danah boyd

danah boyd is a Partner Researcher at Microsoft Research and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She is the founder of Data & Society, a research institute focused on social and technological challenges. Her work bridges technology and society, with a focus on youth culture in digital spaces, privacy, media manipulation, and data ethics.

Education:

• PhD in Information Management & Systems (2008), University of California-Berkeley
• Master's Degree in Media Arts & Sciences (2003), MIT Media Lab
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science (2002), Brown University

Research Interests: danah explores how technology intersects with social inequities, focusing on digital privacy, algorithmic fairness, and the sociopolitical implications of data systems. She has conducted groundbreaking studies on teen social media practices and the ethical dimensions of the U.S. Census. Her work often critiques techno-solutionism and emphasizes the societal impacts of data-driven systems.

Publications & Impact: Her books It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (2014) and co-edited volumes like Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out (2009) are seminal in youth digital studies. Recent work addresses data legitimacy in the U.S. Census and systemic biases in AI.

Affiliations: She serves on boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, Electronic Privacy Information Center, and Crisis Text Line. Her advocacy spans digital rights, mental health, and social justice.

Grants & Labs: Leads projects at Data & Society on media manipulation, algorithmic accountability, and census technopolitics. Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on topics like differential privacy's societal impacts.