More and more technologists are thinking seriously about the societal impact of technology, yet there are a dearth of opportunities to bring theory into practice. Students are ushered into career fairs and internships with vague promises of "tech for good," but are left alone to figure out what the hell that really means.
We're excited to introduce the Reboot Student Fellowship: a program for students to explore tech, humanity, and power through a guided book club, writing workshop, and community mentorship.
The first cohort will run from February 14 to April 4. We plan to accept 15-20 fellows reading and writing across four interest areas: race, labor, business, and government.
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👉 Apply at http://bit.ly/reboot-fellowship by January 20, or read on for more details.
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The fellowship is run by Reboot and sponsored by Stanford's Public Interest Technology Lab.
📖 what will you do?
The fellowship runs from February 14 to April 4. It is free and fully virtual.
Each week, you'll spend around 1 hour in mentored peer groups, 1 hour in a fellowship-wide session, and 2-3 hours of external reading and writing:
- A book club among peers: Each peer group will receive a relevant book to read, discuss, and then meet the author for a private Q&A. Each peer group will focus on one book and topic:
- Race: Black Software by Charlton McIlwain
- Labor: Voices from the Valley and "The Making of the Tech Worker's Movement" by Ben Tarnoff
- Government: Future Histories by Lizzie O'Shea
- Business: No Filter by Sarah Frier
- Writing and workshopping a short piece: In the second half of the fellowship, peer groups will research, write, and peer-edit a short work to be published in the Reboot newsletter.
- Real-life applications: Fellowship-wide activities are dedicated to making the theoretical practical: exploring public interest tech careers, current events, and group mixers. Mentors will meet 1:1 with every fellow to discuss their goals and match them to resources.
👩🏻💻 who's this for?
If this sounds exciting, then apply here! It'll take around 20-30 minutes, and applications are reviewed until January 20 at 11:59pm.
Here's who we're looking for:
- You're a young person: a college undergrad or between the ages of 18-22.
- You're passionate about technology, humanity, and power. You've done research, run a campaign, or built a product interrogating these issues. You're excited to connect theory and practice.
- You're a lively and thoughtful discussion partner. You thrive in seminars and small groups. You ask lots of questions. You're comfortable pushing back (politely) on others' opinions and suggesting your own—but you're not a troll or provocateur.
- You're keen to read and write, regardless of past experience. You're a self-motivated learner who actually does the readings (don't worry, you'll get to assign most yourself). You're eager to put pen to paper and revise your work with others.
- You're excited to meet some incredible people: friends, mentors, and collaborators**.**
💬 questions or comments?