Artwork by Marcos Osorio, via Stocksy

Now We Know: Exit to Community Is Possible

Jan. 3, 2024

Back in 2019, I made a plea: “ Startups Need a New Option: Exit to Community .” In some circles, at least, the argument quickly caught on. This is because, for startup companies, an exit through an acquisition or public offering is the goal that all else points toward. It...

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“Not Just for Those Who Can Pay”: The Colorado Sun 2023 Public Benefit Report

Sept. 29, 2023

We at MEDLab are proud to have had the opportunity to produce the 2023 Public Benefit Report for the Colorado Sun, a pioneering, journalist-owned news organization that is strengthening the information ecosystem statewide. This report helps fulfill the Sun's obligation as a Colorado public benefit corporation, an incorporation structure that...

Photograph of three participants at the Local Tech Ecologies conference speaking together

Recap: Local Tech Ecologies Conference

Aug. 28, 2023

Photo gallery On August 8, 2023, approximately fifty people from across the Rocky Mountain Front Range convened at the University Memorial Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. They came for “ Local Tech Ecologies ,” a regional conference celebrating technology designed to empower local communities. After MEDLab director...

Apple Park aerial view by Arne Müseler / arne-mueseler.com / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Special Issue: Afterlives of the Californian Ideology

Aug. 15, 2023

In the International Journal of Communication , MEDLab director Nathan Schneider co-edited a special issue with Andreas Hepp and Anne Schmitz of the University of Bremen. The issue revisits the landmark mid-1990s essay "The Californian Ideology" by Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron, a critique of the political economy then emerging...

Regenerative Business Rising cover

A regenerative policy agenda

March 28, 2023

Together with the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, MEDLab has just released a new resource on policy that could turn community ownership into the new normal in the economy, Regenerative Business Rising: How Policy Can Create an Economy Led by a Different Kind of Company . This tool is for policy-makers,...

Cover of the Sacred Stacks zine

Now Available: "Sacred Stacks: The Art of Cyborg Community"

March 22, 2023

During the second half of 2022, MEDLab led seven communities to explore together the needs, ethics, and challenges of emerging decentralized technologies. What began as an errant search for practical tools became an exploration of ritual, relationship, and poetics. This fully illustrated, 80-page zine compiles reflections and learnings from the...

A People's History of Twitter event logo

MEDLab Co-Hosts "A People's History of Twitter"

March 7, 2023

From the event page : ​Thursday, March 16, 9–10:30 AM Pacific, via Zoom ​While Twitter is in crisis, another generation of social media is emerging. But before we decide to stay or go or divide our attention across more platforms, we first need to figure out what we expect –...

Chart compares hourly wages of Lyft, Doordash, and Uber drivers to the Denver minimum wage, which is higher than the wages on all the platforms.

New Study Reveals Conditions among Colorado Rideshare Drivers

Nov. 29, 2022

$5.49 per hour. That’s how much, on average, rideshare drivers in the Boulder-Denver Metro area earn, per hour, after accounting for expenses. In contrast, the minimum hourly wage in Denver is as of 2022 is $15.87. Rideshare drivers, unlike minimum wage workers, are independent contractors which means that they are...

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Introducing Crypto Wake, an Archive of Deceased Crypto Projects

Oct. 23, 2022

What be learned from crypto projects that failed in practice but bear important lessons for future designs? Life in the world of blockchains and cryptocurrencies moves quickly. Projects come and go. In markets full of volatility and speculation, success or failure is not always the clearest indicator of the quality...

The Colorado Sun

"Corner to Corner and Wall to Wall": The Colorado Sun 2022 Public Benefit Report

Sept. 6, 2022

We at MEDLab are proud to have had the opportunity to produce the 2022 Public Benefit Report for the Colorado Sun, a pioneering, journalist-owned news organization that is strengthening the information ecosystem statewide. This report helps fulfill the Sun's obligation as a Colorado Public Benefit Corporation, an incorporation structure that...

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