MIT Center for Constructive Communication

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MIT Center for Constructive Communication Based at the MIT Media Lab, CCC designs human-machine systems that improve communication across divi

Huge congratulations to CCC Ph.D. candidate Cassandra Overney and Ph.D. grad Maggie Hughes! They earned a Best Paper Awa...
08/21/2026

Huge congratulations to CCC Ph.D. candidate Cassandra Overney and Ph.D. grad Maggie Hughes! They earned a Best Paper Award at the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 2026 for “Voice to Vision: Enabling Shared Understanding in Civic Decision-Making through Participatory Data Infrastructure.”

It’s a high honor — at most, one percent of submissions receive a Best Paper Award from the awards committee. We’re delighted to see this critical work of increasing trust and transparency in civic decision-making processes recognized for its rigor and relevance. Looking forward to your presentation at CSCW 2026 in October!

🗣️Attention MIT undergraduate and graduate students: SERC Scholars Program wants you! 🗣️Our social lives are built on th...
08/13/2026

🗣️Attention MIT undergraduate and graduate students: SERC Scholars Program wants you! 🗣️

Our social lives are built on the collective resource of language. How could wide-spread reliance on conversational AI change human language? Who holds the power to decide where and when this technology is deployed? What can we learn from people in the past confronting technological upheaval?

In “LLMs and Language as Commons,” SERC Fellow and CCC Postdoc Bill Noble will lead a group exploring these questions. Topics include studying the Luddites of the early Industrial Revolution, the Digital Commons movement of the Information Age, and conducting research into how AI is already changing our language.

The SERC Scholars Program offers MIT undergrad and graduate students a forum to engage with pressing challenges posed by digital technology.

Visit computing.mit.edu to learn more. Applications are open on August 19th!

Students at the Urban Assembly School of Applied Math and Science in the Bronx wanted change. How did co-designed delibe...
07/24/2026

Students at the Urban Assembly School of Applied Math and Science in the Bronx wanted change. How did co-designed deliberation practices and deep, meaningful conversations make it happen?

The answer started with a student-teacher deliberative assembly — an important democratic process for engaging people in civic decision-making. Our translational research and practice team joined forces with Jennifer Chace from The Source School and Hana Carey from Cortico to steward and implement a student-centered deliberative assembly.

The multi-day assembly followed New York’s ban on cell phones and other digital devices from “bell-to-bell” during the 2025-2026 school year. While schools had to decide how to implement the policy, students weren’t included in those plans, causing some to push back. Principal Ingrid Chung saw an opportunity to bring students into the process through a citizens’ assembly.

On day one, delegates learned about cell phone policies and student wellbeing from experts and case studies, then shared policy ideas on sticky notes and handheld recorders. Our CCC staff organized the feedback into themes for day two, when students, teachers, and moderators used prototypes Agora and Analogia to discuss ideas and evaluate them against the law and their shared values.

The assembly agreed on three proposals: “Mindful Moments,” “Outside Recess,” and “Music at Lunch.” A team of student delegates, teachers, school leaders, and CCC staff reviewed the recommendations and began planning implementation. Within weeks, Music at Lunch was on track to launch!

In the end, 100% of participating delegates said they felt respected by other delegates and facilitators, while 93% said they were completely confident the group would reach agreement on policies.

Change is possible. The science of conversation can make it reality.

🗣️ realtalk@Boston came to life through collaboration. 11 community organizations, 50 hours of dialogue, 253 participant...
11/06/2025

🗣️ realtalk@Boston came to life through collaboration. 11 community organizations, 50 hours of dialogue, 253 participants, and 47 themes that reveal what it means to live, work, and belong in Boston.

This is part 2/2 of our partner shoutout, highlighting:

đź‘‚ Joint Family
đź‘‚ ArtSpark Boston
đź‘‚ Circus Up
đź‘‚ Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts
đź‘‚ Primary Source
đź‘‚ The Loop Lab

These organizations helped surface the stories and voices that form the foundation of realtalk@Boston. Explore them all at realtalk.boston, a new public listening portal where you can hear directly from Bostonians in their own words.

Join us Nov 10 at Artists for Humanity for Boston’s Stories, Unscripted, a night of art, reflection, and community inspired by these conversations.

🎧 realtalk@Boston is built on the work of 11 incredible community organizations, who opened doors to deep, honest conver...
11/06/2025

🎧 realtalk@Boston is built on the work of 11 incredible community organizations, who opened doors to deep, honest conversations across the city.

Together, they helped record 50 hours of conversation with 253 Boston residents, uncovering 47 themes that paint a textured portrait of life in Boston, and its struggles, joys, and hopes for the future.

This is part 1/2 of our partner shoutout, starting here with:

đź‘‚Boston CASA .casa
đź‘‚ Chica Project
đź‘‚ Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ)
đź‘‚ Disability Law Center .con
đź‘‚ Greatest MINDS Boston

These partners helped create the spaces where people could speak from the heart. And those voices now live on at realtalk.boston, a new public listening portal where you can hear directly from Bostonians in their own words.

Join us Nov 10 at Artists for Humanity for Boston’s Stories, Unscripted, a night of art, reflection, and community inspired by these very conversations.

🎧 What does Boston sound like when you stop to listen?Today, realtalk@Boston invites you to do just that.Explore a new p...
10/27/2025

🎧 What does Boston sound like when you stop to listen?

Today, realtalk@Boston invites you to do just that.

Explore a new public portal created by the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, where you can hear hundreds of Bostonians—in their own voices—share what life in the city really feels like: the joys, struggles, and hopes for the future.

With over 250 conversations across 11 communities, realtalk@Boston blends deep human storytelling with innovative AI-assisted tools to reveal the themes and connections that shape Boston today.

Start listening, reflecting, and sharing at 👉 realtalk.boston

🎧What does Boston sound like when you stop to listen?Today, we’re thrilled to launch realtalk.boston — a new digital por...
10/24/2025

🎧What does Boston sound like when you stop to listen?

Today, we’re thrilled to launch realtalk.boston — a new digital portal where you can listen to hundreds of Bostonians, in their own voices, share stories about their neighborhoods, hopes, frustrations, and dreams for the city’s future.

Developed by the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, this living record weaves together 250+ conversations across 11 communities — revealing a Boston that’s proud, complex, and still striving to make space for everyone.

And next month, we’re bringing those voices to life.

🎤 Boston’s Stories, Unscripted
🗓️ Nov 10 · 6:00 PM
đź“Ť Artists for Humanity

Join us for an evening of conversation, art, and performance — featuring local leaders and artists inspired by the voices of Boston, including Rev. Chris Hope () Erika Howard (), Paul Bologna (), George (Chip) Greenidge (), Poetic Artiste , J. Andrés Ballesteros and Tyler Donkoh-Halm

A special thank you to the community organizations who have collaborated to make the realtalk project and this event possible: ArtSpark Boston , Boston Independent Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ), Boston CASA .casa , Circus Up , Disability Law Center .con , Family Nurturing Center of MA , Greatest MINDS Boston , Joint Family, Primary Source , The Chica Project , and The Loop Lab .

đź”— Listen now at realtalk.boston

08/21/2025

🤝 This past spring, realtalk@MIT partnered with WRAP (Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication) at MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing to support MIT lecturers.

đź”­ The conversation started broad as lecturers reflected on the central question: What should our program be doing over the next five years? What began as a strategic planning exercise quickly became something more expansive.

đź’ˇThe conversations surfaced not just ideas, but deeply personal reflections about what it means to be a lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Listen to Dr. Andreas Karatsolis reflect on his experiences with MIT WRAP below, and read more about the partnership here: https://www.ccc.mit.edu/pressmedia/discovering-the-future-of-wrap-via-realtalk-conversations/

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🌟 We're Hiring at MIT!The MIT Center for Constructive Communication is seeking a passionate and organized Instructional ...
08/05/2025

🌟 We're Hiring at MIT!

The MIT Center for Constructive Communication is seeking a passionate and organized Instructional Designer and Program Manager to help shape realtalk@MIT, a new dialogue initiative that combines digital tools with human facilitation to build better communication across campus.

This hybrid role blends instructional design with project management—ideal for someone excited by inclusive learning, stakeholder collaboration, and turning big ideas into meaningful experiences.

đź“Ť Based in Cambridge, MA (hybrid schedule)
💼 Learn more at ccc.mit.edu/.jobs and apply at https://hr.mit.edu/careers → Search Job ID #25107

Come be part of a team reimagining communication and designing for connection.



MIT Media Lab MIT Center for Constructive Communication Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

04/23/2025

Can AI help save democracy?

MIT CCC Director Deb Roy sits down with Life With Machines podcast host Baratunde Thurston to make the case for how new dialogue networks, unlike social media, can build rather than break trust.

"It's not about more or less tech," says Roy, "but rather about building better tech to help us hear each other and help us to build community and civic muscle.

Watch the full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKTS0mfXRCk

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MIT Media Lab, CCC 75 Amherst Street, E14/E 15
Cambridge, MA
02139

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