Events

The Center for Transformative Media organizes and supports research events that align with our mission and goals. Activities may include, but are not limited to: guest lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, research jams, PhD colloquia, conferences and symposia.

Are you a CTM affiliate interested in organizing an event with the CTM? Fill out our call for programming form below.

Submit your event ideas here

Center for Transformative Media:

Center for Transformative Media

Thu, May 21, 2026

8:15 — 3:15 pm

Center for Transformative Media

Audience, AI & Events: A free webinar for local news publishers

Zoom

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Research Jams are Workshops, Panels, and Round Tables. These typically include a group of faculty, students, and/or practitioners who engage in a guided conversation around one of the Center’s strategic research areas. Workshops always include hands-on activities and practical outcomes. Panels focus primarily on experts’ presentations about completed research, followed by a structured Q&A session. Round Tables are less structured and more informal conversations about ongoing research and works-in-progress.

Examples of previous Research Jams::

Leveraging Media History to Improve Modern Journalism, 2025

Questions? Contact our Research Jam Project Guide, Yifan Xu ([email protected])

CTM is committed to promoting books published by core and affiliated faculty. Book talks are an opportunity for the CTM community to attend a presentation about the published book and directly interact with the author. It also includes a small reception where attendees can network and purchase the book. We encourage the author to sign copies of the book. CTM will coordinate with a book vendor to sell copies of the book for attendees to purchase.

Examples of past book talks:

What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate by Ellen Clegg and Dan Kennedy, 2024.
Playframes by Celia Pearce, 2025.

Questions? Contact our Book Talks Project Guide, Evelyn ([email protected])

Film and documentary screenings include not only externally-produced films and documentaries related to CTM’s strategic research areas, but also core/affiliated faculty work, which can take the form of documentaries, experimental videos, and films. Screenings include a conversation with the filmmaker/producer and a light reception.

Our CTM film screenings series showcases media ethics in action, showcasing the work of artists, activists, journalists, and change-makers who are leading innovation in the media and technology landscape.

Past films include:

Bad Press, 2023
Break the Game, 2024
Another Body, 2025

Questions? Contact our Screenings Project Guide, Claire Ogden ([email protected])

Webinars are no-cost, virtual Workshops, Panels, and Round Tables. These include a group of faculty, students, artists and/or practitioners who engage in a guided conversation around one of the Center’s strategic research areas. Workshops are usually hands-on activities and practical outcomes. Panels focus primarily on experts’ presentations about completed research, followed by a structured Q&A session. Round Tables are less structured and more informal conversations about ongoing research and works-in-progress.

Questions? Contact our Webinars Project Guide, Sutanuka ([email protected])

We organize occasional exhibitions of faculty work, often at conferences and larger-scale events.

The Center organizes approximately one conference or symposium per academic year.

Past symposia include:

Media in Motion, 2025
Spatializing Narrative 7, 2025

Past Events

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Media in Motion

On March 28, 2025, "Media in Motion" celebrated the launch of the Center for Transformative Media. The event included three keynote speakers, three interactive panels, an interactive AR scavenger hunt, a drum performance, and an exhibition of faculty work.

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Spatializing Narrative 7

On February 11, 2025, "Spatializing Narrative 7" explored art, technology, and storytelling as tools for reimagining our world. Through their practice, our participants demonstrated the transformative potential of immersion, participation, and collaboration in creating meaningful experiences.

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"Playframes" Book Launch

On January 21, 2025, we celebrated the launch of "Playframes" (MIT Press), a 2024 book by Art + Design professor Celia Pearce. In the book, Pearce takes a deep dive into the question, “How do we know we’re playing?” She builds a comprehensive theory of the specific mechanisms that metacommunicate the message “this is play.”

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"Break the Game" Film Screening

"Break the Game" is a fascinating documentary that following Narcissa Wright, a world-record-holding gamer who loses her massive fanbase after coming out as trans. To win them back, she attempts to set a new world record in "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," while live-streaming every minute of her mythic quest.

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A conference presentation on the future of local news in EXP, Northeastern’s modern event space. A presenter stands at a podium speaking to a seated audience at round tables. The projection screen displays charts and text about 'Annual payroll: Top earners in town' and 'Compare single family tax rate in neighboring communities.' Attendees, mostly middle-aged and older adults, are seated at round tables with water bottles, notepads, and refreshments. The room features track lighting on a white ceiling and dark window shades.

"What Works: The Future of Community News" Conference

"What Works: The Future of Community News" acted as both a book launch for journalism professor Dan Kennedy's book, as well as a conference connecting local news leaders from across New England. The event foregrounded insights pulled from Kennedy's research and relationships with local journalists.

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Events

Upcoming Events

Event Types

Research Jams

Book Talks

Screenings

Webinars

Exhibitions

Conferences and Symposia

Past Events

Media in Motion

Spatializing Narrative 7

"Playframes" Book Launch

"Break the Game" Film Screening

"What Works: The Future of Community News" Conference

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