deal, which included both banking regulations and a basic poverty-reducing safety net. The Great Recession brought about far less after millions lost their homes, but Congress could at least pretend that it passed necessary financial reforms.
But when the crypto economy collapsed over the past couple of years, with stablecoins losing their peg and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) revealing themselves as worthless jpegs, what did the ecosystem learn?
What follows are proposals for how the crypto ecosystem could earn trust—by actually becoming a more just and equitable economy than what surrounds it.
Radio: Can Open Social Media Help Nonprofits?
Our radio show, Looks Like New, airs Thursday at 6 p.m. across Colorado's Front Range on KGNU radio, 88.5. Here's what we heard about last month:
With the rise of open social media platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, nonprofits have new opportunities to develop close conversations with the communities they seek to support. Many of these open social media platforms are also better aligned with nonprofits' values than major tech companies have been. What are the best ways for non-profits to get involved? How do nonprofits navigate this emerging space in an already dense social media landscape? In this episode, we hear from nonprofit leaders and technologists on how the emerging social networks relate to their organizations' goals.
