USC STAGE
SAT/4/17 :: 2:00pm
Selfies for Social Change: Claiming Space in Social Media, presented by USC
Bookseller: Bookshop
Creators and influencers who use digital outlets to claim space and empower communities discuss how social media can be used for social good.
Colin Maclay
Colin Maclay is Research Professor of Communication and Executive Director of USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab. Colin engages wicked problems in media, technology and culture, imagining and implementing creative responses with institutions, organizations and individuals. A hacker of universities and comitted collaborator, he connects scholarship and practice, and has worked with diverse organizations worldwide on innovation, democracy, media, learning, and policy. Colin is honored to host the USC Civic Media Fellowhip, which convenes a community of diverse practitioners driving social change. He founded Harvard Business School’s Digital Initiative and spent a decade helping build and lead the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard.
Jackson Bird
Jackson Bird is a writer and internet creator dedicated to demystifying the transgender experience. A YouTube NextUp Creator and GLAAD Rising Star Digital Innovator, Jackson shares his and others’ stories on his YouTube channel, jackisnotabird, and in his debut book Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vulture, The Advocate, and more, and his TED Talk “How to talk (and listen) to transgender people” has been viewed over one million times. Jackson lives in New York City, where he hosts the daily podcast Kottke Ride Home.
Akilah Hughes
Akilah Hughes is a writer, comedian and YouTuber, recently residing in Los Angeles, CA. She’s been a digital correspondent for MTV, HBO, Fusion, Comedy Central and more. A Sundance Labs and USC MacArthur Foundation Civic Media Fellow, Razorbill (an imprint of Penguin Random House) published a collection of her personal essays titled Obviously: Stories from my Timeline in the fall of 2019. Her comedic YouTube channel, “It’s Akilah, Obviously!” has amassed more than 150,000 subscribers and “What a Day,” her daily news podcast from Crooked Media, debuted last month at number one on the charts.
Allissa V. Richardson, Ph.D.
Allissa V. Richardson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School. She is the author of “Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism.”
