Save the date: MakeShift 2026 — happening this May 20 + 21 in NYC alongside NYC Design Week.
Organized with Superbloom, Helpful Places and SVA, it’s focused on a core question:
How do we make digital systems in our cities more visible, understandable, and trustworthy?
The program includes:
– sessions on civic tech, AI, governance, digital rights
– DTPR-based design challenge projects
More soon 👀
Register here: https://luma.com/602z282n
Most of the #tech shaping public space isn’t visible. That’s a #design problem!
#MakeShift2026 is looking for people working on ways to make digital systems more legible, accountable & trustworthy.
You can propose:
– a session (talk/workshop/etc.)
– or a project using the DTPR framework
📍 MakeShift 2026, #NYCDesignWeek
⏰ Call For Proposals Deadline: 10 April
If you’ve been sitting on an idea, now’s the time!
✍️ Apply now: https://forms.gle/gbVY6rc93JSmPAcU8
📘 Read our guide: https://tinyurl.com/makeshiftguide
We’re inviting participants to submit proposals for MakeShift 2026: Accountable Tech by Design, a 2-day conference co-hosted by Helpful Places, Superbloom Design, and MFA Interaction Design (ixD) at the School of Visual Arts, Deadline for submissions: 11:59 PM ET, April 10, 2026 Submission guidelines and more information: https://tinyurl.com/makeshiftguide For your convenience, a preview of the application form is available here. Please review our privacy policy and code of conduct before submitting your application. Questions? Contact [email protected] --- Digital systems are shaping public life, accelerating the need for community participation and intervention. MakeShift 2026 is an invitation for designers, technologists, researchers, and advocates to reimagine how we design and govern these systems so they are more legible, accountable, and trustworthy in shared and public spaces. MakeShift 2026 will take place on May 20 and 21, 2026, at 136 W 21st Street, New York City. This event is hosted by Helpful Places, Superbloom Design, and MFA Interaction Design (ixD) at the School of Visual Arts, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation POSE program. Exploratory themes (to be developed further) include: Digital trust is public infrastructure Making invisible systems visible (data flows, sensors, AI decision making, etc) Trust that is relational and community-based Designing institutions, not just interfaces Bridging the public sector, design practitioners, digital rights advocates, and community organizers Accountability as a design practice Design as a tool for shifting power Designing for addressing/redressing harm - reparative design Shifting the design field towards accountability practices Power & participation Who gets to participate in the design and governance of emerging technologies? Terms of engagement; terms of resistance Digital sovereignty and community agency Open source protocols and frameworks for building better systems We’re inviting participants to submit proposals under two tracks: 1) Propose a session and/or 2) Respond to our Design Challenge. You may submit multiple proposals. We will select proposals that most closely align with the event's vision and themes.
Superbloom