Dr. Brubaker conducts research in social computing, social media, and technology studies where he studies how identity is designed, represented and experienced in socio-technical systems. A large focus of his existing work is on technology and mortality, “digital afterlives”, online bereavement, and how to improve how technology is designed to account for mortality. The second major focus is on the representation of marginalized populations within technology and data, notably LGBTQ and racial minorities.
keywords
digital identity, technology and mortality, post-mortem data and interaction, social computing, social media, human-computer interaction, HCI, computer supported cooperative work, CSCW, infrastructure studies, science and technology studies, STS, computational representation, socio-technical systems
Teaching
courses taught
INFO 1111 - Introduction to Information Science: Understanding the World Through Data
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2024
Provides a hands-on survey of key concepts and theories in Information Science, including the nature of information, everyday experience of data, technologies that generate data, and how data are conveyed and represented. Students will critically examine texts, systems, and interpretations of data from multidisciplinary perspectives. Through design explorations, activities, and group projects, students will develop facility representing and transforming information.
INFO 2001 - Information Science Portfolio and Professional Development
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
Facilitates career development through the disciplined reflection about and presentation of one's work using a variety of modalities across a variety of media. Students will be introduced to individuals and organizations representing a diversity of career paths in information science.
INFO 3504 - Digital Identity
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022
Explores and analyzes identity in a digital era. Through applied research, students investigate both social and technical aspects of how identity is captured, represented and experienced through technology using theoretical, empirical and design-based inquiry. Methods and platforms studied vary by semester. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 5504.
INFO 4001 - Information Science Portfolio and Professional Development
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
Facilitates career development through the disciplined reflection about and presentation of one's work using a variety of modalities across a variety of media. Students will be introduced to individuals and organizations representing a diversity of career paths in information science.
INFO 4900 - Research Experience in Information Science
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022
Provides research experience in information science. Students will contribute to the construction of new knowledge, helping to answer current research questions or to solve contemporary problems in the domain. Enrollment is by invitation and discretion of the advising faculty member.
INFO 5504 - Digital Identity
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2021
Explores and analyzes identity in a digital era. Through applied research, students investigate both social and technical aspects of how identity is captured, represented and experienced through technology using theoretical, empirical and design-based inquiry. Methods and platforms studied vary by semester. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 3504.
INFO 6101 - Theories and Concepts in Information Science
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2023
Surveys foundational theories and concepts in information science. Students will learn to read and reflect critically about seminal texts, tracing their intellectual genealogies from a variety of originating disciplines to their appropriation by information science. Students will apply these theories to contemporary issues and problems.
INFO 6940 - Supervised Master's Research Project
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023
Students enrolling in this course will conduct supervised research in Information Science under the supervision of one or more faculty advisors, to include preparation of academic literature reviews, laboratory or field experiments, surveys or interviews with technology stakeholders, interface or system design and development, system evaluation, or other examples of rigorous scholarship in the discipline of Information Science. Some research projects may be carried out in collaboration with other graduate students and faculty members. Although contribution to publishable scholarship (e.g., posters, demonstrations, conference papers, or journal articles) is one possible outcome of this educational experience, the student and his/her advisor(s) may agree to determine alternate mechanisms for assessing mastery of the academic research process, depending on the scope of work carried out as part of this experience, the publishability of the research, and the specific needs and career goals of the student.
