Somewhere Good’s SHIFT Fellowship Reshapes How Social Platforms Are Designed

Somewhere Good announces the newest recipients for its’ 2021 SHIFT Fellowship. SHIFT (Shaping Holistic Innovative Frameworks of Thought) is a one-year fellowship program designed to create an ongoing feedback loop of innovation and exploration between the Somewhere Good team and their global audience at large.

The SHIFT fellowship recipients include Humphrey Obuobi, Hawa Arsala, Shuya Gong, Mandy Harris Williams and Legacy Russell. The fellows participate in a year-long process in which they engage with one another through pivotal inquiry, dialogue and research.

The five fellows were chosen out of more than 300 applicants and are well-known for their work centering artificial intelligence, cultural theory, modernist art, identity and activism.

“As we build online experiences that will fundamentally change how Black people and people of color connect online, it is integral that we bring in outside voices who are building towards the same goal. As a team, we are conscious of our own internal biases and assumptions in our work. We’re excited to create a space where we can put everything on the table and look at it as a collective,” said Somewhere Good, Founder and CEO, Naj Austin.

Throughout the 12 months, the fellows will create, converse and write about digital ethical dilemmas while aiding Somewhere Good’s journey in co-generating better frameworks for building safer, more thoughtful digital social platforms. To maintain an online space that prioritizes transparency and collaboration, all quarterly works created during this fellowship will be publicly available on the Somewhere Good website.

Legacy Russell, author of Glitch Feminism, says “My hope in participating in the SHIFT Fellowship is to convene with the next generation of creative technologists to consider further where new forms of intimacy might be made and to be active in participating in a dialogue surrounding how to artfully expand digital discourse.”

The first round of work from the fellowship will discuss intentionally designing around collaboration, community and care in online communities. 

You can read more about SHIFT by visiting the Somewhere Good website here.

Somewhere Good: Somewhere Good is a social platform reshaping the digital experience by prioritizing identity and co-creation. Founded by Naj Austin, the company also works alongside digital innovators to ensure intentional community practices are built into the experience of the platform. Somewhere Good will launch in late 2021.

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About Somewhere Good

Somewhere Good is a social platform reshaping the digital experience by prioritizing identity and co-creation. Founded by Naj Austin, the company also works alongside digital innovators to ensure intentional community practices are built into the experience of the platform. Somewhere Good will launch in late 2021.