Gregory T. Donovan, Ph.D.
Joseph A. Martino Hall
45 Columbus Avenue, Office 701
New York, NY 10023
EDUCATION
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
2013. Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology, with Distinction. Certificate in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy.
Dissertation: “MyDigitalFootprint.ORG: Young People and the Proprietary Ecology of Everyday Data.”
Committee: Cindi Katz (Chair), Michelle Fine, Joseph Glick, Joan Greenbaum, Torin Monahan, Anders Albrechtslund.
2008. M.Phil. in Environmental Psychology, with Distinction.
Exam Fields: The Cybercity as Unit of Analysis; Identity in the Cybercity; Governance and Education in the Cybercity.
Hunter College of the City University of New York
2007. M.A. in Psychology.
Marymount Manhattan College
2004. B.A. in Psychology. Certificate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2020-Present. Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University. NY.
2020-Present. Director, New Media and Digital Design Program, Fordham University. NY.
2014-2020. Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University. NY.
2013-2014. Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Urban Studies, Saint Peter’s University. NJ.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
2020. Canaries in the Data Mine: Understanding the Proprietary Design of Youth Environments. Palgrave MacMillan.
ARTICLES & CHAPTERS
2020. “Minor Data: Reading the ‘Smart’ City Through Engaged Pedagogy” in Critical Readings Across the Cirriculum, Volume II: Social and Natural Sciences (eds. R.J. Diyanni and A. Borst). Wiley-Blackwell.
2015. “Making the Dissertation a More Public Medium for Critical Scholarship” in Beyond the Dissertation as Proto-Monograph: Examples and Reflections. Media Commons.
2014. “Introduction: Media and Methods for Opening Education.” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy 5. (co-author Suzanne Tamang)
2014. “Opening Proprietary Ecologies: Participatory Action Design Research with Young People” in Methodological Challenges When Exploring Digital Learning Spaces in Education (eds. G.B. Gudmundsdottir and K.B. Vasbø). Sense.
2014. “iLearn: Engaging (In)Formal Learning in Young People’s Mediated Environments” in Informal Education, Childhood and Youth: Histories, Geographies, Practices (eds. S. Mills and P. Kraftl). Palgrave Macmillan.
2013. “Gates not Walls as a Securitization Strategy: Gated Condominiums and Market Rate Co-operatives in New York.” in Building Walls and Dissolving Borders: The Challenges of Alterity, Community and Securitizing Space (eds. M. Stephenson and L. Zanotti). Ashgate. (co-authors Setha M. Low and Jen Jack Gieseking)
2012. Shoestring Democracy: Gated Condominiums and Market Rate Cooperatives in New York. Journal of Urban Affairs 34(3): 279-296. (co-authors Setha M. Low and Jen Jack Gieseking)
2009. Cookie Monsters: Seeing Young People’s Hacking as Creative Practice. Children, Youth and Environments 19(1): 198-223. (co-author Cindi Katz)
2007. Repurposing the Square: Digital Symptoms of a Park’s Privatization. The Urban Reinventors, Issue 1, June.
JOURNAL EDITORSHIP
2014. “Special Issue: Media and Methods for Opening Education,” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy 5. (co-editor Suzanne Tamang)
TEACHING
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY (2014-PRESENT)
PMMA 5207: Mapping (In)Justice
NMDD 3880: Designing Smart Cities for Social Justice
NMDD 1001: Explorations in Digital Design
DTEM 4480: Digital Media and Public Responsibility
DTEM 1401: Introduction to Digital Technology and Emerging Media
DTEM 1402: Digital Cultures
SAINT PETER’S UNIVERSITY (2013-2014)
Urban Studies 221: Surveillance in the Cybercity.
Urban Studies 409: The Contemporary City.
Urban Studies 151: Young People, Planning, and the City.
Urban Studies 450: Qualitative Research Methods.
MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN (2006-2010)
PSYCH 393: Digital Media, Society, and the Self.
PSYCH 361: Environmental Psychology.
PSYCH 101A: General Psychology A: Social and Clinical Processes.
PSYCH 235: Social Psychology.
INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY
2012-13. Senior Instructional Technology Fellow, Macaulay Honors College CUNY.
2010-12. Central Instructional Technology Fellow, Macaulay Honors College CUNY.
2007-10. Instructional Technology Fellow, Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College CUNY.
SELECTED RESEARCH AND CONSULTING
2012-14. Director of Digital Media: “Brooklyn’s Public Scholars: Civic Research and the Community-engaged Campus.” The Public Science Project, CUNY Graduate Center. Principal Investigators: Dr. Michele Fine, Dr. Caitlin Cahill, and Dr. Maria Torre.
2008-13. Coordinator for Planning and Development, OpenCUNY Academic Medium. Doctoral Students’ Council, CUNY Graduate Center.
2009-13. Principal Investigator, Dissertation Research: “MyDigitalFootprint.ORG: Young People and the Proprietary Ecology of Everyday Data.” Environmental Psychology Program, CUNY Graduate Center.
2003-12. Educational Media Researcher.
MediaKidz Research and Consulting. 2008-2012.
Sesame Workshop. 2003-2010.
Strategic Insight Research. 2006-2008.
The Michael Cohen Group. 2006.
2006-08. Co-Principal Investigator, Public Space Research Group: “Private Governance in Co-ops and Gated Communities in New York City.” Center for Human Environments, CUNY Graduate Center. Principal Investigator: Dr. Setha Low.
2005-07. Technology and Literacy Specialist, Project Stretch. Stanton/Heiskell Center for Telecommunications Policy, CUNY Graduate Center.
2006-07. Co-Principal Investigator: “Breakdowns and Breakthroughs: Why Reflection in New Media Research is Useful.” CUNY New Media Lab, CUNY Graduate Center. Principal Investigator: Dr. Joan Greenbaum.
2005-06. Research Assistant, Housing Environments Research Group: “Homeowner Foreclosure Prevention Program Evaluation.” Center for Human Environments, CUNY Graduate Center. Principal Investigator: Dr. Susan Saegert.
2005-06. Principal Investigator, Masters Thesis: “Content Analysis of Candidates’ Online Spaces in the 2005 NYC Mayoral Election.” Environmental Psychology Program, CUNY Graduate Center.
2005. Research Assistant, Youth Studies Research Group. The Center for Human Environments, CUNY Graduate Center.
2004. Intellectual Property Researcher, CT Corsearch.
HONORS AND GRANTS
2017. Principal Investigator, Strategic Research Consortium on Digital Scholarship, Fordham University.
2016. Participant, Arts & Sciences Faculty Pedagogy Seminar, Fordham University.
2015. Finalist, HASTAC Digital Trust Challenge, Fordham University.
2013. Distinguished Honors for Dissertation, CUNY Graduate Center.
2012-13. Provost’s University Fellowship, CUNY Graduate Center.
2007-13. Instructional Technology Fellowship, CUNY Graduate Center.
2011. Participant, CUNY/Humboldt DAAD Summer School, Humboldt-Universität, Germany.
2011. Presidential Research Fund, CUNY Graduate Center.
2010. Doctoral Student Research Grant (Competition #5), CUNY Graduate Center.
2009-10. City University of New York Student Leadership Award, The Malave Leadership Academy.
2009. Participant, Surveillance and Empowerment Workshop, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee.
2008. Participant, European Summer School on Internet Governance, St. Afra Academy, Germany.
2008. Doctoral Student Research Grant (Competition #3), CUNY Graduate Center.
2007-08. Doctoral Fellow, Center for Place, Culture and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center.
2007. Distinguished Honors for Second Doctoral Exam, CUNY Graduate Center.
2006. Summer Resident, The CUNY New Media Lab, CUNY Graduate Center.
2004. Student Research Award, Marymount Manhattan College.
PRESENTATIONS
INVITED TALKS
2018. “Including Youth In/Through the Smart City.” Social Inclusion in Cities Panel. The Youth Assembly at the
United Nations, New York.
2018. “Designing ‘Smart’ Cities for Social Justice.” Environmental Psychology Day Keynote Panel. CUNY Graduate Center, New York.
2018. “Digital Humanities in the Moment: Reaction, Response, Relevance.” NYCDH Week Kickoff. Fordham University, New York.
2016. “Social Networks and Settlement Houses: Remixing Modes of Knowing and Belonging in the Urban Platform.” Databite No.78. Data & Society, New York.
2016. “How to Leave the Cave and Keep Your Empathy.” Psi-Chi International Honor Society Annual Induction Ceremony. Marymount Manhattan College.
2016. “West Side Stories: Re-Presenting Creative Destruction on the ‘Smart’ Urban Frontier.” Earth and Environmental Sciences Doctoral Colloquium. CUNY Graduate Center.
2015. “Research and Practice in Critical Media Psychology.” Fielding Graduate University, New York.
2014. “Dataveillance and Everyday Consciousness in the ‘Smart’ City.” #TA3M. New America Foundation, New York.
2014. “Participation, Proprietary Media, and Dataveillance in the Smart City.” Perspectives on Place and Power Lecture Series, Sarah Lawrence College.
2013. “On Behalf of the Graduates.” Forty-Ninth Doctoral Commencement Ceremony, CUNY Graduate Center.
2012. “Affording the ‘Right to Research’: Doing Critical PAR with Open Source Technologies.” Representing the City: Technology, Action, and Change Symposium, Rutgers University. (with Maria Torre)
2012. “(In)Formation: Understanding and Engaging Informational Youth in Urban Educational Research.” Faculty of Educational Sciences. University of Oslo, Norway.
2012. “A Psycho-Environmental Approach to Cultural Informatics.” Pratt Institute Graduate School of Information and Library Science, New York.
2011. “The Informational Environment.” Environmental Social Sciences, Prof. R. Hart. CUNY Graduate Center.
2010. “MyDigitalFootprint.ORG: Informational Youth and the Securitization of Cyberspace.” Interdisciplinary Conversations in Environmental Psychology. CUNY Graduate Center.
2010. “Two Cases of Digital Governance: MyDigitalFootprint.ORG and the OpenCUNY Academic Medium.” The Norwegian eGovernment Delegation to the USA. New York.
2009. “Producing Other Natures: Cyberspace.” Environmental Social Sciences, Prof. C. Katz. CUNY Graduate Center.
2009. “Seeing Hacking as Creative Practice.” Critical Perspectives in Media, Society and the Arts, Prof. S. McGlotten. SUNY Purchase.
2008. “What is Environmental Psychology?” NUDA Summer School. The Nordic Urban Design Association, Norway.
2008. “The Psycho-Social Dimensions of the Urban Condition.” NUDA Summer School. The Nordic Urban Design Association, Norway.
2008. “Passive Park: Space, Communication and Citizen Power in Union Square Park.” Urban Design and Implementation, Prof. Elliot Maltby. Pratt Institute School of Architecture, New York.
2007. “Psychology and Social Justice.” Psi-Chi International Honor Society Annual Induction Ceremony. Marymount Manhattan College.
PAPERS
2019. “Keeping Place in ‘Smart’ Cities: Situating the Settlement House as a Means of Knowing and Belonging in the Informational City.” International Symposium on Digital Scholarship, London.
2019. “West Side Stories: Situating the Settlement House in ‘Smart’ Urban Design” Environmental Design Research Association, New York.
2019. “The Smart Home Does Not Care: Social Reproduction and the Design (An)Aesthetics of Domestic Technologies.” American Association of Geographers, Washington, D.C.
2018. “The New Lease on Life: Proprietary Platforms and the Social (Re)Production of Youthful Databodies.” American Association of Geographers, New Orleans.
2017. “Data-Driven (In)Difference: Reformatting the Settlement House for the ‘Smart’ City.” Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology, New York.
2017. “Settlement in the ‘Smart’ City: Breaking Down Modes of Knowing, Navigating, and Belonging on Manhattan’s West Side.” American Association of Geographers, Boston.
2016. “Canaries at Scale: Locating Urban Youth in the Data Mine.” Association of American Geographers, San Francisco.
2016. “Playing with Property: Young People and the Right to the ‘Smart’ City.” Digital Sociology Conference, Boston.
2015. “Empathy and Efficiency on the ‘Smart’ Urban Frontier.” Association of Internet Researchers, Pheonix.
2015. “Canaries in the Data Mine: Young People, Property, and Power in the ‘Smart’ City.” Data Power Conference, University of Sheffield.
2014. “Configuring a ‘Right to the City’ with a ‘Right to Research’: Towards a Participatory Smart Urbanism.” Association of American Geographers, Tampa.
2013. “Social Media as both Proprietary and Participatory Inquiry.” Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology, New York.
2013. “Disturbed Data: Hacking, Encrypting, and Designing Methods that Agitate Proprietary Knowledge Production.” Association of Internet Researchers, Denver.
2013. “#LivedData: Two Cases of Participatory Action Research with Media.” Allied Media Conference, Detroit.
2012. “Doing Participatory Research and Pedagogy in Proprietary Educational Environments.” InfoSocial Conference, Northwestern University. (with Kiersten Greene)
2012. “The Informational is Spatial: Understanding the Geoeconomics of Cybersecurity in Youth Environments.” Association of American Geographers, New York.
2011. “MyDigitalFootprint.org: Cyberspace, Surveillance, and Participatory Action Research with Young People.” Growing Up Policed: Surveilling Racialized Sexualities, New York.
2011. “Untangling the Semantic Web: A PAR Approach to Cyberempowerment in Youth Environments.” Association of Internet Researchers, Seattle.
2011. “iLearn: Space, Time, and Social (Re)Production in Young People’s Informational Environments.” Association of American Geographers, Seattle.
2010. “The Medium as Message and Method: The Political Ecology of Cyberdominance in Youth Environments.” Technology as Method / Method as Technology Conference, CUNY Graduate Center.
2010. “Cyberdominance and the Digital Footprint: Young People as Objects of Domination and Power in the Cybercity.” Association of American Geographers, Washington, D.C.
2009. “Towards a Topography of Young People’s Informational Geographies.” 2nd International Conference on Geographies of Children, Youth and Families. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
2009. “I Spy Surveillance: Young People’s Environmental Consciousness in Cyberspace.” Surveillance Societies: What Price Security? Conference, New York.
2009. “Environmental (Un)consciousness: Engaging Young People’s Informational Geographies.” Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas.
2008. “Whose Safety, Whose Security? Situating Young People in Cyberspace.” Internet Research 9.0 Conference, IT-Universitetet i København.
2008. “Passive Park: Space, Communication and Citizen Power in Union Square Park.” Association of American Geographers, Boston.
2008. “Digital Youth and Internet Governance.” European Summer School on Internet Governance, Meissen, Germany.
2007. “n3w $0Ci4l rE@l1+Y: Young People, Political Engagement and the Semantic Web.” Young People, New Technology and Political Engagement Conference, University of Surrey, UK.
2007. “Shoestring Democracy: Private Governance in Co-ops and Gated Communities in New York City.” 4th International Conference of the Private Urban Governance & Gated Communities Research Network, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. (co-authors in absentia: Low, S.M., and J. Gieseking)
2007. “Campaign-casting and Commodified Participation: An Evaluation of Candidates’ Online Spaces in the 2005 NYC Election.” Association of American Geographers, San Francisco.
2006. “Stereotypes and the Semantic Web.” Live Feed. CUNY Graduate Center.
2006. “Repurposing the Square: Digital Symptoms of a Park’s Privatization.” The Transatlantic Graduate Research Program’s Divided Cities Conference, Columbia University.
2006. “Constructing Place Online: A Critical Look at How Cyberspace was used in the 2005 NYC Mayoral Election.” Environmental Design Research Association Conference, Atlanta.
PANELS
2018. “Rethinking Ed Tech & Tech Ed: Critical Perspectives on Technology and Education.” American Educational Research Association, New York. (with K. Greene, T.L. Lynch, E. Myorga, and C. Fontaine). Chair
2017. “The Labor Geographies of Digital Studies: Theories, Methods, and Interdisciplinary Engagements.” American Association of Geographers, Boston. (with K. Gregory, D. Greene, D. Joseph and J.J. Gieseking)
2015. “Transforming the Dissertation: Models, Questions, and Next Steps.” HASTAC, Michigan State University. (with C.D. Davidson, A. Licastro, K. Rogers, N. Sousanis and K. Westerling)
2015. “From iClouds to Eyes on the Street: Urban Surveillance in Youth Geographies.” Association of American Geographers, Chicago. (with C. Cahill, P. Hopkins, C. Katz and A. Matles)
2015. “Queer Data: Desire and Tension in the Production of Media Ecologies.” Association of American Geographers, Chicago. (with J.J. Gieseking, E. Johnson, J. Korn and D.J. Phillips)
2014. “Media Methods: Get Your Research On.” Allied Media Conference, Detroit. (with K. Belmonte and A. Matles)
2014. “Share It Now or Save It For Later: Making Choices about Dissertations & Publishing.” Information Interventions @ CUNY Series, CUNY Graduate Center. (with C. Eren, K. Fitzpatrick, P. Leventhal, J. Singerman, and P. Thistlewaite)
2013. “Resisting and Appropriating Methods.” Association of Internet Researchers, Denver. (with L. Humphreys, A.N. Markham, W.J. Monet, and D.J. Philips)
2013. “Civic Technology: Combining Media and Methods for Community-Driven Governance, Engagement, and Research.” Digital Media and Learning Conference, Chicago. (with J. Baldwin, G. Bullen, B. Hurwitz, T. Schloss, and M. Torre)
2013. “From Citizen Journalism to Hacktivism: How to Successfully Use Social Media in Grassroots Campaigns.” Social Media Week, New York. (with S. Carrie, S. Lindgren, G. Rosenthal, D. Huerta, and L. Scherling)
2012. “Bodies, Spaces, & Protest: What Critical Social Psychology & Geography Have to Say to One Another.” Association of American Geographers, New York. (with Billies, M., C. Cahill, H. Caldwell, M. Fine, J. Gieseking, R. Liebert, W. Liu, E. Manoff, S. Opotow, and S. Saegert)
2011. “Fostering Student-Based Media: A Look at the OpenCUNY Academic Medium.” 10th Annual CUNY IT Conference. John Jay College CUNY. (with M. Galvan, K. Greene, B. Kimiagar, K. Miyake, J. Pipitone, D. Spataro, and M. Whitaker)
2009. “Geopolitics and Insecurity II: Encountering Productions of State Security.” Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas. (with S.D.N. Graham, T. Harris, E. Johnson, and G. Kearnes)
2007. “Being Virtually There: Roundtable on Virtual Methodologies.” Association of American Geographers, San Francisco. (with S. Aggarwal, J. Craine, K. Erickson, C. Rosati, and M. Zook)
2007. “The Future of Environmental Psychology.” Environmental Psychology Conference, CUNY Graduate Center. (with L. Chawla, J. Gieseking, R. Hart, Y. Hung, L. Rivlin, S. Saegert, and M. Theeman)
2007. “The Instructional Technology Fellowship as a Model for Teaching and Learning.” 6th Annual CUNY IT Conference. John Jay College of Criminal Justice. New York. (with H. Davis, J. Drouin, J. Griffith, I. Meisel, and J. Ugoretz)
2006. “Expanding Learning Environments: Creative Use of Interactive Media.” 5th Annual CUNY IT Conference. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York. (with J. Greenbaum, K. Kermidas, and J. Merandy)
2006. “Unfiltered: Podcasting, Blogging and Knowledge Transmission.” Association of American Geographers, Chicago. (with S.J. Bergeron, M. McCalmont, and L.J. Rouse)
2005. “Policy and Design for Housing: Lessons of the Urban Development Corporation 1968–1975.” American Institute of Architects, New York. (with C.H. Chiu, A. Dean, M. Downing, and D. Woodward)
CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP
2015. Co-Organizer, Panel: “From iClouds to Eyes on the Street: Urban Surveillance in Youth Geographies.” Association of American Geographers. Chicago.
2015. Co-Organizer, Panel: “Queer Data: Desire and Tension in the Production of Media Ecologies.” Association of American Geographers. Chicago.
2014. Organizer, Strategy Session: “Media Methods: Get Your Research On” Allied Media Conference. Detroit.
2014. Co-Organizer, Panel: “Authors Meets Critics: The People, Place, & Space Reader.” Association of American Geographers. Tampa.
2013. Organizer, Paper Session: “Situating Social Media in Critical Qualitative Methods.” Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology. New York.
2013. Organizer, Paper Session: “#Lived Data: Using Everyday Research to Get Data.” Allied Media Conference. Detroit.
2013. Co-Organizer, Invited Panel: “Spotlight on the CUNY Graduate Center: Theorizing a Public Web.” Theorizing the Web. CUNY Graduate Center.
2011. Organizer, Panel: “Fostering Student-Based Media: A Look at the OpenCUNY.org Academic Medium.” CUNY IT Conference. John Jay College.
2011. Media & Technology Coordinator, Conference: “Growing Up Policed: Surveilling Racialized Sexualities.” CUNY Graduate Center & University of Oregon.
2011. Media & Technology Coordinator, Conference: “Nature, Ecology, and Society Colloquium: The Culture of Climate Change.” CUNY Graduate Center.
2008. Co-Organizer, Paper Session: “Space-Time: Affect, Struggle … Everyday.” Association of American Geographers. Boston.
2007. Co-Organizer, Panel: “The Future of Environmental Psychology.” Environmental Psychology Conference. CUNY Graduate Center.
2006. Co-Organizer, Panel: “Expanding Learning Environments: Creative Use of Interactive Media.” CUNY IT Conference. John Jay College.
ACADEMIC SERVICE
EDITORIAL BOARD
2012-Present. Member, Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy.
PEER REVIEW
2013-2015. Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy.
2010-2015. Surveillance & Society.
2014. Participatory Design Conference, Conference Submissions.
2013. Association of Internet Researchers, Conference Submissions.
2007. New Media & Society.
2006. Children, Youth and Environments.
2005. Environmental Design Research Association, Conference Submissions.
UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE
2015-Present. 2017-2022 Strategic Planning Committee, CUNY Graduate Center.
2014-Present. Executive Committee, New Media and Digital Design Program, Fordham University.
2014-Present. Arts & Sciences Faculty Evaluation Committee, Fordham University.
2014-Present. CMS Social Media Committee, Fordham University.
2010-2013. Search Committee, Instructional Technology Fellows, Macaulay Honors College.
2012-2013. Search Committee, OpenCUNY Coordinators, CUNY Graduate Center.
2012. Search Committee, Director of Career Planning and Professional Development, CUNY Graduate Center.
2009-2012. Committee on Committees, Graduate Council, CUNY Graduate Center.
2008-2012. Information Technology Committee, Graduate Council, CUNY Graduate Center.
2009-2010. Curriculum Committee, Environmental Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center.
2009-2010. Student Election Review Committee, Doctoral Students’ Council, CUNY Graduate Center.
2008-2010. Steering Committee, Middle States Commission on Accreditation Self-Study, CUNY Graduate Center.
2008-2009. Search Committee, Vice President for Information Technology, CUNY Graduate Center.
2008-2009. Search Committee, Associate Provost and Dean for Humanities and Social Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center.
2008-2009. Search Committee, Associate Provost and Dean for Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center.
2007-2009. Co-Chair for Student Affairs, Doctoral Students’ Council, CUNY Graduate Center.
2007-2009. Executive Committee, Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program, CUNY Graduate Center.
2007-2009. Program Representative, Graduate Council, CUNY Graduate Center.
2004-2006. Admissions Committee, Environmental Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center.