iSchool Research Symposium: Megan Finn
"We are all well: A partial history of public information infrastructures after disasters"
When an earthquake happens today, residents may look to the United States Geological Survey for maps, Twitter and Facebook for news and updates, and the federal government for aid. In Megan Finn’s new book, Documenting Aftermath, she explores post-earthquake information and communication practices amidst infrastructure breakdown in three Northern California earthquakes: the 1868 Hayward Fault earthquake, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. In this talk, she will discuss how people produce and circulate information using a comparative historical lens. She analyzes the institutions, policies, and technologies that shape today’s post-disaster information landscape, paying close attention to not only the circulation of knowledge, but also to the production of ignorance.
Megan Finn teaches information policy and ethics at University of Washington Information School, where she is an assistant professor. Megan is a faculty member of the DataLab at the Information School, and at the eScience Institute where, as a part of the data science studies group, she convenes a talk series called "Data Then and Now." She is the co-director of the Scholar Strategy Network at the University of Washington for 2019-2020. She is currently working on an NSF-sponsored project on ethical practices in computer security research.