Much ink has been spilled about how Web 2.0, the era of the social networking service, has robbed internet users of their agency and pilfered their data for profit. Social.Wiki, a research project at MIT, aims to significantly streamline the creation of *decentralized social apps* so users can own their identities and data. While Social.Wiki in theory gives users complete agency to create and proliferate social applications, the high barrier to entry of writing applications cannot be ignored: as of writing, users must be experienced web developers to make non-trivial applications. To facilitate the rapid prototyping of social apps, we propose the development of an ontology of social media concepts for use in Social.Wiki applications. Through careful design of the ontology and Social.Wiki’s vertically integrated development platform, we believe we can significantly simplify the development experience for newbies and experienced developers alike.

As of writing, I have continuously been doing various kinds of computer science and math research at MIT for three years now. I have chosen to participate in SuperUROP because it will continue to prepare me for grad school, and because this will be my first research opportunity where I do human-computer interface research, which is one of many things I plan to study while getting my PhD. I hope to have a publication and various artifacts I can be proud of by the end of the end of the program, along with some of the nascent skills of a promising software designer.