Judith Donath

Expert on Cognition, Signaling and Social Engagement

BIG IDEAS

• Virtual Trust
  Trust is a gamble–and online, the odds are hard to assess. The physical cues such as facial expression we use to determine honesty are absent. The easy availability of intimate information about strangers means that such knowledge about a person no longer indicates a personal connection. Reputation systems can be gamed. And one’s choice of communication medium, from simple email to multi-channel videoconference, affects trust in often surprising ways. Without trust, our interactions, both social and professional, would soon cease–but misplaced trust leaves one open to exploitation. Judith’s work on signaling and on-line identity provides essential guidelines for understanding the dynamics of on-line trust.
• Data Self
  People today are amassing vast and ever-growing data bodies–dossiers of personal information gathered both with and without their knowledge and consent. Some contributions to these profiles are self-created, such as the public statements made on blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts. Others, such as photographs and ratings, are made by other people. Much we create simply by carrying out everyday life: going through a toll booth, buying groceries, walking down past a surveillance camera, or clicking on a link. This trove of data can help create a vibrant information society, enables the advertising economy, and can be the foundation of an online “data portrait,” a richly evocative persona for the on-line world. But it also makes us vulnerable to identity theft and privacy violations ranging from the loss of control over our public “face” to misuse by governments and corporations. How should we deal with this unprecedented accumulation of personal data? Judith presents a wide-ranging and nuanced vision of the data rich future, illustrating both the optimistic visions to work towards and the dystopian nightmares to avoid.
• Information Fashion
  We are living in a world where information is increasingly the key resource that determines success. Yet information is very different from the tangible, finite resources modeled by traditional economics: it is shared rather than exchanged, and once spread it cannot be taken back. In this world fashion–not only in clothing, but in domains ranging from music and slang to software and management style–is the signal of information prowess. Using colorful and entertaining examples drawn from many fields, Judith untangles the complex relationships between fashion and utility, risk and influence, waste and sustainability, and shows why seemingly frivolous displays of fashion are essential for understanding the fundamental economics of the 21st century information world.

SNAPSHOT BIO

Judith Donath synthesizes knowledge from fields such as urban design, evolutionary biology, and cognitive science to build innovative interfaces for on-line communities and virtual identities. A Harvard Berkman Faculty Fellow and formerly director of the Sociable Media Group at MIT Media Lab, her work focuses on cognition, social visualization, interface design, and mediated interaction. Judith has created groundbreaking work in social media and on-line information display. She created several of the earliest social applications for the web, including the first postcard service and the first interactive juried art show. Her work with the Sociable Media Group has been shown in museums and galleries worldwide, and was recently the subject of a major exhibition at the MIT Museum.

Her current research focuses on understanding the social economics underlying communication, both face to face and on-line. Her insights bring a fresh understanding into the messages embodied in fashion, faces, gifts, and other aspects of daily life. She compellingly shows how this understanding can help create environments that promote cooperation and trust.

Judith has two books in progress, one on the design of sociable media and one which explores how we signal identity in both mediated and face-to-face interactions. She received her doctoral and master's degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT, her bachelor's degree in History from Yale University, and has worked professionally as a designer and builder of educational software and experimental media.

A Closer Look at Judith

FOCUS AREAS
What's on Judith's current research agenda?

I’m interested in how we can use new media to create a better society. My work is interdisciplinary–I approach this big question from several perspectives.

First, I’m a designer. I create interfaces and online environments that provide novel ways of interacting with other people and exploring social data. For example, I’ve designed on-line conversation spaces that keep a growing, graphically striking visualization of past discussions. These days, I’m especially interested in making “data portraits” – representations of people based not on their physical appearance, but on their online words and actions.

Second, I study how communication works–what keeps it reliable enough to function?  This is rather a puzzle, because much of the time, it can be advantageous to lie, to say that you are nicer, smarter, or stronger than you really are. But if everyone lied all the time, communication would be meaningless.  Signaling theory is an economic model from biology that helps us understand what keeps communication honest enough, and what happens when it fails.  My work is in adapting this model for human communication and applying to understanding all kinds of phoenomena: gifts, fashion, sports, facial expresses, etc.

Finally, I am an artist. I make installation pieces that raise questions about how technology is changing our lives–about our sense of privacy and desire for publicity, about our accumulations of personal data, and about how we interact with the information around us.

ENGAGEMENTS
How have other organizations utilized Judith's expertise, and what's ahead on her schedule?

In over 25 years as a designer and thinker, Judith has given talks to academic audiences and spoken with industry and government leaders worldwide. Her work resonates with anthropologists, artists, and intelligence officials–her recent talk venues range from the Pew Foundations to the evolutionary biology department at Oxford, from the computer science department at the EPFL (Switzerland) to Mass College of Art.

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
Who shapes Judith's thinking and inspires her work?

• Nicholas Negroponte (computer visionary)
• Robin Dunbar (anthropologist evolutionary biologist)
• Alan Turing (mathematician, philosopher)
• Andy Warhol (pop artist)
• Fernand Braudel (historian)
• Marc Hauser (evolutionary psychologist and biologist)

RECOMMENDED READING
What's on Judith's must-read list?

Maynard-Smith and Harper, Animal Signals
Edward Tufte, Envisioning Information
Erving Goffman, Behavior in Public Places
Many graphical novels & memoirs: Art Spielgelman’s Maus; R. Crumb Complete Works; Aline Crumb’s Need More Love; Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang; Ben Katchor’s Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer, and more.

MIND FUEL
Which blogs, web sites, and industry events does Judith tap into to feed her mind and fuel her creativity?

BoingBoing.net
We-make-money-not-art.com
Twitter.com
Facebook.com
Infoesthetics.com
Visualcomplexity.com/vc/
Scholar.google.com  

OUTREACH
What are Judith's pressing questions, and on which topics does she seek your feedback?

I want to know how technology can non-coercively inspire people to act more cooperatively and responsibly. From the public, I’m interested in hearing about what problems people are concerned about, what behaviors puzzle or disturb them; I am interested in hearing about their experiences with social technologies.
I’m also very interested in our changing notions of privacy. How do we want to manage the balances between privacy and security, privacy and efficiency, privacy and public life? So, I would like to hear more about what people’s expectations are about what should be known about them, what tradeoffs they are willing to make.