Mission of the Lab

The Civic Media Lab website is AUP’s collaborative, transcultural platform where AUP students create civic projects, do research and make digital and visual production. It’s where our students produce, circulate and discuss their contributions to debates in the global public sphere. In the Lab:

• Faculty and students create apps, websites and blogs that design practical solutions to contemporary civic engagement problems.
• Students produce videos, podcasts and articles on social, political or cultural issues affecting their lives and those of others, locally and globally.
• We build curriculum and organize workshops and conferences gathering students, international academics and professionals from different backgrounds and countries, hoping to address and act upon contemporary challenges. Such challenges include the shifting nature of the public sphere in the digital era, participatory culture and cultural conflicts.

The Lab community serves as a platform for innovative and productive student-faculty collaborations. We encourage long-term projects elaborated in classes and showcased on the website. The different contributions explore the power of digital media and social networks to convey and circulate the civic aspirations of individuals and communities - this often outside of traditional media outlets. We also explore the circulation of hate speech and fake news on the Internet and its increasing presence in the public sphere, impacting public discourse and political decision-making.