NextSpace Case Study
A system for building, configuring, and measuring distinct AI personas for deliberative research.
Overview
AI-facilitated events are new territory, and most of the interesting design decisions live in the moments no one talks about: when should an AI facilitator step in, when should it get out of the way, and how does a live group of people come to trust an AI participant enough to actually engage with it? Get those choices wrong and you either have a bot that talks over people or one nobody notices is there.
My Role
I started as a strong contributor to NextSpace's early design under the product manager who preceded me, and grew into ownership of the platform's design over time. I now lead both the visual and UX design for NextSpace, including the interaction architecture and the handoff patterns that govern when Berkie, the platform's AI facilitator, steps in versus when it holds back.
What I built
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Co-developed Berkie's phase-based intervention system across welcome, ongoing facilitation, polls, and closing, including throttling logic built with Jen Hickey to keep the AI's presence calibrated to the room
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Designed an early version of the live captioning feature
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Designed a bounded, personality-configured pseudonym icebreaker flow, with clear scope rules for what the AI should and shouldn't answer
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Authored Berkie's reference document
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Led the platform's visual design system alongside its interaction design
The Impact
NextSpace is now Berkman Klein's mandated platform for deliberative events across the center. I've presented the work at Brookings, the Navigate Digital Policy Leadership Summit, CSUN, and Harvard's inaugural Accessibility Summit AI track.