Findings from Data Are Made, Not Found: an ethnography of the U.S. Census Bureau and the struggle to make democracy's data in 2020.
danah boyd is the Geri Gay Professor of Communication at Cornell University. Dr. boyd's research focuses on the intersection of technology and society. Her latest book "Data are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census" is an ethnography of the US Census Bureau, Jenga politics, and the struggle to make democracy's data in 2020. Her first monograph "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens" examines young people's relationship to social media.
Dr. boyd founded Data & Society, where she currently serves as an advisor. She is currently a fellow of AAAS, a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow, a non-residential fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a trustee of the Computer History Museum, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and on the advisory boards of Electronic Privacy Information Center. She was also a founding director of Crisis Text Line, a mental health organization that serves people in crisis. She received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Brown University, a master's degree from MIT Media Lab, and a Ph.D in Information from the University of California, Berkeley.
Sessions
- Data Are Made, Not Found Tuesday, November 17, 2026