Harmony Labs
Brian Waniewski is an experienced professional in media research and educational design, currently serving as Executive Director at Harmony Labs since May 2016. With a strong focus on reshaping society's relationship with media through science and creativity, Brian has previously held significant roles such as Partner at POP-OP, Managing Director at the Institute of Play, and Managing Partner at Popular Operations. Additional experience includes serving as Program Director at GRACE Communications Foundation and Product Director at Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve. Brian's freelance work as a poet, editor, and speechwriter further demonstrates a diverse creative background. Academic credentials include an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa, an MA in German Literature and Language from Technische Universität Berlin, and a BA in History and English Literature from William & Mary.
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Harmony Labs
We are a media research lab, using science, data, and creativity to research and reshape our relationship with media. For more than a decade, Harmony Labs has helped storytellers and strategists, decision makers and dreamers, harness the immense power of media to shape a positive, pluralistic future. With the Narrative Observatory, for the first time ever, we’re harnessing powerful industry relationships to deliver one-of-a-kind data infrastructure that empowers partners to find, reach, and resonate with the right audience in today’s media minefield. The Narrative Observatory delivers audience-based insights, narrative and network analysis, and empirical validation of cultural strategy and content—all derived from the actual behavior of real people and true audiences, not survey results, demographic groups, or inauthentic online activity. We work with a wide range of partners on issues of existential importance, like climate, gun violence, political corruption, artificial intelligence, and more, using an approach to research that is rigorous, participatory, and public. One of the first papers we co-authored looked at fracking narratives in documentary film. The outputs we’ve created with our partners include websites, presentations, peer-reviewed publications, toolkits, curriculum, interactives, white papers, and media. Founded by John S. Johnson in 2008, Harmony Labs is a 501(c)3 incorporated in New York State. Funders include Atlantic Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Google, and more.