Events

Join us for our online seminar series event hosted by MIT Media Lab's Advancing Humans with AI (AHA) research program! This event features Rishi Balakrishnan, founding engineer at Blacksky Algorithms, building towards self-governable online communities on an integrated platform.

As Mastodon celebrates its 10th anniversary and BlueSky surpasses 43 million users, it has become clear that the Open Social Web is here to stay. Yet while these two larger platforms continue to grow, the remarkable potential of their underlying protocols remains largely unknown to most users. Unlocking the full power of the interoperable ecosystem that the Open Social Web promises requires more apps, platforms, and products to emerge and thrive within it. This panel explores viable business cases for decentralised social media platforms, and how to reduce dependency on the ecosystem's larger players.

Following Rudy Fraser's keynote, the conversation broadens into a wider discussion on community, identity, and digital space. Lauren Challis, board member of the Internet Society Netherlands, brings expertise in open internet governance and digital rights — exploring how decentralized technology can serve underrepresented communities. Nabil Moktar, co-founder of Nightclub Garage Noord, cultural venue Kanaal40 and Stichting 40Worldwide Foundation, represents grassroots community building in the physical world. Together, the panel examines where digital and cultural spaces intersect: How do we build platforms and places where communities truly feel at home? And who gets to decide the rules?

Keynote by Rudy Fraser What does it look like when a community builds its own social media on its own terms? Rudy Fraser, technologist, community organiser, and founder of Blacksky Algorithms [https://blackskyweb.xyz/], has been doing exactly that.

In this presentation, I will discuss our moderation service, how we use Polis to bring the community in to make decisions on creating new labels, and some of the best practices among our volunteer moderators and Trust and Safety team. The goal is to give others (communities and developers) on the protocol some ideas to think about when spinning up their own moderation tools.

I had the privilege of discussing Blacksky and AT Protocol at several different college campuses, conference venues and other settings along with webinars and doing user research. I plan to share those learnings to help others build better products and how we particularly plan to incorporate those learnings from both a product and operations standpoint.

In this talk, Dr. Kay will discuss how their own life's experience fueled their decades-long research on digital harm and how Blacksky Algorithms is taking what was once considered "me-search" and creating a safer internet rooted in self-determination and self-governance.

Creators and users are locked in digital “serfdom” by corporate social media’s algorithms and business models. Rabble, Bridget Todd, and Rudy Fraser will tackle how to break free from the feudal overlords of tech, and explain why Musk buying Twitter aided the move to decentralized apps. They’ll dig into new financial models, open protocols, and new community apps that empower creators and users without enriching platform owners. Learn how to create strategies that sustain social communities, and why open, user-first social apps are gaining in popularity with creators and audiences alike.

Join Communia at Soho Works for a forward looking panel discussion on creating a better digital world! ​Featuring a panel with a variety of industry expertise: ​Amrapali Gan (Recent OF CEO, Communia Strategic Partner, Stealth), Vlad Litinetsky (SnapChat Entertainment Talent Partnerships Lead), Rudy Fraser (Blacksky founder and Harvard Berkman Klein fellow bringing a decentralized perspective), and Dominc Madori-Davis (TechCrunch journalist covering the issues and on the frontlines of social media) ​Moderated by Olivia DeRamus (Communia founder and ethical tech advocat

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.