About
Ancient Wisdoms x Digital Technologies
Informed by years of social media and media analytics, CCC’s work combines the ancient wisdoms of human conversation with emerging digital technologies to promote shared understanding and trust rather than reinforcing the “side-taking” and binary thinking that too often divides us. Based at the MIT Media Lab and working closely with the non-profit Cortico, CCC brings together researchers in AI, computational social science, digital interactive design, and learning technologies with software engineers, journalists, political scientists, designers, and community organizations.
An important aspect of CCC is its commitment to reach both within and beyond academia to work closely with locally based organizations to launch pilot programs focused on building a culture of listening and dialogue that promotes a sense of shared understanding, empathy, and trust.
The Principles of Constructive Communication
Born out of research on social media, our work at CCC has led us to key principles to foster respectful open dialogue at scale:
Small is beautiful. Small groups are the essential unit of meaningful dialogue. We shouldn’t expect to throw large groups of people into a town hall or onto sprawling digital platforms and expect them to connect constructively.
Scale at the speed of trust. Just as we can’t expect people to connect in large groups from a cold start, we shouldn’t expect community-scale dialogue to succeed at the speed of electrons (yet most modern digital platforms feature real-time content broadcast).
Balance the use of technology with ancient wisdoms of human connection. Our technology is designed to interconnect small-group conversations at the speed of trust. Those conversations, in turn, should be intentionally structured and facilitated. And participants should engage with respect, an open mind, and humility; listen generously; and speak only from one’s own experience.
Values first. People are able to connect with one another and build bridges when they lead with their values rather than debating over opinions or facts. Values emerge through sharing and listening to stories and experiences that are the connective tissue of our shared humanity.
Cortico Collaboration
A special CCC field collaborator is Cortico, a non-profit social technology company with the mission of bringing underheard voices to the center of a healthier public dialogue.
Founded in 2016 by Prof. Deb Roy, Russell Stevens, and Eugene Yi, Cortico maintains a unique cooperation agreement with MIT that enables collaboration on IP, prototyping, and field pilots. Prof. Roy currently serves as Cortico’s CEO and board chair (with both positions uncompensated).
Cortico operates Fora, a speech platform designed to bring communities together for listening, understanding, and sharing. The platform has been at the heart of collaborative CCC/Cortico projects in Madison, in Boston, and at MIT – and will continue to be a focus of research (e.g., conversation analytics), prototyping, and pilots moving forward.
Cortico & MIT Collaboration FAQ
The Basics
What is the relationship between CCC and Cortico?
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Cortico maintains a long-term cooperation agreement with MIT for collaboration on IP, prototyping, and field pilots. This agreement, renewed for 10 years in 2022, enables CCC researchers to efficiently transfer research from the lab for deployment into scalable projects in the field. CCC benefits from access to tools and data from Cortico, as well as the opportunity to involve MIT students in on-the-ground social impact work. Cortico, in turn, benefits from access to the full scope of CCC’s research in areas such as creating technologies to facilitate face-to-face human dialogue, developing large-scale language models to aid sensemaking, and designing communications spaces that preserve identity and promote equity.
What is Fora? What is the origin/meaning of the name?
Fora is the technology platform developed and operated by Cortico designed to enhance and amplify dialogue and listening. The purpose of Fora is to create spaces – or forums – for constructive communication. An alternative word for “forums” is “fora,” hence the name of the platform.
How do the responsibilities for moving forward with Fora divide between CCC and Cortico?
CCC is responsible for exploratory research in constructive communication technologies and methodologies, and the application of this research to prototype new tools and methods for constructive communication. Cortico is responsible for the prototyping, design, development, operation, and support of the Fora platform. The two organizations collaborate on prototyping new tools and methods.
What are the Fora releases?
The Fora platform comprises a set of software and hardware products that are designed, developed, operated, and supported by Cortico. All revenues and liabilities related to these products are solely the concern of Cortico. Many of the formative ideas and prototypes that led to the Cortico products can be traced back to research conducted by CCC.
What is the relationship of CCC graduate students to Cortico?
MIT graduate students, research staff, and faculty affiliated with CCC may choose to collaborate with Cortico on prototyping activities if those activities further their research interests.
Managing Potential Conflicts of Interest: Deb Roy, professor of Media Arts and Sciences and director of MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication (CCC), also serves as part-time, unpaid CEO for CCC’s closely affiliated non-profit, Cortico. This FAQ addresses how this works.
What responsibilities are associated with Professor Roy’s dual roles at MIT and Cortico?
At MIT Professor Roy’s roles include serving as director and principal investigator for CCC, based at the Media Lab, and graduate student advisor. His primary research responsibility is to MIT and this research remains independent and is not directed by the interests of Cortico. As Cortico’s part-time CEO he guides Cortico to maintain optimal alignment with CCC. Roy has also served as the chair of Cortico’s board of directors since its founding in 2016.
Is Professor Roy compensated by Cortico?
No, Professor Roy’s role at and time spent on Cortico matters is uncompensated.
Is there an official agreement between MIT and Cortico?
Yes, there is a unique 10-year cooperation agreement in effect until January 2032.
What are the terms of this agreement?
The cooperation agreement facilitates the pursuit of a shared mission to foster scaled constructive communication, where MIT conducts research and education with Cortico following up with product development and deployment. Formally approved areas of joint activity may also include prototyping and piloting of new tools and methods.
How does Professor Roy manage staff and student conflicts of interest between CCC and Cortico?
CCC employees are never concurrently employed by Cortico and any involvement of MIT students in Cortico activities is voluntary, in accord with the cooperation agreement and the GSU collective bargaining agreement, and does not interfere with their primary university obligations.
How does the funding between the two organizations work?
CCC and Cortico are funded by separate sources. All funding to support joint research and development efforts by CCC and Cortico is separated at the funding source.
What are the arrangements for shared intellectual property?
In accordance with the MIT-Cortico cooperation agreement, IP shared between MIT and Cortico is always facilitated via an Open Source license.
What is the policy for human subjects research?
In the event that MIT CCC and Cortico are jointly involved in pilot activities that involve human subjects, both organizations will follow guidelines related to human subject research as required by MIT’s Institutional Review Board (COUHES). Additionally, as part of their participation in any pilot activities involving human subjects, Cortico team members will obtain the human subject training (CITI training) that is required by COUHES. Informed consent will only be administered by trained and authorized MIT personnel.
History
The Center is an evolution and scaling of the Laboratory for Social Machines (LSM), which was established by Prof. Deb Roy at the MIT Media Lab in 2014 and today includes a team of approximately 30 academic researchers, technologists, and humanists. LSM had a traditional research group structure and pioneered work in social media analytics and the design of human-machine systems to support communication and learning.
Examples of LSM achievements from 2014-2020 include:
- A study of the spread of false news that was the cover story of Science magazine and that Altmetrics ranked as the second most influential publication of 2018.
- A tech-assisted coaching system, Learning Loops, for supporting kids’ narrative development that has been successfully piloted with hundreds of participants in collaboration with community organizations.
- The Electome project, which helped US national newsrooms analyze and report on the public conversation about 2016 election issues as revealed in social media, and helped moderators prepare for the Presidential debates. Post-election analysis of fragmented political networks and isolation of journalists led to one of VICE News’ most-viewed stories of the year.
- Beat the Virus, a coalition created in response to COVID-19, to deliver science-grounded public health guidance via social media influencers. LSM social media analytics guided the generation of over 625 million media impressions and 5.5 million engagements with no paid media.
Funding
The primary aim of the Center’s work is to create social benefit, as expressed through our Approach, Lab Projects and Field Projects. The Center also works with commercial collaborators to explore “dual use” applications of research that may be relevant to commercial interests. We only accept funding for work that is aligned with our research and project aims, with a preference for long-term funder relationships.
Founding support for the Center’s launch includes multi-year commitments from Reid Hoffman (general operating support), Project Liberty, McKinsey & Company (for developing tools for modeling stories and audience networks), and the Media Lab consortium. As it grows, the Center will continue to add funding from value-aligned philanthropic, government, and corporate organizations.
