Alexander Halavais

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Alexander M. Campbell Halavais
Alex Halavais cropped.jpg
Alexander Halavais at the Digital Media and Learning Conference March 4, 2011
Born(1971-07-21)July 21, 1971
Alma mater University of California at Irvine (B.A. Political Science, 1993)
University of Washington (PhD Communications, 2001)
SpouseJamie
ChildrenJasper, Kai
Scientific career
Fields Social computing, Computer-mediated communication
Institutions Arizona State University
Thesis The Slashdot Effect: Analysis of a Large-Scale Public Conversation on the World Wide Web  (2001)
Website alex.halavais.net

Alexander Halavais (born July 21, 1971) is an Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the Social Data Science master's program at Arizona State University, a social media researcher and former President [1] of the Association of Internet Researchers. Before joining the faculty at Arizona State University, Halavais taught in the Interactive Media program at Quinnipiac University, the School of Informatics at the University at Buffalo and at the University of Washington.

In 1993, Halavais earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Washington in 2001. His dissertation [2] examined the social implications of the Slashdot website. He also completed coursework in communication and cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego and complex adaptive systems at the Santa Fe Institute.

Online Journalism Review has referred to Halavais as one of a number of "blogologists," exploring the ways in which social computing affects the society at large. [3] His work has explored how blogs are used in education, the patterns of international hyperlinks, the benefits and pitfalls of personal branding, [4] and the role of pornography on the Internet. He is the editor of a volume on cyberporn and society. [5]

In one project, Lackaff and Halavais explored Wikipedia's topical coverage using the Library of Congress Classification to compare Wikipedia's coverage with that of Books in Print. [6]

Halavais was an early proponent of hyperlink analysis and webometrics, and has examined the relationship between national borders and hyperlinks, [7] as well as hyperlinks between US cities. [8] With Maria Garrido, he also looked at the linking patterns among global NGOs and grassroots organizations. [9]

To test Wikipedia as a trustworthy source of accurate information, Halavais created one of the more publicized examples of Wikipedia vandalism. He afterwards dubbed it "The Isuzu Experiment". [10] Halavais altered 13 records in Wikipedia to include spurious information. A number of Wikipedia editors spotted the errors, and quickly corrected the articles. [11]

His most recent book is Search Engine Society. [12] He has more recently spoken about the role of peer to peer surveillance in participatory government. [13]

Related Research Articles

Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation, the methods of gathering information, and the organizing literary styles.

Open-source journalism, a close cousin to citizen journalism or participatory journalism, is a term coined in the title of a 1999 article by Andrew Leonard of Salon.com. Although the term was not actually used in the body text of Leonard's article, the headline encapsulated a collaboration between users of the internet technology blog Slashdot and a writer for Jane's Intelligence Review. The writer, Johan J. Ingles-le Nobel, had solicited feedback on a story about cyberterrorism from Slashdot readers, and then re-wrote his story based on that feedback and compensated the Slashdot writers whose information and words he used.

Reputation management, originally a public relations term, refers to the influencing, controlling, enhancing, or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation. The growth of the internet and social media led to growth of reputation management companies, with search results as a core part of a client's reputation. Online reputation management, sometimes abbreviated as ORM, focuses on the management of product and service search engine results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Internet Institute</span> Research institute at the University of Oxford

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, combining social and computer science to explore information, communication, and technology. It is an integral part of the University of Oxford's Social Sciences Division in England.

Media ethics is the subdivision dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton ad campaigns.

Object hyperlinking is a term that refers to extending the Internet to objects and locations in the real world. Object hyperlinking aims to extend the Internet to the physical world by attaching tags with URLs to tangible objects or locations. These object tags can then be read by a wireless mobile device and information about objects and locations retrieved and displayed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science journalism</span> Journalism genre

Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public.

Peace journalism is a style and theory of reporting that aims to treat stories about war and conflict with balance, in contrast to war journalism, which peace journalism advocates say display a bias toward violence. The theory proposes practical methods for correcting biases in stories appearing in the mainstream and alternative media, and suggests ways for journalists to work with other media professionals, audiences, and organizations in conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental communication</span> Type of communication

Environmental communication is "the dissemination of information and the implementation of communication practices that are related to the environment. In the beginning, environmental communication was a narrow area of communication; however, nowadays, it is a broad field that includes research and practices regarding how different actors interact with regard to topics related to the environment and how cultural products influence society toward environmental issues".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merlyna Lim</span> Indonesian blogger

Merlyna Lim is a scholar studying ICT, particularly on the socio-political shaping of new media in non-Western contexts. She has been appointed a Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Global Network Society in the School of Journalism and Communication Carleton University. Formerly she was a visiting research scholar at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy and a distinguished scholar of technology and public engagement of the School of Social Transformation Justice and Social Inquiry Program and the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. She previously held a networked public research associate position at the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD, with distinction, from University of Twente in Enschede, Netherlands, with a dissertation entitled @rchipelago Online: The Internet and Political Activism in Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science communication</span> Public communication of science-related topics to non-experts

Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities that connect science and society. Common goals of science communication include informing non-experts about scientific findings, raising the public awareness of and interest in science, influencing people's attitudes and behaviors, informing public policy, and engaging with diverse communities to address societal problems. The term "science communication" generally refers to settings in which audiences are not experts on the scientific topic being discussed (outreach), though some authors categorize expert-to-expert communication as a type of science communication. Examples of outreach include science journalism and health communication. Since science has political, moral, and legal implications, science communication can help bridge gaps between different stakeholders in public policy, industry, and civil society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications</span> Academic college of the University of Florida

The College of Journalism and Communications (CJC) is an academic college of the University of Florida. The centerpiece of the journalism programs at UF is WUFT, which consists of both a WUFT (TV) Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television and WUFT-FM NPR public radio station. The commercial broadcasting radio station, WRUF, is also one of the oldest stations in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of the Internet</span> Analysis of Internet communities through sociology

The sociology of the Internet involves the application of sociological or social psychological theory and method to the Internet as a source of information and communication. The overlapping field of digital sociology focuses on understanding the use of digital media as part of everyday life, and how these various technologies contribute to patterns of human behavior, social relationships, and concepts of the self. Sociologists are concerned with the social implications of the technology; new social networks, virtual communities and ways of interaction that have arisen, as well as issues related to cyber crime.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to information science:

The Conversation is a network of nonprofit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion and analysis. Articles are written by academics and researchers under a Creative Commons license, allowing reuse without modification. Copyright terms for images are generally listed in the image caption and attribution. Its model has been described as explanatory journalism. Except in "exceptional circumstances", it only publishes articles by "academics employed by, or otherwise formally connected to, accredited institutions, including universities and accredited research bodies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph M. Reagle Jr.</span> American academic and writer (born 1972)

Joseph Michael Reagle Jr. is an American academic and writer focused on digital technology and culture, including Wikipedia, online comments, geek feminism, and life hacking. He is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University. He was an early member of the World Wide Web Consortium, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1998 and 2010 he was a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filippo Menczer</span> American and Italian computer scientist

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<i>Planned Obsolescence</i> (book) 2011 book by Kathleen Fitzpatrick

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References

  1. http://listserv.aoir.org/htdig.cgi/air-l-aoir.org/2011-July/023965.html Election Announcement
  2. Halavais, Alexander, The Slashdot effect : analysis of a large-scale public conversation on the World Wide Web. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001.
  3. Glaser, Marc Scholars Discover Weblogs Pass the Test, Online Journalism Review interview with Halavais
  4. Blogging Up - Fast Company interview,
  5. Halavais, Alexander, Cyberporn and Society, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 2006.
  6. Halavais, Alexander; Lackaff, Derek (2008). "An Analysis of Topical Coverage of Wikipedia". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 13 (2): 429–440. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2008.00403.x .
  7. Halavais, Alexander (2000). "National borders on the World Wide Web". New Media & Society. 2 (1): 7–28. doi:10.1177/14614440022225689. S2CID   13144548.
  8. Lin, Jia & Halavais, Alexander (2004). Mapping the blogosphere in America. Workshop on the Weblogging Ecosystem, 13th International World Wide Web Conference. New York.
  9. Garrido, Maria & Halavais, Alexander (2003). Applying social-network analysis to study contemporary social movements. In Martha McCaughey & Michael D. Ayers (Eds.), Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Routledge.
  10. Isuzu Experiment
  11. Early Response to False Claims In Wikipedia Archived 2010-04-10 at the Wayback Machine , Magnus, P.D., First Monday, Volume 13 Number 9, 1 September 2008
  12. Halavais, Alexander (2009). Search Engine Society. Cambridge: Polity.
  13. Halavais, Alexander (2009). Knowledge Everywhere. Media in Transition Conference, Cambridge, Mass. (pdf)