Last summer, the MIT Media Lab announced its $250,000 prize for Disobedient Research, and now the nominations process has launched.
The prize is bankrolled by Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman. It's the largest cash prize being offered at MIT (you don't have to be associated with MIT to enter), and it will go to "responsible, ethical disobedience aimed at challenging the norms, rules, or laws that sustain society's injustices."
You can nominate potential recipients here.
Full disclosure: I'm Activist in Residence for the Media Lab; they supply an annual grant to EFF that pays for my work in fighting DRM.
We are now accepting nominations for the first-ever MIT Media Lab Disobedience Award, which carries a $250,000 cash prize, no strings attached.
This award will go to a person or group engaged in what we believe is an extraordinary example of disobedience for the benefit of society.What does this mean? Societies and institutions lean toward order and away from chaos. While necessary for functioning, structure can also stifle creativity, flexibility, and productive change–and ultimately, society's health and sustainability. This is true from academia, to corporations, governments, the sciences, and our local communities.
With this award, we honor work that impacts society in positive ways, and is consistent with a set of key principles. These principles include non-violence, creativity, courage, and taking responsibility for one's actions. This disobedience is not limited to specific disciplines; examples include scientific research, civil rights, freedom of speech, human rights, and the freedom to innovate.
Deadline for submissions is May 1, 2017. Award recipient will be announced live on July 21, 2017.
Rewarding Disobedience
[Jess Sousa/MIT Media Lab]
