Danah Boyd, Writer on Social Networking and Youth

Danah Boyd is a writer and thinker on issues relating to social networking and youth culture. Let's find out what she knows.

As reported on NewAssignment.Net, Boyd used a horizontal network to create a timeline of social networking sites on the web. We think she knows more. Much more.

Here’s Boyd’s bio from her Web site:

“My name is danah boyd and i am a PhD candidate at the School of Information (SIMS) at the University of California - Berkeley and a Fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Communications. My research focuses on how people negotiate a presentation of self to unknown audiences in mediated contexts. In particular, my dissertation is looking at how youth engage with networked publics like MySpace, LiveJournal, Xanga and YouTube. I am interested in how the architectural differences between unmediated and mediated publics affect sociality, identity and culture. My dissertation research is being funded as a part of the MacArthur Foundation's Initiative on New Media and Learning.”

We’ve decided to omit the paean to Ani DiFranco she includes in her bio – and we’ll forgive her for it. We love her that much.

To get acquainted with how Boyd thinks, here's Boyd's blog, writings and more writings (in PDF).