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Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, York University, Canada

I am: Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice at York University, and an alumnus of the Fulbright Canada Research Chair program. I'm also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Film at the University of Calgary.

I teach: critical studies of communication technology, new media theory, software studies, basic Web design, and political economy of communication.

I research: network cultures and technologies, manipulative communication, alternative social media, and the Dark Web.

My books: Social Engineering (2022, MIT Press), co-authored with Sean Lawson, takes up hacker social engineering as a tool to pick apart the past century of manipulative communication, from the early days of public relations to our current time of trolling and misinformation. Weaving the Dark Web (2018, MIT Press), offers a history and sociology of Freenet, Tor, and I2P. Reverse Engineering Social Media (2014, Temple University Press), explores the architecture and political economy of social media. Winner of the 2015 Association of Internet Researchers Nancy Baym Award. Socialbots and Their Friends (2016, Routledge), is a co-edited collection on socialbots.

Experience

  • 2022–present
    Chair professor, York University

Education

  • 2010 
    George Mason University, PhD

Grants and Contracts

  • 2020
    Fulbright Canada Research Chair of Communication, Media and Film
    Role:
    Research Chair
    Funding Source:
    Fulbiright Canada