danah boyd | apophenia

Much to my happiness, the internets are in a frenzy about the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (aka SOPA). Congress is currently in recess, but the House announced a hearing on the potential impact to the Domain Name Service on January 18 and everyone expects the Senate to begin discussing a similar bill “PROTECT IP Act” [...]

::bounce:: I am *ecstatic* to announce that Nancy Baym, Kate Crawford, and Mary L. Gray are all joining Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, MA. See Jennifer Chayes’ announcement. ::bounce:: Three years ago (this week), I joined Microsoft Research to help integrate social scientists and computer scientists. I have known about and admired MSR since [...]

I love talking with smart journalists. When they’re good at what they do, journalists can really prompt me to think deeply (and differently) about issues. Nothing makes me happier than coming out of a discussion with a journalist with my brain on fire. My conversation with Bob Safian from Fast Company did precisely that. I [...]

OMG do I love vacation. A chance to live a different lifestyle, explore the world, and refresh my brain. This year’s adventure began in Easter Island where we traversed the island looking at the amazing Moai statues and engaging in all sorts of discussions about the fraught/uncertain history of the Rapa Nui people. Next, we [...]

Penguins and statues and glaciers oh my! I’m off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of … OH MY GOD I AM ON VACATION!!!! Can you hear my enthusiasm? My complete and utter joy? Cuz I’m bouncing up and down here. For the next month I will be here: And here: Yes, that’s Easter [...]

Over the last couple of years, I’ve laid awake at night asking myself uncomfortable questions about bullying and teen suicide. I don’t have answers to most of the questions that I have, but I’m choosing to voice my questions, fears, and doubts because I’m not confident that our war on bullying is taking us down [...]

Over the last six weeks, I’ve posted various opportunities for students, academics, and other scholars that I’m co-directing/hosting, many of which have deadlines looming. I want to summarize them in one post for those who either missed them or wanted some synthesis: Microsoft Research Postdocs. Who: Newly minted/about-to-be-minted PhD students working on social media topics [...]

Networked technologies – including the internet, mobile phones, and social media – alter how information flows and how people communicate. There is little doubt that technology is increasingly playing a role in the practices and processes surrounding human trafficking: the illegal trade of people for commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and other forms of modern-day [...]

It’s that time of the year again. If you don’t know me, you probably don’t know that I work obscene hours for most of the year and then take a proper vacation during the winter months. As in no internet, no work, no geeking out on research. For me to continue doing the work that [...]

Microsoft Research New England (MSRNE) is looking for PhD interns to join the social media collective for Spring and Summer 2012. For these positions, we are looking primarily for social science PhD students (including communications, sociology, anthropology, media studies, information studies, etc.). The Social Media Collective is a collection of scholars at MSRNE who focus [...]