Dr. Aaron McKain, M.S.L.
Technology Ethics, Law, & Politics IFirst Amendment
Bipartisan Coalition Building I Higher Ed Leadership & Innovation
Arts Advocacy & Creative PR
professor | executive director I advocate I artist & curator I communications strategist
Dr. Aaron McKain, M.S.L.
professor | advocate | executive director I artist & curator | communication strategist
Aaron McKain, Ph.D., M.S.L.
What Dr. McKain does:
We are at the crisis moment for our country, digital civil rights, free speech principles, and colleges.
We are at the crisis moment for our country, digital civil rights, free speech principles,
and schools.
Which is why -- in 2018 -- I left liberal higher education and became a diversity hire at a Evangelical college to bring the left and right --and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -together to fight against the technology tearing us apart.
Which is why -- in 2018 -- I left liberal higher education and became a diversity hire at a Evangelical college to bring the left and right --and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -together to fight against the technology tearing us apart.
The problem is code and culture.
And if we don't fix it now
-- or keep letting partisan hacks on both sides program in their ideological insanity --
we're all screwed.
Digital Ethics, Law, & Politics:
Technology Ethics, Law & Politics
Twenty years of proven and bi-partisan solutions
for just, free, and sane
digital world for everyone.
Executive Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Digital Humanity
Free Speech & Bi-Partisan Coalition Building
Two decades of cutting-edge teaching, curriculum, research, and advocacy to fight for free speech and catalyze allegedly impossible cross-cultural conversations.
Thank you to my clients and partners
who prove that people can still put differences aside and work together to fix this @#$# mess we're in.
ACLU MINNESOTA
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
LITTLE EARTH NATIVE HUD COMMUNITY
CODED BIAS (NETFLIX)
BYTES MEDIA
TAKE ACTION MINNESOTA
MN LEGAL RIGHTS CENTER
CIVIC NEBRASKA
MN EQUAL JUSTICE RESEARCH CENTER
MN DEPT. OF HEALTH
SAFETY NOT SURVEILLANCE
GUNS DOWN, LOVE UP
PROTECT MN
SECOND CHANCE COALITION
URBAN EDUCATORS
RECLAIM THE BLOCK
ACLU NEBRASKA
EDUCATION AND TRAININGS
NORTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
INDIANA UNIVERSITY: OSTROM WORKING GROUP
HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
UNIV OF WISCONSIN: LA CROSSE
ST. PAUL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
IOWA BAR ASSOCIATION
NEBRASKA BAR ASSOCIATION
DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LITERACY NARRATIVES
NORTH SUBURBAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS
NORTHEAST SCULPTURE GALLERY
MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
STEVE FLETCHER
ABDI WARSAME
LATRISHA VETAW
PHILIPE CUNNINGHAM
SAINT PAUL CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
MITRA JILALI
NELSIE YANG
RICHFIELD, MINNESOTA CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
SIMON TRAUTMANN
MINNESOTA STATE HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES & SENATORS
PEGGY SCOTT
SCOTT LUCERO
DR. STEVE JENSEN
JEREMY MUNSON
Higher Education Leadership & Innovation
North Central University
Hamline University
Director and Associate Professor
School of English, Digital Media, & Communication Arts
Assistant Professor
Division of Rhetoric and Digital Media Arts
Speechwriter/Communication Strategist
Office of the President
Ohio State University
Education Consultant
McGraw-Hill, Anti-Defamation League, OSTROM Working Group @ Indiana Univ.
Arts Advocacy & Creative PR
North Central University
Hamline University
Director and Associate Professor
School of English, Digital Media, & Communication Arts
Assistant Professor
Division of Rhetoric and Digital Media Arts
Speechwriter/Communication Strategist
Office of the President
Ohio State University
Education Consultant
McGraw-Hill, Anti-Defamation League, OSTROM Working Group @ Indiana Univ.
Two decades of cutting-edge teaching, curriculum, research, and advocacy to fight for free speech and catalyze allegedly impossible cross-cultural conversations.
Creative Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Aesthetic Advocacy
Curator/Critic/Artist
And because me and my students lives' have been
Dead Poet's Society
meets Black Mirror bananas:
Technology Ethics,
Law, & Politics
Twenty years of proven and bi-partisan solutions
for just, free, and sane
digital world for everyone.
Executive Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Digital Humanity
Public Health & Disability
I'm rocking a genetic condition and a lifetime of PTSD. Getting shot at in my living room in North Minneapolis on Halloween 2021 didn't help.
But me and my also X teams are proving
that we can still make a difference by giving voice to those who have been silenced.
ACLU MN I ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
RECLAIM THE BLOCK I URBAN EDUCATORS
LITTLE EARTH NATIVE HUD COMMUNITY
NATIVE YOUTH ARTS CENTER
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY IPROJECT MN
SECOND CHANCE MN
GUNS DOWN, LOVE UP
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY
NORTH SURBURBAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS
NORTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY I HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LITERACY NARRATIVES
CZONG MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
TWIN CITIES ZINE FEST
FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK
ELY CENTER FOR THE ARTS,
NORTHEAST SCULPTURE GALLERY
ELY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
PROJECT PROJECT
Free Speech and Bi-Partisan Coalition Building
Two decades of cutting-edge teaching, curriculum, research, and advocacy to fight for free speech and catalyze allegedly impossible cross-cultural conversations.
Executive Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Digital Humanity
Creative Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Aesthetic Advocacy
Co-Founder
Commonplace (McGraw-Hill)
20 Years of Proven Solutions
CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Institute for Digital Humanity
CO-FOUNDER
Commonplace
Free Speech & Bi-Partisan
Coalition Building
20 Years of Proven Solutions
CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Institute for Digital Humanity
CO-FOUNDER
Commonplace
CONSULTS & SPEAKS ON:
Privacy, AI Ethics and Bias,
Disinformation,
the Dangers of Filter Bubbles,
Hate Speech, the First Amendment,
Mental Health
Education Entreprenuer
& Higher Ed Revolutionary
Whether working as a professor, a Director of a School, or a speechwriter for Time Magazine's "University President of the Year," Dr. McKain has spent twenty years revolutionizing his (sometimes not so small) corners of higher education.
-
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Proven plug-and-play free speech curricula and compliances solutions to network diverse students, catalyze constructive civic dialogue and protect faculty.
SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES
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Artists, Curators, and Critics
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Companies and Platforms
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SITE MANAGEMENT
...by using the 1st Amendment and technology ethics as a bridge to bring the left and right -- and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -- back together.
And, f**k me, it worked. Then -- right when we were supposed to go national -- I got shot at.....
I put my money where my mouth is and
Left liberal higher ed and became a diversity hire at a Evangelical school in 2018 to try to save America...
...by using the 1st Amendment and technology ethics as a bridge to bring the left and right -- and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -- back together.
And, f**k me, it worked.
Became a diversity hire at a Bible college to bring the left and right together on Digital Ethics and Free Speech.
Everyone thought I was nuts.
Here's the crazy thing: It worked.
[;ese wprl
...by using the 1st Amendment and technology ethics as a bridge to bring the left and right -- and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -- back together.
And, f**k me, it worked.
Became a diversity hire at a Bible college to bring the left and right together on Digital Ethics and Free Speech.
Everyone thought I was nuts.
Here's the crazy thing: It worked.
Left liberal higher ed and became a diversity hire at a Evangelical school in 2018 to try to save America...
...by using the 1st Amendment and technology ethics as a bridge to bring the left and right -- and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -- back together.
And, f**k me, it worked.
Became a diversity hire at a Bible college to bring the left and right together on Digital Ethics and Free Speech.
Everyone thought I was nuts.
Here's the crazy thing: It worked.
We were digitally divided through acts of willful
informational warfare and encoded stupidity.
Now we are heavily armed,half-crazy, and totally traumatized.
Free speech and civil civic dialogue are essential for the country to survive and heal.
And without them, there really
isn't a country to save.
Thank you to my clients and partners
who prove that people can still put differences aside and work together to fix this @#$# mess we're in.
ACLU MN I ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
RECLAIM THE BLOCK I URBAN EDUCATORS
LITTLE EARTH NATIVE HUD COMMUNITY
NATIVE YOUTH ARTS CENTER
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY IPROJECT MN
SECOND CHANCE MN
GUNS DOWN, LOVE UP
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY
NORTH SURBURBAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS
NORTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY I HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LITERACY NARRATIVES
CZONG MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
TWIN CITIES ZINE FEST
FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK
ELY CENTER FOR THE ARTS,
NORTHEAST SCULPTURE GALLERY
ELY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
PROJECT PROJECT
Higher Education Innovation
and Reform
Anti-Defamation League I Bytes Media
Creighton Univ. I North Central Univ.
Univ. of Wisconsin: La Crosse I Indiana Univ.
NPR's Next Team Challenge I SXSW EDU
K-12, COLLEGE, GRAD SCHOOL
cutting edge/non-partisan
Minnesota Legal Rights Center I Nebraska Bar Association I Iowa Bar Association American Bar Association I I Little Earth Native HUD Community I Lewis and Clark University I Tulain Valley Creates
PROFESSIONAL TRAININGS
lawyers/advocates/policymakers
Empowering Students to Fix The World
(and Protect the First A
Amendment) Since X.
First Amendment
since 2003.
Executive Director
The Institute for Digital Humanity
Creative Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Aesthetic Advocacy
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
since 2003.
since 2003.
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
since 2003.
since 2003.
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
since 2003.
working for a just, free, and sane
digital world for everyone
since 2003
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
since 2003.
Millions are sick. And silenced.
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
since 2003.
Millions are sick. And silenced.
Fighting for a just, free, and sane digital future for
since 2003.
Digital Rights are Civil Rights:
Race and Tech
INTERNATIONAL JURIED ART EXHIBITION
& CIVIC FORUM
Minneapolis, MN and online. February 2021
The Institute for Aesthetic Advocacy I ACLU Minnesota
Native Youth Arts Collective I North Central University
Post ME Coalition I Councilman Steve Fletcher (Minneapolis, MN)
INTERNATIONAL JURIED ART
EXHIBITION & CIVIC FORUM
Minneapolis, MN and online. February 2021
(At the height of the pandemic.)
Contaminated:
Mental Illness & COVID
All Bullets Shatter:
Crime and Trauma
Living Art Exhibition and Public Forum
Minneapolis, MN and Online. May 2022.
Over 26,000 shots were fired in Minneapolis between January and September of 2021. Behind the numbers, however, there is always an “uncounted” story of trauma – for victims and their families – that can’t be quantified.
In partnership with
Guns Down, Love Up I Protect Minnesota
Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives
Urban Educators I North Suburban Center for the Arts I Minnesota Second Chance Coalition and Faculty from Ohio State, Georgia State, Portland State, and Pittsburg Univ. Prison Writing Project
Strategy
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Execution
Describe the service and how customers or clients can benefit from it. It’s an opportunity to add a short description with relevant details, like pricing, duration and how to book.
It’s all about a dialogue
A few words from our clients. See client stories for more.
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Maria Goncavales, CFO
Laderate
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Michael Soveign
Seven Energy
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Jeffrey Cohen, CEO
Nato Productions
Dr. McKain's Partners and Clients
CZONG MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
TWIN CITIES ZINE FEST
FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK
ELY CENTER FOR THE ARTS,
NORTHEAST SCULPTURE GALLERY
ELY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
PROJECT PROJECT
ACLU MN I ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
RECLAIM THE BLOCK I URBAN EDUCATORS
LITTLE EARTH NATIVE HUD COMMUNITY
NATIVE YOUTH ARTS CENTER
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY IPROJECT MN
SECOND CHANCE MN
GUNS DOWN, LOVE UP
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY
NORTH SURBURBAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS
NORTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY I HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LITERACY NARRATIVES
Higher Education
Leadership & Innovation
I might be the only dude with the CV to save our schools in time.
Executive Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Digital Humanity
Arts Advocacy & Creative PR
Two decades of cutting-edge teaching, curriculum, research, and advocacy to fight for free speech and catalyze allegedly impossible cross-cultural conversations.
Creative Director/Co-Founder
The Institute for Aesthetic Advocacy
Curator/Critic/Artist
ACLU MN I ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
RECLAIM THE BLOCK I URBAN EDUCATORS
LITTLE EARTH NATIVE HUD COMMUNITY
NATIVE YOUTH ARTS CENTER
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY IPROJECT MN
SECOND CHANCE MN
GUNS DOWN, LOVE UP
INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL HUMANITY
NORTH SURBURBAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS
NORTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY I HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF LITERACY NARRATIVES
Free Speech and Bi-Partisan Coalition Building
Two decades of cutting-edge teaching, curriculum, research, and advocacy to fight for free speech and catalyze allegedly impossible cross-cultural conversations.
Thank you to my partners, clients, and allies:
For proving that all Americans can stop cancelling each other and re-embrace our common humanity.
Which is why -- in 2018 -- I left liberal higher education and became a diversity hire at a Evangelical college to bring the left and right --and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -together to fight against the technology tearing us apart.
Which is why -- in 2018 -- I left liberal higher education and became a diversity hire at a Evangelical college to bring the left and right --and Christians, Muslims, and Jewish-Americans -together to fight against the technology tearing us apart.
The problem is code and culture.
And if we don't fix it now
-- or keep letting partisan hacks on both sides program in their ideological insanity --
we're all screwed.
North Central University
Hamline University
Director and Associate Professor
School of English, Digital Media, & Communication Arts
Assistant Professor
Division of Rhetoric and Digital Media Arts
Speechwriter/Communication Strategist
Office of the President
Ohio State University
Education Consultant
McGraw-Hill, Anti-Defamation League, OSTROM Working Group @ Indiana Univ.