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Fall Semester is Underway!
Join us as we dive into another exciting school year in the world of civic data, research, and design in Greater Boston and beyond.
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In This Issue:
- Research Spotlight: Mary Dibinga and the BLA Research Festival
- Updates from BARI on a Busy Summer
- Job Opportunities in Civic Research and Data Science
- Resources and Events in Civic Research, Data, and Design
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Research Spotlight:
Mary Dibinga and the BLA Research Festival
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In April 2025, BARI invited the AP Seminar and AP Research classes at Boston Latin Academy (BLA), led by Mary Dibinga, to attend BARI Conference: Greater Boston’s Insight-to-Impact Summit at Roxbury Community College, where researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and community leaders shared their work on using data and technology to better understand and serve the region. The enthusiasm of the day’s events led to a partnership to pilot the BLA Research Festival in June. It is an educator-driven civic research festival that celebrates the civic research, data, and tech work of young people across the city. The winners of the "Best Project" awards at the inaugural festival in June 2025, Eliana Jean (Harassment, Sexism, and Inappropriate Content on Roblox) and Gianna Nahim (The Importance of Being American: Why Some British Musicians are More Incentivised to Use American Accents Opposed to Their Own Accent), were invited to present at BARI Conference 2026!
As a new school year begins, we checked in with Ms. Dibinga, an English teacher with 25 years of experience in BPS, including 13 years at BLA, about how the BARI partnership impacts students’ experiences.
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How did BARI Conference 2025 align with the AP Seminar and AP Research classes you were teaching at BLA last year?
I was excited about the opportunity because I have a deep commitment to helping students see themselves in higher-level academic work. Students, on the other hand, were unsure about attending a professional conference because they weren’t sure about how they’d be received as teenagers in an “adult” space. It was great that Professor Kim Lucas came to BLA that morning and helped students think about how to introduce themselves, engage in conversations, and ask questions of presenters. She emphasized that a conference is set up so that attendees can grapple with ideas together. Attending BARI Conference taught my students that in academic spaces, asking questions demonstrates that you belong. There’s often a misperception that you need to know the answers, but this experience showed them that it’s all about asking questions and searching for more knowledge. I loved watching students with all kinds of backgrounds, academic skills, and lived experiences feel welcome and able to access the panels and discussions. Their classes gave them a foundation to enter the conference and make choices based on their interests. Often, special opportunities are only provided to the most-prepared students, but this was a space where ALL students could participate and walk away excited about research. In fact, by lunchtime, some students chose to stay on at the Conference on their own.
What made you decide to launch the BLA Research Festival?
BARI Conference inspired us to create a space for students to share their own research more broadly. We opened the Research Festival to all students, even if they hadn’t taken AP Seminar or Research, and it was a huge success! The festival gave students a chance to do something “real” vs. an exercise in class and helped them understand how academic work can impact issues that are relevant to their communities. For example, Zaylie Levy-Fraunholtz did a project about community support for Boston’s White Stadium renovation project. Having members of the BARI network serve as judges really brought that connection home for students too. This was a powerful way to harness the power of bringing together community members, in this case, high schoolers, with the researchers who have the tools and language to help them deepen their research skills and understanding of the process.
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What are your hopes for other BPS teachers and students in AP Seminar and AP Research classes this year? The potential of a partnership with BARI and the broader civic research community is huge. There’s a big reshaping in AP courses across the board to help students build their research and writing skills and I hope that teachers and students across the city will participate in BARI Conference and the Research Festival in the same way that we’ve had science fairs for years. This experience of researching and presenting new work needs to be accessible to students in all our schools at all levels. Boston is an academic city and this partnership can become the heart of how young people in the community engage more deeply in academia during their K-12 years.
As for the BARI team, we are excited to continue our partnership with BLA and build connections with educators and students across the city in the 2025-26 school year!
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Updates from BARI
We’ve been working hard this summer! Here are some highlights:
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BARI’s Boston Data Portal now has updated data!
The updated data include 911 and 311 calls and building permits through 2024 and property assessments for 2025 for Boston as well as the most recent American Community Survey release for all of Massachusetts. You can visualize the data on the Boston Area Research Map or download them (with full documentation) through the Boston Data Library. The data are ideal for anyone and everyone curious about crime, housing, land use, or other topics related to Boston's communities and can be used for research, advocacy, planning, and more! We especially encourage educators and students to use them in courses where a direct window into Boston's communities would be helpful.
If you’d like to learn how to use the Boston Data Portal in your work or advocacy, please JOIN US for a FREE community workshop:
- Monday, November 10th
- 5:30 to 7:00 PM
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Northeastern Crossing, 1175 Tremont Street (right at Ruggles Station).
Register here and bring a friend or colleague!
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BARI’s AI and Ethics educational outreach program, What The Tech? (WTT?) had its second run in Spring and Summer 2025
After a successful launch in 2024, BARI ran the second iteration of the WTT? this year, which included a student workshop in the spring followed by a summer internship. The spring workshop focused on the ethics, potential, and perils of artificial intelligence and the summer internship dug into the larger question of where emergent technologies like AI intersect with open spaces and human rights in the City of Boston.
Thanks to a new partnership with the NU Law Lab at the Northeastern University School of Law and continuing collaboration with the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), this year’s internship saw four BPS high schoolers diving into rigorous investigations of the open spaces that matter most to them in the city. The end result was a zine written, illustrated, and designed by the interns. The project reflected that much has changed in the world of AI since 2024 and BARI and WTT? met that change head-on!
This month, members of the BARI team and Tech Goes Home met with DoIT to present the website that functions as a final report on the inaugural run of the program. The website is now live! Check it out to follow the journey of WTT? and access the lesson plans and deliverables that were created along the way!
| | Job Opportunities in Civic Research and Data Science: | |
Resources and Events in Civic Research, Data, & Design
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Sasaki Foundation Event on Designing Mobility Equity on September 25th
From age and ability to economic status and gender, equity in the public realm raises complex and critical questions for designers. This event brings together leaders in mobility and urban design to explore how equity is embedded in both process and outcome. Together, they’ll tackle themes like climate justice, safety, policy, and emerging mobility trends—offering insights you can bring directly back to your own practice.
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Help shape the future of democracy in Massachusetts! Join the Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement (MAPLE) at the Massachusetts State House to explore how digital tools can better connect lawmakers with the perspectives, insights, and priorities of their constituents.
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InnovateUS Workshop Series
Brought to you in partnership with the GovLab, the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, and the Reboot Democracy Blog.
Learn how to design effective and efficient AI-enhanced citizen engagement that translates public input into meaningful outcomes. Hosted by Reboot Democracy and the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard.
Explore how AI tools—when used responsibly and transparently—can strengthen communication, broaden outreach, and counter disinformation. Hosted by former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson and John Wihbey, Director of the AI-Media Strategies Lab (AIMES Lab) at Northeastern University.
Sign up here.
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