Center for Transformative Media

The Center for Transformative Media (CTM) is CAMD’s interdisciplinary research hub dedicated to investigating the potential of emerging media technologies in shaping grassroots creativity and social change.

Evelyn and Melania work together in the Center for Transformative Media office. Behind them is the Center's logo.

We research how people and communities use existing and emerging media in innovative and creative ways to improve their lives and contexts and to shape more equitable technological futures. Through this research,we explore how emerging technologies transform society and the creative possibility to develop new media technologies.

What makes CTM distinctive is our commitment to understanding creativity as grassroots innovation and as a connected practice. We study not only how technologies are designed in labs and studios, but also how communities—especially marginalized groups—adapt and repurpose them in inventive ways. For example, our research includes studies about how (1) people in situations of hardship creatively appropriate mobile technologies for survival and community building, (2) grassroots archival practices preserve queer and trans narratives, and (3) virtual reality can engage underrepresented students in STEM learning.

The CTM is also particularly invested in the study of AI as media. Our work critically examines how artificial intelligence shapes and is shaped by creativity, knowledge production, and civic life. Rather than viewing AI simply as a technical tool, we take a sociotechnical lens to explore how it operates as a cultural form that transforms urban spaces, storytelling, journalism, community engagement, social interaction, public discourse and democratic participation.

This dual focus on top-down innovation and bottom-up creativity positions CTM at the heart of CAMD’s mission to harness data and emerging technologies to advance human potential and solve the challenges of the future.

Goals

  1. Challenge socioeconomic inequalities through creative engagements with emerging media technologies, both locally and globally.
  2. Facilitate research that prioritizes community needs and grassroots innovation.
  3. Foster interdisciplinary collaboration across CAMD departments and throughout Northeastern University, as well as with international partner centers.
  4. Support engaged research that creatively challenges traditional disciplinary boundaries and conventional technology design through participatory research methods, and genuine community partnership.
  5. Promote public dialogue around the role of emerging technologies in shaping equitable and sustainable futures.

CTM accomplishes these goals through monthly research workshops, research mini-grants, fellowship programs, and collaborative projects that bring together scholars, artists, technology designers, and community members. We provide a platform for open-access and community-engaged research projects that are both historically informed and oriented toward building a more just future.

Our work contributes to creating the conditions for sustainable cities, mobility and data justice, and health equity through research that bridges academic inquiry with real-world community needs.

Upcoming Events

Photo that shows a phone screen with a genAI software screen saying "What can I help with?" There are several option buttons, including "Generate Image," "Code," "Summarize text," "Analyze data," and "more."

Thu, Jan 15, 2026

3:00 — 4:00 pm

Center for Transformative Media

Webinar: AI as Media, Not Just Math

Online

Wed, Jan 21, 2026

12:00 — 1:30 pm

Center for Transformative Media

Book Talk: "Mediating Presence" by David Tames

Center for Digital Scholarship, Snell Library, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115

Black and white drawing of a person at a typewriter. The person has gears turning in their head.

Thu, Feb 5, 2026

2:00 — 3:30 pm

Center for Transformative Media

Research Jam: Trans Media Histories and Futures

350A Snell Library
360 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115

Meet the Team