Last day at the SSRC: from media reform to the metaverse

Today is my last day at the Social Science Research Council.  It has been an honor working for the past year and a half for such an august and important institution, which for more than 80 years has facilitated social science engagement with all manner of important public policy issues -- from social security to immigration to the fight against HIV/AIDS. 

For those that didn't know, for the past year and a half, I coordinated a program called "Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere," an initiative designed to support high quality academic research in support of media reform and media justice efforts. It has been a tremendous experience working with a wide range of activists, policy experts, academic researchers and grantmakers in this area. I am convinced more than ever that the future of our society depends upon more just, participatory, democratic media and communications.

 As I have written about previously, I will be starting at the virtual world development firm the Electric Sheep Company very shortly.  This is a fascinating time to be working in the metaverse / virtual world space, and I’m looking forward to the new challenges ahead. For the first time, I’ll be creating new media instead of supporting advocacy and research about the media.  I can't tell you how excited I am!