CCC High School Internship Program

Empowering student leaders to design and facilitate constructive conversation spaces

MIT CCC is organizing internship programs for high school students to collaborate with MIT researchers to test and inform the design of an online dialogue app that aims at exploring methods that help structure authentic and healthy conversations. Our new social dialogue network is being built as an effort to counteract the effects of social media that have greatly disrupted how we communicate and engage with each other in meaningful ways. It is designed to allow users to converse, share, and develop a shared understanding in a supportive and safe environment. By exploring methods that help structure healthy conversations, we hope to learn how social dialogue networks can create a space that (1) encourages and supports authentic, constructive, and healthy dialogue, (2) provides a brave space where people can connect, explore, and learn together, (3) meets the emotional and social needs of people that aren’t being met elsewhere, (4) supports positive identity development, and (5) fosters a sense of community and belonging. The app is designed and developed by MIT CCC's cooperation partner, Cortico, a non-profit social technology company with the mission of bringing underheard voices to the center of a healthier public dialogue.