This Wed 4/22 at 12pm ET is the *official* launch event for the Protopian Prize Fiction Contest!
Register at luma.com/sygvk1ms
We are thrilled to be joined by special guests from
@locusmag.bsky.social 🤩
You can never read too much fiction.✅
But the purest of pleasures lies in writing our story of tomorrow.💯
I invite all #InnoMinds to enter @metagov.bsky.social ’s Protopian Prize Fiction Contest.🙏
▶️ protopianprize.com
Dream big & let’s #FreeTheFuture — together!🫂
#LLAP🖖
Come hear from contest hosts Gideon Lichfield
@glichfield.bsky.social, Ruthanna Emrys @r-emrys.bsky.social , & Liz Barry @lizbarry.bsky.social all about the prize...
.. as well as contest judges & special guests all about how fiction can be used to propel AI & Democratic Futures for public good
Join us next Wed 4/22 at 12pm ET for the *official* launch event - dare we say party 🥳 - for the Protopian Prize Fiction Contest!
Register at luma.com/sygvk1ms
We are thrilled to be joined by special guests from
@locusmag.bsky.social 🤩
Come check out our Protopian Prize Fiction Contest activation this Saturday, April 18th at the #EarthMonthConvergence Event 🌏🧚
📍Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, Queens
🎟️ sliding scale ($0+) RSVP: earthconvergence.org/emc
Craft stories inspired by the many ways people are making real change 🌱
Spend your weekend at the 5th Earth Month Convergence 🌎🌱🩷
Sat: activations, tech garden co-created with @metagov.bsky.social , free food, art + live music
Sun: wellness clinic, Indigenous panels, zine-making 🔥✨
🎟️ sliding scale ($0+) RSVP via link in bio — come build, learn & gather ✊🏾
#EarthMonthConvergence x @metagov.bsky.social invites you to the #ProtopianPrize Fiction Contest ✨
Build stories w/ index cards—characters, plots, possibilities—then pin them to the #CommunityTech Garden board 🌱
🎟️ sliding scale ($0+) RSVP: earthconvergence.org/emc
Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social, Karl Schroeder, @karlschroeder.bsky.social, Arati Prabhakar, @aratip.bsky.social, Henry Farrell: @himself.bsky.social, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Hannu Rajaniemi, & Ida Yoshinaga.
We are so thrilled to have this group.
Imagine this group of individuals talking about YOUR protopian fiction short story...
We are thrilled to announce the official Judging Panels of the 2026 Protopian Prize😎🔮🕊️
Gideon Lichfield @glichfield.bsky.social, Ruthanna Emrys @r-emrys.bsky.social, Kevin Kelly @kevin2kelly.bsky.social...
Update: we have added some more EPIC judges to the panel!
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social
Deji Bryce Olukotun
Hannu Rajaniemi
Join us for our official launch event on Wednesday, April 22nd at 12pm EST!
We’ll be introducing the prize, hosts & planning committee, our esteemed judges, and answering any questions you might have.
Register here: luma.com/sygvk1ms
We are so grateful for our sponsors who are making this contest possible!
The Center for Cultural Innovation
The Grants Innovation Lab at Metagov
@publicai.network
We are seeking previously unpublished short stories of 500 - 6,000 words.
The prize pot is currently $3,000 for each category, with stretch goals going higher! 💰
Submissions will be open May 1 - July 31, 2026. Prize announcements anticipated September 2026.
In our inaugural year, we present prizes in 2 categories:
1) Public AI: Imagine AI development, policy, & tools, built for--& on a foundation of--public good.
2) Democratic Futures: Imagine institutions, tools, & organizational methods that enhance public autonomy & shared control over our future.
The judging panel for this contest is an incredible group from the worlds of storytelling, AI/Political Science, and policy including:
@glichfield.bsky.social
@r-emrys.bsky.social
@kevin2kelly.bsky.social
@annaleen.bsky.social
@karlschroeder.bsky.social
@aratip.bsky.social
Ida Yoshinaga
Announcing The Protopian Prize | Fiction Contest 🕊️
Write the story of humanity’s future...
The Protopian Prize is a fiction contest inviting you to share your vision of people working toward liberatory futures, meeting obstacles, & making real change.
protopianprize.com
We love our RDs!!!
Liz Barry - @lizbarry.bsky.social
Josh Tan - @thelastjosh.bsky.social
Seth Frey - @enfascination.com
Michael Zargham - @blockscience.bsky.social
Amber Case - @calmtechinstitute.bsky.social
Evan Miyazono
Ellie Rennie
Eugene Leventhal
Primavera De Filippi
(and others)
Updates from Metagov Research - March 2026
Metagov's Research Directors are up to some really neat stuff! Here's a snapshot from across Public AI, Interoperable & Deliberative Tools, Web 3, Calm Tech Institute, and other research areas.
open.substack.com/pub/metagov/...
Learn more about Metagov & join our interdisciplinary research collective: metagov.org/join/community
We are so proud & excited to share these updates from Metagov Research Director Amber Case @case.bsky.social
Join us for an upcoming Metagov seminar with Case on Feb 11th! luma.com/lzuyukt1
Project Updates from The Calm Tech Institute - January 2026
Complete Calm Tech Certified™ Product List, successful CES 2026 booth, international press coverage, conference keynotes, and what's on the horizon for this year.
Read the full article on our Substack: metagov.substack.com/p/project-up...
Hot off the Substack press!
Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention (Digital Zine Release)
Check out our latest community-led research output and learn about how to leverage Metagov's community infrastructure for collaborations.
metagov.substack.com/p/collective...
Huge shoutout to so many community contributors for jumping into the doc, adding, editing, and collaborating on this effort!
That's how we do it at Metagov🔥
With this digital zine, our goals were:
1) break AI into distinct tech stack layers
2) describe ways to insert collective governance structures & processes at each layer
3) point to existing, real-world projects steering that layer toward meaningful collective governance
Like many collaborations in our community, it all started with a shared Google Doc (s/o @ntnsndr.in)...
The Metagov community proudly presents "Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention"
metagov.org/cg-ai/
If we're going to build AI at all, it'd BETTER BE to do good, to empower people, & to help us solve the most important problems that face humanity and our planet!
@aspendigital.bsky.social is seeking input from food systems practitioners by Sept 30:
www.aspendigital.org/feeding-the-... #UNGA #SDG2
The latest from our Research Director Josh Tan:
International Access to Swiss AI's Apertus Language Model Now Available Through the Public AI Inference Utility: publicai.co
Full Press Release: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Join us on Wednesday July 30th at 12 PM ET for Metagov Seminar:
@lukethorburn.com - Research Fellow at AI & Democracy Foundation will present on the Democracy Levels Framework.
Learn more and register here - lu.ma/grmr04ke
Join us on Wednesday July 23 at 12 PM ET for Metagov Seminar: @kelani.bsky.social presents on Transfer Data Trust.
TRANSFER Data Trust is a decentralized artist-owned archive and cooperative value exchange network. (http://transfer.art
Learn more and register here - lu.ma/wondemt3
