Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
Civic Media Impact1
Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
2
Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
What is impact?
• Change
• Changing Laws, Markets, Norms, Code
• Learning, Gaining Self-Efficacy, Affecting Emotions
• Community-building, Movement-building
• Evidence
• Impressions, Statistics, Products, Stories
3
Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
Caption Helvetica Regular 25/25 pt
Why is this important to me?
4
Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
Why is this important to us?
Defining successIf we are to define a field of Civic Media, we must be able to define when interventions succeed
Empirically driving design toward what mattersCivic media’s deep connection to media and technology makes our research accountable for future design, and even theories must be tested
Communicating results and value to fundersThey are also a stakeholder with an explicit goal of social impact; and right now, we are responsible for shaping how they conceive of impact
5
Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
Why is it so hard?
Research DesignFinding an appropriate question and methodology is a conversation and compromise among many stakeholders
InstrumentationAnswering the questions that really matter can demand approaches and tools that don’t currently exist
Project ImplementationResearch can complicate a project’s deployment or even its primary mission
6
Boston Civic Media ConsortiumImpact and AssessmentApril 7, 2016
Erhardt GraeffMIT Center for Civic Media@erhardt
A note of thanks
7