danah boyd
STS researcher who likes to look at things sideways. Founded Data & Society.
Topics: Census | Youth | Data | Society
Professor of Communication, Cornell
https://made-not-found-by-danah-boyd.ghost.io
- Reposted by danah boydICE at the polls! Bannon is basically yelling “fire” in a crowded theater here. His objective is to cause chaos (and suppress votes on the left). And it’s already working. This threat works on multiple levels and doesn’t have to be “real” to serve its purpose. Let me explain & offer some advice.
- Steve Bannon says the federal government is planning to send ICE officers to patrol polling stations during the midterms. "We're going to have ICE surround the polls come November." "We're not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again." www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
- Tomorrow night, @noupside.bsky.social and I are talking Teens, Screens & Minds. Join us! interintellect.com/salons/teens...
- Reposted by danah boydOur fight against Trump’s reckless threat to dismantle NCAR continues, and we are building a bipartisan coalition to stop it. I urge all Coloradans to make their voices heard during the NSF's public comment period. See the Daily Camera’s reporting 👇🏽
- Reposted by danah boydI made a deep dive video into the TESCREAL ideology shaping Silicon Valley’s biggest companies and the AI arms race, and how a shocking number of tech billionaires are pro-human extinction
- Have you read the 1994 account of alt.tasteless vs. rec.pets.cats lately? I hadn't. The closing para sent shudders down my spine. www.wired.com/1994/05/alt-...
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- OMG OMG OMG. I handed in my upcoming book on the census - "Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census." Now, the fine folks at the University of Chicago Press will begin the march towards production (September 2026). OMG OMG OMG.
- I can't stop thinking about @bedoyausa.bsky.social's essay this week. It is a story-forward account of why the American people are struggling. (Hint: political economy.) It's the kind of account that makes an ethnographer swoon. I can't recommend this enough: newrepublic.com/article/2011...
- Today is one of those days where I can’t stop thinking about Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron.” I invite you to (re)read it. archive.org/stream/Harri...
- I’m so grateful for the committee who recognized our paper, which was a wonderful collaboration with @cyberlyra.bsky.social marrying insights from two in-depth ethnographic projects to examine how time and money are weaponized for political agendas in govt.
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- The sociotechnical team at MSR is amaaaazing. I’m sad to be leaving but I really hope some amazing researcher gets to work with them. Check out this fabulous job opportunity:
- We may have the chance to hire an outstanding researcher 3+ years post PhD to join Tarleton Gillespie, Mary Gray and me in Cambridge MA bringing critical sociotechnical perspectives to bear on new technologies. jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...
- "Is AI inevitable?" was a fun podcast convo on "AI for All Tomorrows." Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5g...
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- I did this interview back in November. It's so so so weird to read it now. Especially the stuff about US politics. But hopefully the other parts are helpful to junior researchers. www.journalofculturaleconomy.org/a-sociology-...
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- Blitzscaling is one of those things that disturbs me (starting w/the Nazi bombing reference). Things that scale like that are usually cancerous. @himself.bsky.social offers a great take on how DOGE is taking the worst lessons from blitzscaling. www.programmablemutter.com/p/blitzscali...
- When someone says "technology broke people's relationship to nature," which technology do you blame? Apparently, I'm a weirdo for thinking "air conditioning" is the right answer. Le sigh.
- Well this is a powerful but depressing take of how “America” dissolves. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTju4YLFC/
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- I shouldn't be surprised that Meta's "open source" AI models are not only built on thieving but also happy to cough up what they stole. But seriously? arxiv.org/abs/2505.12546
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- I interrupt your political discussions with some seriously good remixing that reminds me of the aughts. youtu.be/xYtaBfwpg_k?...
- Reposted by danah boydKOSA is being reintroduced today. It's always been a dangerous censorship bill. But in this environment, with Trump weaponizing every aspect of the Federal government to suppress speech he doesn't like, KOSA is a catastrophic attack on human rights. We have to stop it. StopKOSA.com
- Reposted by danah boydMy ongoing request: If your NSF or NIH grant was terminated--whether at Harvard or elsewhere--please report it here. NSF: grant-watch.us/submit-nsf.h... NIH: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h... Our trackers are actively used in lawsuits and are often the only record that terminations ever occurred.
- Reposted by danah boydthis is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...
- Political humor (like Elmo's note about being fired and the Daily Show) is strengthening my soul right now. What political humor content has made you laugh-cry this week? Please please share. I could really use a good laugh-cry.
- Reposted by danah boydSesame Street had him pegged back in 1988.
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- Jayshree and I had a blast thinking about what we can learn from developer relations as it applies to data sharing more generally. (Plus Maussian gifting!) hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/iygea4du...
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- This is a lovely write-up about the Computer History Museum's chatbots exhibit: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/a... (I'm on the board of CHM cuz I love the work that they do.)
- Amidst the bombastic horrors of the present, a war on data, evidence, and knowledge is underway. I’m glad to see some coverage of this: www.propublica.org/article/trum...
- As I mourn how many federal civil servants are being forced to stop dedicating themselves to the nation, I’m listening to Michael Lewis’ “Who is Government.” Its such a love letter to bureaucrats. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/788713...
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- In this article, Eric Goldman describes the current approach to regulating online safety as a “segregate-and-suppress” approach. This framing is spot-on (and depressing for someone who believes that maturity is an ongoing process). papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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[Not loaded yet] - I am so darn grateful for comedians right now. For those who have watched White Lotus S3, holy shit did SNL nail it this weekend: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1G...
- This sociopathic move is bloody insane. An entire EO demonizing an individual who was honest 4 years ago. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
- I'm trying to make sense of diff approaches to climate change that I've watched emerge. Here's my attempt to bucket them. The logics of the hedonists, Evangelicals, xenophobes, and accelerationists are all shaping our political reality these days. ::gulp:: www.zephoria.org/thoughts/arc...
- What I want to know is: which non-rich voters who voted for the GOP feel like these policies are working for them? Who is actually feeling better off? (Again, ignoring the rich who profit off of this shit)
- I recently heard a spectrum given for tech bros. Douche-creepy-evil. Le sigh.
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- Reposted by danah boydSo, the DOGE kids intend to rewrite the social-security administration's COBOL code-base! and they want to do it ... ... in *a few months* I did a huge dive into COBOL a few years ago (www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazi...) ... ... so let me explain why DOGE is *way* over its skis here 1/9
- I am genuinely struggling to process the images of ICE Nazi-Barbie Kristi Noem standing in front of a cage of barely clothed men with shaved heads. These send shudders down my spine. What I can't understand is: how are these viewed by Trump supporters? Especially Jewish Trump supporters?
