Jason Young

My work explores the politics that shape what forms of knowledge come to matter within different socio-cultural contexts, with an emphasis on the role of technological practice in shaping these epistemic politics. My research asks, for example, how the use of information & communication technologies are re-shaping colonial hierarchies that exist between Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge systems, and how socio-cultural and emotional dynamics produce vulnerabilities and attachments to misinformation. My projects strongly emphasize community-based, participatory approaches with applied goals, but are also inspired by and draw from a broad range of postcolonial, feminist, and critical theories. Much of my research is done in the context of the Arctic. You can find a list of my active projects below.

In addition to my research, I am the Director of the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA). TASCHA is a multidisciplinary center whose research explores the relationship between digital technologies and society, with an emphasis on applied work grounded in community engagement. TASCHA researchers engage in critically-minded, community-based research with an emphasis on international partnerships and qualitative methods. One of our primary missions is to build and support a community of practice at the iSchool that is interested in critically interrogating the complex and rapidly changing relationship between technology, society, and the environment. In this pursuit, we provide space and resources for students, faculty, and researchers to come together to collectively experiment with methods and processes that support ethical collaborations and cutting-edge, community-based research. Please reach out if you are interested in engaging with TASCHA!

I am open to accepting a PhD student for the 2024-2025 cohort – please do reach out to me if you are interested in working together and thinking about applying to the iSchool! I am particularly interested in admitting students that seek to do research in the areas of digital knowledge politics, nature/society relationships, and Arctic and Indigenous studies, but am open to prospective students that intersect any of the active projects listed below:

Co-Designing Civic Education in the Circumpolar North – This NSF-funded planning grant supports an international set of collaborators to develop a research agenda for designing and implementing civic education approaches contextualized to the Arctic.

Indigenous Wellbeing in the Arctic – This project supports interdisciplinary and interepistemological research into Arctic Indigenous wellbeing, with the goal of developing educational resources that communities can use to support
develops culturally-specific educational resources that Arctic communities can use to support their own wellbeing and resilience.

Indigenous Connectivity – This project seeks to design and implement community networks for and with Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon. It explores the ways in which digital technologies produce new opportunities for Indigenous communities to engage in collective environmental politics and cultural regeneration, while simultaneously reproducing epistemic and colonial hierarchies within those politics.

Co-Designing for Trust – This NSF-funded project is a collaboration between academic and community researchers, librarians, educators, and other partners working to design community-oriented solutions to misinformation. The project seeks to create locally-contextualized digital literacy resources that holistically address the ways that misinformation exploits our minds, emotions, and social circumstances.

Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Community-Powered Connectivity in the New Arctic – This NSF-funded planning grant explores the potential role of community networks – or, telecommunications infrastructure designed, implemented, and managed by communities – in addressing existing digital divides for Arctic Indigenous communities.

Innovations for Community-Held Infrastructure – This project, funded by the NSF Smart & Connected Community program, is co-developing new technologies (e.g., edge services, wireless sensors) that make community networks more useful and empowering for urban BIPOC communities.

Advancing Library Visibility in Africa (ALVA) – This project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, develops tools to support public library systems across the African continent as they engage in locally-relevant sustainable development efforts.