About

I study the history of computing and software interfaces, with a particular interest in digital archives and preservation.

My current book project uses digital forensics to uncover the technical legacy of 1960s counterculture in early multimedia computing. I am also developing new projects that address the evidentiary value of digital objects in non-institutional preservation contexts.

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at San José State University, as well as a Senior Fellow in the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School (University of Virginia), and the Senior Book Reviews Editor for Information & Culture.

I earned my Ph.D. from Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information in 2020 and I was Bullard Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin from 2020-2022.

Previously, I taught courses in the Master of Information (MI) program at Rutgers University, as well as the undergraduate Digital Communication, Information, and Media (DCIM) minor.

Before I began my doctoral studies, I earned an M.A. in Media, Culture, and Communication from New York University. I also worked for a number of media companies in New York City.

For research updates, follow me on Academia.edu, ResearchGate, or Google Scholar.

Select Publications

“A bibliographic archeology of game-like conspiracy narratives: Examining the Ong’s Hat Incunabula catalog.” Journal of Documentation.

“The Role of Paradata in Algorithmic Accountability.” In Perspectives on Paradata: Research and Practice of Documenting Process Knowledge (eds. I. Huvila, L. Andersson, & O. Sköld). Springer International Publishing (with co-author Ciaran B. Trace)

“Algorithmic Futures: The Intersection of Algorithms and Evidentiary Work.” Information, Communication & Society (with co-author Ciaran B. Trace)

Taxonomizing Information Practices in a Large Conspiracy Movement: Using Early QAnon as a Case Study. Information & Culture 58 (2).

Preserving algorithmic systems: a synthesis of overlapping approaches, materialities and contexts. Journal of Documentation (with co-author Ciaran B. Trace)

“How to Collect a Corpus of Websites With a Web Crawler.” In SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online (Morgan Currie, ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing.

“Simulating Domestic Space in 1990s Technoculture: Timothy Leary’s Virtual Home Library.” In Reading Home Cultures Through Books, (Kirsti Salmi-Niklander and Marija Dalbello, eds.). London, UK: Routledge.

“Forensic Analysis of Memetic Image Propagation: Introducing the SMOC BRISQUEt Method.” Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology (with co-authors Mitch Chaiet and Praful Gupta)

“Transcoding Authenticity: Preserving Unreleased Gaming Software Outside of Memory Institutions.” Journal of Documentation, 78(2).

“Forensically Reconstructing Biomedical Maintenance Labor: PDF Metadata Under the Epistemic Conditions of COVID-19.” Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 72(11).

“Forensic Approaches to Evaluating Primary Sources in Internet History Research: Reconstructing Early Web-based Archival Work (1989–1996).” Internet Histories, 5(2).

“Forensic Materiality and Technocratic Self-Regulation in the 1980s Software Cracking Scene.” IEEE Annals of Computer History, 41(4), spec. issue on Governance in the History of Computing, (Gerardo Con Diaz, ed.).

“Comparing Born-Digital Artifacts Using Bibliographic Archeology: A Survey of Timothy Leary’s Published Software (1985-1996).” Information Research, 24(2), spec. issue on Archaeology and Information Research, (Huvila, I., Dalbello, M., Dallas, C., Faniel, I.M., & Olsson, M., eds.).

“How Do I Hold This Thing? Controlling Reconstructed Q*Berts.” New Media and Society 19(10), spec. issue on Haptic Media Studies (David Parisi, Mark Paterson, and Jason Archer, eds.).