To Start Talking, Stop Texting

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

Text messages can make us feel constantly connected to the people we care about. But texting, and the ubiquitous presence of our phones, can also have the opposite effect. Who hasn’t had the experience of sitting around a dinner table with family or friends when everyone is using his or her phone to chat with other people rather than talking face-to-face? Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé professor of the social studies of science and technology at MIT and the winner of the 2016 Zócalo Book Prize for Reclaiming Conversation: …

By Sherry Turkle | May 10, 2016

How the Politics of Resentment Corrupted Wisconsin’s Culture of Nice

Savvy Candidates Spent the Last Decade Pitting Rural Voters Against City Folks

By Katherine Cramer | April 1, 2016

The April 5 presidential primaries in Wisconsin are expected to be close in both parties, and critical to deciding the Republican contest between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. And the …

How Riding the Rails Can Change Cities and Lives

Don’t Judge L.A.’s New Train Lines by the Number of Cars They Take Off the Road. Their Potential to Nurture New Communities Is Incalculable.

By Joe Mathews | March 3, 2016

What will the railroad bring us?

That was the question Henry George sought to answer for California in his famous 1868 essay, “What the Railroad Will Bring Us,” on the eve …

Martin Luther King Jr. as Folk Art

Street Portraits Across L.A. Show How Different Neighborhoods Interpret the Civil Rights Leader in Their Own Image

By Camilo José Vergara | January 15, 2016

I did not set out to document murals of Martin Luther King Jr. in American cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit. I just happened to find …

How Our Scrappy Soccer Team Is Giving Hope to Underdogs Everywhere

Thanks to the Foxes, the City of Leicester Has a Shot at Greatness

By Rob Tanner | January 11, 2016

My hometown of Leicester, like many English cities that aren’t named London, Liverpool, or Manchester, doesn’t get a lot of respect—or, to put it more bluntly, notice. As only the …

How to Reclaim Broken Public Places

From Dirty Streets in Bangalore to a Ragged River in L.A., Revival Requires Community

By Marianne Krasny | January 6, 2016

How do you revive a broken place?

That’s a question that I have pondered for more than 15 years, visiting and reading about places broken after long slow declines—from vacant lots …

community

To Start Talking, Stop Texting

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

How the Politics of Resentment Corrupted Wisconsin’s Culture of Nice

Savvy Candidates Spent the Last Decade Pitting Rural Voters Against City Folks

How Riding the Rails Can Change Cities and Lives

Don’t Judge L.A.’s New Train Lines by the Number of Cars They Take Off the Road. Their Potential to Nurture New Communities Is Incalculable.

Martin Luther King Jr. as Folk Art

Street Portraits Across L.A. Show How Different Neighborhoods Interpret the Civil Rights Leader in Their Own Image

How Our Scrappy Soccer Team Is Giving Hope to Underdogs Everywhere

Thanks to the Foxes, the City of Leicester Has a Shot at Greatness

How to Reclaim Broken Public Places

From Dirty Streets in Bangalore to a Ragged River in L.A., Revival Requires Community

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The Peculiar Endurance of the Physical Signature

Why Do We Still Have to Print out Forms, Sign Them, and Scan Them Back In?

It Takes a Village–Or a Friend’s Parents

They’re Not Mom and Dad. In Some Ways, They’re Better.

Can We Close the Empathy Gap?

Sixth Annual Zócalo Book Prize Winner Sherry Turkle Thinks We Can Learn How to Talk—and Connect—Again as Humans

What Happened to Digital Contact Tracing’s Summer of Potential?

I Saw the Challenges of Harnessing Digital Data for Public Health up Close During the Pandemic

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The Peculiar Endurance of the Physical
Signature