Building the Field

Build expertise, interest, and networks for students and professionals to work in the social media field in the public interest, broadly defined. Bring in new voices who have a stake in the conversation but aren’t yet part of it. Host convenings for brainstorming and sharing solutions and ideas. (e.g. public events, workshops, student groups)

Posts

September 20, 2024

Call for Student Research Assistants

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media and Applied Social Media Lab are looking for RAs with fresh ideas, curiosity, and creative drive.

July 2, 2024

We Need to Control AI Agents Now

Faculty Director Jonathan Zittrain writes in The Atlantic that we must begin regulating AI agents, which can research and execute tasks independently, and outlines suggested next steps to control the scope of their potential impact.

June 27, 2024

We’re Hiring: Program Manager

RSM is hiring a Program Manager to oversee the Institute's Visiting Scholars Program and drive thematic workstreams across a range of topics.

April 3, 2024

Counter-speech as Content Moderation with Kesa White

Alum Kesa White joins the Wonks and War Rooms podcast to discuss her research into counter speech and its use in content moderation.

March 13, 2024

Student Opportunities

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media (RSM) and the Applied Social Media Lab (ASML) have opportunities available throughout the year for active graduate and undergraduate students to work and collaborate with our team! Learn more about our open positions below and follow the links to apply.

March 7, 2024

“Did They Consent to That?”: Safer Digital Intimacy via Proactive Protection Against Image-Based Sexual Abuse

Alum Elissa Redmiles coauthors this study on how social platforms can improve intimate content sharing through proactive protective measures.

February 2, 2024

Psychedelic Bubbles and a Non-Euclidian Costume Party: Imagining positive futures for social media

Creative workshop from the Institute for Rebooting Social Media brings people together from around the world.

January 24, 2024

RSM Spring Speaker Series

This spring, we're welcoming an exciting group of social scientists, industry practitioners, and legal academics for a speaker series on social media topics.

November 21, 2023

Call for 2024-2025 RSM Visiting Scholars

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media (RSM) welcomes applications for its 2024-2025 cohort of Visiting Scholars. This interdisciplinary cohort will undertake original projects while engaging with RSM faculty, staff, scholars, fellows, students, and the broader Berkman Klein Center (BKC) and Harvard University communities and projects.

November 15, 2023

Safe Digital Intimacy

Alum Elissa Redmiles and her team have launched safedigitalintimacy.org, a resource for tech platforms and policy makers to prevent image-based sexual abuse online.

Events

May 8, 2024

Democracy and Technology

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Prof. Lawrence Lessig and Claudia Chwalisz for a conversation with Manon Revel on the future of democracy in the 21st century.

May 8, 2024

POSTPONED: Information Foraging in a Social Media World (RSM Speaker Series)

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Carl T. Bergstrom for a talk exploring social media's impact on the scale of human communication and our mechanisms for creating collective understanding.

May 2, 2024

Platforms and the Right to Information

Join us for a one-day workshop examining what the right to information should look like in relation to platforms and how it can be implemented in a manner that protects user privacy.

April 24, 2024

Harvard x Creators: Making Evidence-Based Public Health Information Viral (RSM Speaker Series)

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Amanda Yarnell and Kate Speer for a conversation with Visiting Scholar Jeff Hall about the Center for Health Communication's efforts to improve the quality of public health information circulating online.

April 3, 2024

Trust & Safety in the Majority World Workshop  

This workshop will bring together professionals within the field of Trust & Safety (T&S) to discuss socio-technical issues that disproportionately affect the Majority World.

April 2, 2024

A Conversation with Anne Neuberger, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Anne Neuberger, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologies, for a conversation on cybersecurity, AI, and other emerging technologies with Faculty Director Jonathan Zittrain.

March 28, 2024

Social Media and Well-Being in Context

Join us for a series of conversations organized by Visiting Scholar Jeff Hall and featuring:

Nancy Baym
Linda Charmaraman
Diane B. Francis
Connie Hadley
Lee Humphreys
Carrie James

March 27, 2024

A Contractual Approach to Social Media Governance (RSM Speaker Series)

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Gilad Mills for a discussion with Martha Minow regarding his work on contractual approaches to social media governance.

March 20, 2024

Moderating AI and Moderating with AI (RSM Speaker Series)

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media welcomes Dave Willner for a talk on the promises and perils that foundation models present for the field of content moderation.

graphic art for the Building Accountability Infrastructures for Social Media and LLMs. Blue gradient with the same text as the page. graphic art for the Building Accountability Infrastructures for Social Media and LLMs. Blue gradient with the same text as the page.

March 12, 2024

Workshop: Building Accountability Infrastructures for Social Media and LLMs, with a focus on Mental Health

Facilitated by former RSM Assembly Fellow Nathaniel Lubin, this in-person event considers a novel framework for establishing guidelines in the product design process that mitigate societal-scale harms.