Center for Civic Media

Its initial funding, a four-year grant from the Knight Foundation, was won in a contest "to foster blogs and other digital efforts that seek to bring together residents of a city or town in ways that local newspapers historically have done."

The founders planned to "develop new technologies and practices to help newspapers attract readers as a greater number of Americans use the Internet as their primary news source.

[7] Others affiliated with the center include Sasha Costanza-Chock, Benjamin Mako Hill, William Uricchio, Jing Wang, Joy Buolamwini, Catherine D'Ignazio and Jeffrey Warren.

[8] In August, 2019, Zuckerman announced his intention to leave MIT, motivated by the Media Lab's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

But unlike much other work at the Media Lab, Center tools are expected to have immediate applications, even if narrowly focused on a specific community's need.