danah boyd will be joining Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to pursue her passion for teaching, working with students and conducting research at the intersection of technology and society. Drawn by Cornell’s high density of collaborators and welcoming academic community, she looks forward to becoming a member of the Department of Communication faculty. Learn more about her research interests and projects.
Academic focus: The intersection of technology and society.
Website: https://www.danah.org/
Research summary: My research explores contestations that emerge at the intersection of technology and society with an eye toward vulnerable populations and structural inequities. I have a long-standing interest in understanding how youth come of age, negotiate privacy, navigate conflict and find their footing in a media saturated society. I am also fascinated by the politics of data, which has led me to examine topics ranging from how conspiracy theorists manipulate algorithms to how the U.S. Census Bureau makes democracy’s data. Although I am primarily an ethnographer, I draw on a range of theoretical and methodological frameworks to do my research.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I love to read and travel and do yoga. When I am stressed, I find meditation through jigsaw puzzles. But most of my non-work time is actually devoted to my three kiddos, whose curiosity about the world is a source of inspiration.
What are you currently working on?
I’m working on a book about the 2020 U.S. Census. This book examines the sociotechnical, political, and organizational practices behind the making of democracy’s data. I hope that this book will help people see both how crucial and fragile data infrastructures can be.
What are three words people might use to describe you?
Passionate, curious and convener.
What (specifically) brought you to Cornell CALS?
First, I’m ready to be a professor. After finishing my Ph.D., I joined Microsoft Research because it is the ideal place to do high-impact interdisciplinary research, but I have always longed to teach and work with students. And the reason that I want to be a professor at Cornell – and CALS in particular – is because of the community. Both the students and the faculty inspire me. I’ve long wondered where I belong in academia since most of my work is so interdisciplinary. The folks in the Department of Communication gave me the confidence to feel like I would have a home with them.
What do you think is important for people to understand about your field?
The most important thing to understand is that “technology and society” isn’t a field as much as it’s a way of seeing. And that a sociotechnical way of seeing can strengthen any field out there and address some of the most complex problems in our society and work toward a more just world.
What’s the most surprising/interesting thing you’ve discovered about Cornell and/or Ithaca so far?
Are there any mean people at Cornell? Please tell me if there are! I am amazed by how everyone I encounter is kind and generous, curious and inviting. Frankly, it feels like I’m walking into an intellectual candy store. So far, no one has burst my bubble that Cornell is academic heaven.
If you had unlimited grant funding, what major problem in your field would you want to solve?
The social fabric that serves as society’s social infrastructure is fraying. Polarization, misinformation and a crisis in expertise are undermining trust in institutions and people. In my fantasy research project, I would love to understand both what makes a healthy social fabric and what tears an existing community apart. And then I would love to take that knowledge and explore interventions that could actively strengthen the relationships between people.
