Bulletin Board: AI research, neighborism, trivia

Welcome back to New_ Public’s Bulletin Board, where we share the best of what the prosocial internet has to offer and build connections between our readers.

It’s a really exciting moment: we just hosted our virtual event on the future of social media and released new research on AI agentic interfaces.

See the research

As we look ahead: what if we made this the summer of building – building hyperlocal online spaces, building resources for stewards, building an AI future with real humanity? Bring on the heat!

Thank you to the over 200 folks who joined New_ Public Co-Director Eli Pariser as he presented new research — in partnership with Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives Angelica Quicksey and AI Fellow Arnobio Morelix.

If you missed the event, with awesome guests Ben Smith (Semafor) and Jasmine Sun (The Atlantic), here’s a one-page readout of the event, and the video is here. This is a great intro video to the deck. The chat at the event was electric, and in typical New_ Public fashion, folks connected over shared interests right in the comments and were taking steps to collaborate with each other after the event.

Folks were energized by our central hypothesis: how AI will transform the way we connect to information and to each other. As friend of New_ Public Ben Werdmuller posted:

I think we’re going to be referring back to this presentation. It encapsulates everything brilliantly and comes to conclusions that I think are both right and actually pretty optimistic. There’s an opportunity here but not if we cling to the past.

There’s so much more to say about this research — let us know what you think of this work and the questions it raises for you! Sound off in the comments or reply directly to this email.

• May 20 | Join Bach Bui, Senior Engineer for Roundabout, at the Council of Tech and Social Cohesion’s Global Expo. In his session, “Bringing the social back to social media: design choices of emerging platforms,” he’ll be speaking about Roundabout, our local community app, alongside folks from Monnett and Sparkable 😀

• May 21 | Last year, the Prosocial Design Network and Roblox partnered to ask, “​How can we foster connection in social gaming spaces?” This Research Roundtable explores the potential of implementing these ideas. 🎮

• May 27-29 | If you’re in SF for the Human Algorithm Summit or Media Impact Forum, say hi to New_ Public Co-Director Deepti Doshi, who is hosting the session “Reimagining Public Media for the 21st Century” at MIF and attending both events. 👯

• June 4-6 | We’ll see you soon, Amsterdam! At PublicSpaces Conference, we’re hosting the Next Socials programming track and the Open Social Awards, with a keynote from Erin Kissane, as well as from Rudy Fraser of Blacksky Algorithms — check out their new community-building platform, Acorn. 🖤

• “Neighborism” is here, in a big way. In this post-pandemic, politically-fraught world, people want real connection with the folks living around them, and more folks are starting to notice. Hey, we’re obviously big fans of local community, conversation, and connection.

• And a gentle reality check to your friend who wants to vibe code his way to his first billion … we can build the future of the internet without the toxic “founder industrial complex”.

This space is for you – New_ Public’s friends and readers – to seek support, collaboration, and insight from others! Anyone is welcome to share a request, and this month’s comes from Jack-Lucas Chang by way of All Tech is Human’s Slack.

In his writing, Jack-Lucas uses fiction to explore how AI systems shape behavior and relationships. For example, he looked at the recent film “The Drama” to examine how AI models handle morally ambiguous situations. Here’s his request:

I’m looking to connect with editors familiar with social tech who can help sharpen my framing, or researchers interested in co-writing something at the intersection of responsible AI and platform design. If that sounds like you, reach out. I’m also taking movie suggestions!

Want to get in touch with Jack-Lucas Chang? Use our contact form and put “For J.L.C.” at the start of your message. We’ll pass along your messages, and the door is open for future Bulletin Board requests for connection!

When we started learning from community stewards of online groups, we found out that this role isn’t really something you get to train for, it’s more of a “learn on the job” kind of thing (in addition to your paying day job). Recognizing the value of stewardship, and the lack of resources available, we created this guide for local community stewards, “Creating a Flourishing Digital Public Space for Your Local Area.”

The guide is full of fun, easy suggestions for fostering community. One fun tip for building a flourishing local digital space 🏆: Post a trivia question about your local area! Whether it’s weekly or monthly, it’s a great, consistent way for people to connect around the little known facts about their community.

Here’s what Johnny, a steward of a local Facebook group, had to say about his success with trivia:

I started a “Trivia Tuesday” that slowly built a small following and is doing well now. I think it does foster community engagement in our group because we have so many transplants that don’t know the full history of a very historic city … My last trivia question had several people thanking us because they never knew why a local school was named after one of our very own former residents.

It’s really satisfying to see this come full circle: now that we’re piloting Roundabout in different towns and neighborhoods, stewards are trying trivia on Roundabout too. Kyle, a steward in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, has picked up the torch.

Admittedly, there is a wide definition of “the good ol’ days” of social media. (For some, it was that one year of BeReal …) But, Friendster, which shut down in 2015, is one of the original social networking sites, predating even Facebook. Now, Mike Carson bought the domain and is doing something very prosocial with it:

I created an iOS app for Friendster, and I made it so that in order to connect with someone as a friend, you have to actually tap phones together in real life.

And even better, Carson says, “I don’t really care about making money from Friendster.”

Double checking that my middle school FB photos are hidden,

–Nina