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Sarah Gilbert, PhD

I study human experiences in technical systems

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  • A picture of me hiking in Whistler

    About Me

    I use a sociotechnical lens to explore peoples’ experiences using online platforms. My work has covered key areas such as motivations, informal learning, privacy and ethics, and online governance. To this end I have used a variety of methods, from qualitative ethnography and in-depth interviews, to quantitative surveys and social network analysis.

     

    Currently, I'm the Research Manager at the Citizens and Technology (CAT) Lab, founded by Dr. J. Nathan Matias, and am also leading the NSF-funded project, Learning Code(s): Community-Centered Design of Automated Content Moderation with along with PIs, Drs. Katie Shilton, Hal Daumé III, and Michelle Mazurek.

     

    Prior to that, I graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2018, where I was advised by Drs. Caroline Haythornthwaite and Luanne Freund and worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Maryland on the NSF funded PERVADE (Pervasive Data Ethics for Computational Research project with Drs. Katie Shilton and Jessica Vitak.

     

    My hobbies include rewatching Star Trek over and over again (DS9 is the best Trek); cuddling with my cat, Rambo and my dog, Dax; cooking and baking; hiking; and going on day trips. Next time you're in the DC area, I promise that a jaunt to Dinosaur Land won't disappoint!

  • Publications

    and other things that I've written and want you see

    Conducting ethical research in online spaces

    • Excavating awareness and power in data science: A manifesto for trustworthy pervasive data research by Katie Shilton, Emanuel Moss, Sarah A Gilbert, Matthew J Bietz, Casey Fiesler, Jacob Metcalf, Jessica Vitak, Michael Zimmer in Big Data & Society
    • Measuring Americans’ comfort with research uses of their social media data by Sarah Gilbert, Jessica Vitak, Katie Shilton in Social Media + Society
    • Studying reddit: A systematic overview of disciplines, approaches, methods, and ethics by Nicholas Proferes, Naiyan Jones, Sarah Gilbert, Casey Fiesler, Michael Zimmer in Social Media + Society

    r/AskHistorians and community moderation

    • "I run the world's largest historical outreach project and it's on a cesspool of a website." Moderating a public scholarship site on Reddit: A case study of r/AskHistorians by Sarah Gilbert in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (CSCW)
    • Sometimes I answer questions early participation in online communities for r/AskHistorians 
      • On early content moderation 
      • On women's participation 
    • I also shared a series of posts summarizing findings from my dissertation with the r/AskHistorians community: 
      • Read Part 1, on learning and knowledge exchange
      • Read Part 2, on the cultural and technical impacts of Reddit on AskHistorians (and AskHistorians, on Reddit)
      • Read Part 3, on the visible and invisible work of AskHistorians moderators (and why they do it)

    Why do people people contribute to online communities?

    • Drivers of participation in digital citizen science: Case Studies on Järviwiki and Safecast by Victoria Palacin, Sarah Gilbert, Shane Orchard, Angela Eaton, Maria Angela Ferrario, Ari Happonen in Citizen Science Theories and Practice
    • Motivations for participating in online initiatives: exploring motivations across initiative types by Sarah Gilbert [Doctoral Dissertation]
    • Portraits of participation: Exploring the relationship between social motivators and facets of participation in a Twitter-based community by Sarah Gilbert in Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

    How is learning enacted on Twitter?

    • Learning in a Twitter-based community of practice: an exploration of knowledge exchange as a motivation for participation in# hcsmca by Sarah Gilbert in Information, Communication & Society.
    • Tweet to learn: Expertise and centrality in conference Twitter networks by Sarah Gilbert and Drew Paulin in  Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. This paper also won the ASIS&T Social Informatics Best Student Paper award in 2016.

    Learning Analytics for the Social Media Age

    Below are select publications from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded project, Learning Analytics in the Social Media Age (PIs Drs. Anatoliy Gruzd and Caroline Haythornthwaite).

    • Learning in the wild: coding for learning and practice on Reddit,  Caroline Haythornthwaite, Priya Kumar, Anatoliy Gruzd, Sarah Gilbert, Marc Esteve del Valle, Drew Paulin
    • Learning in the wild: Coding Reddit for learning and practice,  Priya Kumar, Anatoliy Gruzd, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Sarah Gilbert, Marc Esteve del Valle, Drew Paulin.  *This paper was nominated for a best paper award*
    • Social media in educational practice: Faculty present and future use of social media in teaching, Marc Esteve Del Valle, Anatoliy Gruzd, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Drew Paulin, Sarah Gilbert
    • Uses and gratifications factors for social media use in teaching: Instructors’ perspectives,  Anatoliy Gruzd, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Drew Paulin, Sarah Gilbert, Marc Esteve Del Valle
    • Social media and learning, Drew Paulin and Sarah Gilbert
  • Recent News

    I'm joining the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell

    January 2022 

    I will be joining CAT Lab, founded by J. Nathan Matias, as its Research Manager where I'll be working closely with communities and coordinating projects.

    Learning Code(s): Community-Centered Design of Automated Content Moderation is awarded funding from the NSF

    August 2021

    With PIs, Katie Shilton, Hal Daumé III, and Michelle Mazurek our project will develop human-in-the-loop moderation tools to support healthier online communities by strengthening policy enforcement, enabling better working conditions for online moderators and enabling flexible responses to community policies.

    CSCW Workshop: Public Scholarship and CSCW: Trials and Twitterations

    June 2019

    I am co-organizing a one-day workshop at CSCW 2020 to support social media scholars who engage with the public

    CSCW Workshop: Volunteer Work: Mapping the Future of Moderation Research

    November 2019

    I am co-organizing a one-day workshop at CSCW 2019. More info here!

    10th Conference on Social Media & Society

    July 2019

    I am sharing initial work from the PERVADE project on measuring American's expectations for trustworthy research use of social media data

    CSST Summer Research Institute

    June 2019

    I will be attending the CSST summer research institute as a 'camper!'

  • Curriculum Vitae

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  • Connect

    Find me on these sites or email me: sarah dot gilbert at cornell dot edu

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