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danah boyd

@zephoria.bsky.social

35K followers 650 following 370 posts

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

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Danah boyd is an American technology and social media scholar. She is a partner researcher at Microsoft Research, the founder of Data & Society Research Institute, and a distinguished visiting professor at Georgetown University. .. more

Communication & Media Studies 26%

Sociology 20%

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Aug 26

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...

archive.org

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Aug 23

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.

ASA SKAT @asaskat.bsky.social · Aug 12

#ASA2025 Star-Nelkin Paper Award Honorable Mention:

Janet Vertesi and danah Boyd:
@cyberlyra.bsky.social @zephoria.bsky.social
“The Resource Bind: System Failure and Legitimacy Threats in Sociotechnical Organizations Authors”

🔗: doi.org/10.6092/issn...

The Resource Bind: System Failure and Legitimacy Threats in Sociotechnical Organizations | Sociologica

doi.org

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Reposted by Danah Boyd

ASA SKAT @asaskat.bsky.social · Aug 12

The Resource Bind: System Failure and Legitimacy Threats in Sociotechnical Organizations | Sociologica

doi.org

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Jul 28

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:

Nancy Baym @nancybaym.bsky.social · Jul 28

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...

Search Jobs | Microsoft Careers

https://jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/job/1849026/Principal-Researcher-–-Sociotechnical-Systems-–-Microsoft-Research

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Reposted by Danah Boyd, Devon Greyson, Patrick S. Forscher , and 3 more Danah Boyd, Devon Greyson, Patrick S. Forscher, Fabio Giglietto, Bryan Pfaffenberger, Dean Eckles

Nancy Baym @nancybaym.bsky.social · Jul 28

Search Jobs | Microsoft Careers

https://jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/job/1849026/Principal-Researcher-–-Sociotechnical-Systems-–-Microsoft-Research

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Reposted by Cathy N. Davidson

danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Jul 22

"Is AI inevitable?" was a fun podcast convo on "AI for All Tomorrows." Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5g...

Is AI Inevitable? with danah boyd

YouTube video by AI for All Tomorrows

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Danah Boyd

Reposted by Danah Boyd, Cathy N. Davidson

Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · Jul 10

EFF is 35! 🎉
We've spent three+ decades defending your rights online—and we're not slowing down:

35 Years for Privacy, Free Speech, and a Brighter Future

Through July 10, new monthly or annual Sustaining Donors get an EFF35 Challenge Coin! With your help, EFF is here to stay.

eff.org

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Reposted by Mona Eltahawy, Danah Boyd, Jennifer Bussell , and 10 more Mona Eltahawy, Danah Boyd, Jennifer Bussell, Kimberly A. Prather, Alan M. MacEachren, Éric Gilbert, Mattias Hallquist, Márk E. Hauber, Joshua S. Weitz, John Horgan, Rafael H. M. Pereira, Terry Gaasterland, Kimberly A. Clausing

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Jul 8

BREAKING: Scientists are staging a “science fair” in the lobby of a Congressional building to tell elected officials about the critical knowledge the US will lose because their research grants have been canceled.

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Jul 8

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-...

A Sociology of Dragons: danah boyd on AI, Trump, and critique | Journal of Cultural Economy Journal of Cultural Economy

www.journalofculturaleconomy.org

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alice e marwick @alicetiara.bsky.social · Jun 11

#ica25 folks: @zephoria.bsky.social and I are gearing up for the No Kings protest on Sat! It’s 10min walk from the venue. Bring water, sunscreen, phone chargers: it’s gonna be HOT. Join us!!!

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Jun 5

I too am a fan for this kind of geekery.

danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Jun 4

I was actually surprised by how enjoyable Disney was on the ground but it’s definitely true that there’s a game to it. I ended up embracing the game. I failed at the restaurants in pre-plan but this let me get to most of them: mousewatcher.com

MouseWatcher : Disney Dining Alerts

Disney dining alerts for Walt Disney World and Disneyland restaurants. Includes 'Ohana, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Cinderella's Royal Table, Blue Bayou, Space 220 and more!

mousewatcher.com

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · Jun 4

Do you mean the defunct land one? youtu.be/9yjZpBq1XBE?... This gave me such geeky joy.

Disney's FastPass: A Complicated History

YouTube video by Defunctland

youtu.be

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 28

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...

Blitzscaling for tyrants

The lightning-fast path to tearing down due process

www.programmablemutter.com

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 22

When I showed this to my historian friend, his first remark was "the Great Lakes region would have aligned with Canada." I love historians.

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 22

Definitely all evil, terrible, no good technologies!

danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 22

Ooh - that's a good one! And let's be honest - electricity is at the root of both of our evils. <grin>

danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 22

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.

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 21

Well this is a powerful but depressing take of how “America” dissolves. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTju4YLFC/

Time Traveler from 2051 reveals unexpected grim future #igorkryan #timetraveler #grimfuture #americacollapse

TikTok video by Igor Kryan

www.tiktok.com

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A. Feder Cooper @afedercooper.bsky.social · May 21

Llama 3.1 70B contains copies of nearly the entirety of some books. Harry Potter is just one of them. I don’t know if this means it’s an infringing copy. But the first question to answer is if it’s a copy at all/in the first place. That’s what our new results suggest:

arxiv.org/abs/2505.12546

Extracting memorized pieces of (copyrighted) books from open-weight language models

Plaintiffs and defendants in copyright lawsuits over generative AI often make sweeping, opposing claims about the extent to which large language models (LLMs) have memorized plaintiffs' protected expr...

arxiv.org

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 21

Bwahaha. I love how the 5yo in this scenario has no opinion re: the bday party. Oh how dreamy it would be to throw a kiddo bday party w/o last min changes of themes, invite lists, cake flavors. I feel like kiddo bday parties are a test to see who cries first: kid or parent.

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Reposted by Éric Gilbert

danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 20

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

Extracting memorized pieces of (copyrighted) books from open-weight language models

arxiv.org

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · May 18

The Atlantic’s 2025 Summer Reading Guide is here. Our writers and editors have selected 24 books to read this season. Megan Garber chose “The Known Citizen” as one of four titles you’ll read all summer. https://theatln.tc/7PAJ3Hgh

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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · May 17

I interrupt your political discussions with some seriously good remixing that reminds me of the aughts. youtu.be/xYtaBfwpg_k?...

Eminem - LOSE YOURSELF (Sung by 331 Movies!)

YouTube video by The Unusual Suspect

youtu.be

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Reposted by James Q. Wilson, Matthias Doepke, Robert S. Chang

Alex Kirshner @alexkirshner.com · May 16

this 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...

Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, recently used my second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run, and that of my teammate in the 800-meter run, to malign Soren Stark-Chessa, the trans-identified athlete who finished first.

One of the reasons I chose to run cross-country and track is the community: Teammates cheering each other on, athletes from different schools coming together, and the fact that personal improvement is valued as much as, if not more than, the place we finish.

Last Friday, I ran the fastest 1,600-meter race I have ever run in middle school or high school track and earned varsity status by my school’s standards. I am extremely proud of the effort I put into the race and the time that I achieved. The fact that someone else finished in front of me didn’t diminish the happiness I felt after finishing that race. I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points.

We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren’s participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.

Anelise Feldman
Freshman, Yarmouth High School
Yarmouth

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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · May 14

KOSA 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

Stop KOSA

KOSA is a censorship bill that won’t make kids safe. Instead, it'll put all internet users at risk, especially youth. If you believe in a free and open internet, tell your lawmakers to reject #KOSA!

StopKOSA.com

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Reposted by Winnifred R. Louis, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Rachel C. Nethery , and 2 more Winnifred R. Louis, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Rachel C. Nethery, Erin L. Dolan, Jen Nelles

Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · May 14

My 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.

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · May 14

NSF appears to be terminating hundreds of its grants to Harvard, per internal sources at NSF and at Harvard. At least one division has had all its grants cut.

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