Mer Joyce

Mer (pronounced “mair”) is the Founder and Principal of Do Big Good, a human-centered design firm based on Seattle. Her work includes managing OSI’s effort to co-design an open source AI definition, which will be the focus of her session. Mer has worked for over a decade at the intersection of research, policy, innovation, and social change. She was New Media Operations Manager on President Obama’s 2008 campaign, co-wrote and led the creation of the 2010 book Digital Activism Decoded, and designed and managed a first-of-its-kind digital activism data set as a Graduate Research Fellow of the National Science Foundation. Mer has collaborated with nonprofits, foundations, think tanks, and firms in North America, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, including the Open Government Partnership, Microsoft, and Google VR.

Mer undertook graduate studies in Public Policy and Communication at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the University of Washington and undergraduate studies in History and Africana Studies at Vassar College and the University of Ghana, respectively. Having lived in Ghana, Morocco, Chile, and India, Mer now lives in Seattle, where she enjoys biking, superhero movies, and intentional communities.

Pronouns: She/Her