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The Progress Network is based at the organization New America.

Deb
Roy

Media Scientist, Designer

Deb writes about: Media, Technology

Deb Roy is Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT where he directs the MIT Center for Constructive Communication and is Executive Director of the MIT Media Lab. He leads research in applied machine learning and human-machine interaction with applications in designing systems for learning and constructive dialogue, and for mapping and analyzing large scale media ecosystems.

Roy is also cofounder and Chair of Cortico, a nonprofit social venture that is developing and operating the Local Voices Network to surface underheard voices and perspectives and foster constructive conversations across political and cultural divides. Roy was cofounder and CEO of Bluefin Labs, a media analytics company that analyzed the interactions between television and social media at scale. Bluefin was acquired by Twitter in 2013, Twitter’s largest acquisition of the time. From 2013–2017 Roy served as Twitter’s Chief Media Scientist.

An author of over 160 academic papers, his popular TED talk Birth of a Word presents his research on his son’s language development that led to new ideas in media analytics.  A native of Canada, Roy received his Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo and PhD in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT.

We need to build new civic communication infrastructure that enables communities to be heard and understood by one another.

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IF YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES:

Biden Wants to Unite the Country. How Can He Do It?

Two dozen thinkers offer bold ideas for a new administration in a fractious era.

IF YOU HAVE 7:

MIT Launches Center for Constructive Communication

With the aim of improving communication across divides and increasing opportunity for underheard communities

LISTEN TO A PODCAST:

A Matter of Facts

A conversation with Deb Roy

WATCH A VIDEO:

TED Talk

The Birth of a Word

The Birth of a Word

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