Digital systems increasingly shape public life, from sensors embedded in city infrastructure to AI-enabled systems that influence how services, mobility, and public spaces operate. Yet the technologies shaping our shared environments often remain invisible to the people affected by them.
MakeShift 2026: Accountable Tech by Design invites designers, technologists, researchers, artists, and advocates to reimagine how we design and govern digital systems to make them more legible, accountable, and trustworthy in public spaces.
Hosted by Helpful Places, Superbloom Design, and the MFA Interaction Design program at the School of Visual Arts, MakeShift 2026 will take place May 20–21, 2026, in New York City during NYC Design Week, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation POSE program.
We are now accepting submissions for call for proposals across two tracks.
Track 1 - Propose a Session
We welcome proposals for talks, workshops, roundtables, design sprints, or community gatherings that explore questions around AI accountability, civic technology, digital governance, public infrastructure, and participatory design. Sessions may run up to 90 minutes and should contribute new ideas, practices, or frameworks for designing accountable technology.
Track 2 - Respond to the Design Challenge
Participants may also submit creative projects responding to the Digital Trust for Places & Routines (DTPR) standard—an open-source framework designed to make technologies operating in shared spaces more transparent and understandable.
Projects might include prototypes, research, signage systems, speculative design, installations, or other creative work exploring how design can make digital infrastructure more visible and accountable. Selected projects will be exhibited during NYC Design Week at the School of Visual Arts and featured as part of the conference program.
Who Should Apply
We welcome submissions from designers, artists, researchers, technologists, civic technologists, digital rights advocates, public-sector innovators, and community organizers working at the intersection of design, technology, governance, and digital justice.
How To Apply
Submission deadline: 10 April, 2026
Submission Guide: https://tinyurl.com/makeshiftguide
Apply Here: https://forms.gle/gbVY6rc93JSmPAcU8
Have Questions?: Contact us at [email protected]