As Big Tech algorithms flood our feeds with rage bait, AI slop, and emotionally manipulative content designed to maximize engagement at the expense of our attention and civic health, media literacy educators have more than a pedagogical argument to make. We have tools to build with. The practice of "vibe coding," combined with open web standards like the Fediverse's ActivityPub protocol, now puts genuine alternatives within reach of any educator willing to experiment. Projects like PodCommons, an open-source AI-assisted community podcast discovery platform built WITHOUT ads, tracking, or black-box algorithmic manipulation, alongside tools like the Federated Reader Bot, demonstrate what educator-built community-controlled digital spaces can actually look like in practice. Join the MediaEd Club on June 1st as we explore these ideas and tools together. We'll highlight several functional, educator-created vibe-coded media curation platforms, and consider how we can experiment together in building the kind of community-driven, serendipity-friendly information environments we, our students and our colleagues deserve.
Date: Monday, June 1, 2026
Time: 12 pm EST | 6 pm CET | 10:30 pm ISTÂ
LOCATION: Register here for the webinar series.
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Recommended Media (please preview before attending)
- Video and article: Introducing PodCommons 1.0 (Wes Fryer, 20 May 2026)
- Video: Fediverse House Highlights - SXSW 2025 (Flipboard YouTube, 21 April 2025)
- Video: I Just Want to Fix Things (Hank Green, 19 May 2026, 12.5 min)
Optional Media (enrich your learning)
- GitHub Projects: PodCommons, Federated Reader Bot and News with WesÂ
- Podcast: 100. A Better Internet for Humans with Ethan Zuckerman and Mike Sugarman (Reimaging the Internet, 15 May 2024)
- Video: Move Fast and Break Kings, with Cory Doctorow (Dot Social YouTube, 24 April 2025, 61 min)
- Book: An Illustrated Field Guide to Social Media - A look at alternative logics for social media published in connection with “Reimagine the Internet” by Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci & Ethan Zuckerman (14 May 2021)
- Podcast: The Fediverse Experiment (Search Engine, 9 Jan 2026)
- Podcast: Architecting a New Era of Community, with Blacksky’s Rudy Fraser (Mike McCue, Dot Social, 20 May 2025)
- Journal Article: "Good Vibrations? A Qualitative Study of Co-Creation, Communication, Flow, and Trust in Vibe Coding" by Pimenova et al. (University of Michigan / Microsoft Research, 2025)
- Video: Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson (YouTube, 4 min)
- Podcast: Pivoting Out of the Attention Economy, with Medium’s Tony Stubblebine (Dot Social, 16 Jan 2024)
- Article: "Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough" (Kevin Roose, New York Times, February 27, 2025)
Host: Dr. Wesley FryerÂ
Wesley Fryer, PhD, is a middle school STEM and media literacy middle school teacher at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina. As an educational technology “early adopter / innovator” since the late 1990s, Wes continues to share regularly on social media. Learn more on wesfryer.com.
Please get in touch with us if you want to suggest future Media Club meeting topics to discuss an article, book, podcast, video or any media related to our interests.
Dr. Wes Fryer, Webinar Series Manager |Â wes.fryer@providenceday.org Â
* AI Image (for this webinar) generated by Wes Fryer using Claude and Gemini.