Specializations

  • Critical Data Studies
  • Technology, Norms, & Human Values
  • Discourse Analysis

Biography

Dr. Hoffmann's research focuses on the ways ethics, values, and norms are (or are not) articulated relative to data and information technologies, with specific attention paid to 1) competing conceptions of justice and injustice, domination and subjugation, and inclusion and exclusion relative to data, information, and technology and 2) the ways they evoke or elide questions of gender, race, and other social organizing categories. Additionally, she works and writes on issues around ethics education for data professionals and computer scientists, focusing on the possibilities (and limits) of research ethics, ethics codes, and data metaphors for confronting the challenges posed by pervasive surveillance and data technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Anna Lauren Hoffmann is currently an Assistant Professor with The Information School at the University of Washington where she is also co-founder and co-director of the UW iSchool's AfterLab. She is also a senior fellow with the Center for Applied Transgender Studies and affiliate faculty with the UW iSchool’s DataLab. Prior to joining the UW iSchool, she was a postdoctoral scholar at the UC Berkeley School of Information and received her PhD from the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Hoffmann's work has appeared in academic venues like New Media & Society, Review of Communication, JASIST, and Information, Communication, and Society and her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation. In addition, her public writing has appeared The Guardian, Slate, The Seattle Times, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She lives in Seattle, WA with her wife and two kids.

Education

  • Ph D, School of Information Studies; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014
  • MLIS, School of Information Studies; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2009
  • BA, English, College of Liberal Arts; University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2005

Awards

  • Teaching & Course Development Award - University of Washington, 2022

Publications and Contributions

  • Conference Short Paper
    Recovering Misinformation’s Missing Children: Appropriating ReAnalysis for Self-Reflexivity in Critical Mis/Disinformation Studies (2023)
    Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Authors: Izzi Grasso, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Digitizing books, obscuring women's work: Google Books, librarians, and ideologies of access (2022)
    The Ada Journal Reader Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Raina Bloom
  • Short Paper
    Toward Intimate Data: Re-thinking digital, social, political relations (2022)
    Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Authors: Ryan Burns, Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Preston Welker
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Where Fairness Fails: Data, Algorithms, and the Limits of Antidiscrimination Discourse (2022)
    Ethics of Data and Analytics: Concepts and Cases, pp. 319-329 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Even when you are a solution you are a problem: An uncomfortable reflection on feminist data ethics (2021)
    Global Perspectives, 2(1) Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Conference Abstract
    Sorry, but...: Platform apologies, abuse, and constructing the culpable subject (2021)
    Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR). Authors: Katherine Cross, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Conference Paper
    Technology, equity, and social justice roundtable. (2021)
    Proceedings of 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society Authors: Ahmed Ansari, Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Seda Gürses, Mona Sloane, Mark A. Vasquez, Zach Pearl
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    “This App Can Help You Change Your Voice”: Authenticity and Authority in Mobile Applications for Transgender Voice Training (2021)
    Convergence: The International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies Authors: A. A. Ahmed, L. Kim, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Commentary on Sipple v. Chronicle Publishing Co. (2020)
    Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Torts Opinions, pp. 194-214 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Critical perspectives on governance mechanisms for AI/ML systems (2020)
    The Cultural Life of Machine Learning: An Incursion into Critical AI Studies, pp. 257-280 Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, L. Stark, D. M. Greene
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Terms of Inclusion: Data, Discourse, Violence (2020)
    New Media & Society Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Conference Paper
    Better, Nicer, Clearer, Fairer: A Critical Assessment of the Movement for Ethical Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (2019)
    52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 2122-2131 Authors: Daniel Greene, Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Luke Stark
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Data Is the New What? Popular Metaphors and Professional Ethics in Emerging Data Cultures (2019)
    Journal of Cultural Analytics, ISBN/ISSN: 2371-4549 Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Luke Stark
  • Website Document
    Feminist Data Manifest-No (2019)
    Authors: Marika Cifor, Patricia Garcia, T. L. Cowan, Jasmine Rault, Tonia Sutherland, Anita Say Chan, Jennifer Rode, Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Niloufar Salehi, Lisa Nakamura
  • Magazine/Trade Publication
    The language we use to describe data can also help us fix its problems (2019)
    Quartz Authors: Luke Stark, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Magazine/Trade Publication
    The privacy risks of unchecked facial recognition technology (2019)
    The Seattle Times Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book Review
    A Microsoft researcher confronts how companies shape what we see and say online (2018)
    Science Magazine Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Blog - Featured Story
    Data Violence and How Bad Engineering Choices Can Damage Society (2018)
    Medium Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Making data valuable: Political, economic, and conceptual bases of big data (2018)
    Philosophy & Technology, 31(Unknown Issue), pp. 209-212 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Making the world more open and connected”: Mark Zuckerberg and the discursive construction of Facebook and its users (2018)
    New Media and Society, 20(1), pp. 199-218 Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Nicholas Proferes, Michael Zimmer
  • Book Review
    Platforms of power (2018)
    Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions that Shape Social Media, 360(6394), pp. 1193-1194 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Conference Paper
    Toward a Conception of Data Violence: Data Justice Beyond Distributions (2018)
    Data Justice 2018 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Beyond distributions and primary goods: Assessing applications of rawls in information science and technology literature since 1990 (2017)
    Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(7), pp. 1601–1618 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book Review
    Breaking bad algorithms (review of Sara Wachter-Boettcher’s Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech) (2017)
    Science, 358(6361), pp. 311 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Data, Technology, and Gender: Thinking About (And From) Trans Lives (2017)
    Spaces for the Future: A Companion to Philosophy of Technology, pp. 3–13 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Magazine/Trade Publication
    Facebook doesn’t need a Chief Ethics Officer (2017)
    Slate Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Conference Paper
    Imagining Intersectional Futures: Feminist approaches in CSCW (2017)
    Companion of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Authors: Sarah Fox, Amanda Menking, Stephanie Steinhardt, Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Shaowen Bardzell
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Recasting justice for internet and online industry research ethics (2017)
    Internet Research Ethics for the Social Age: New Cases and Challenges, pp. 3-18 Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Anne Jonas
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Constructing and enforcing "authentic" identity online: Facebook, real names, and non-normative identities (2016)
    First Monday, 21(6) Authors: Oliver L. Haimson, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Digitizing Books, Obscuring Women’s Work: Google Books, Librarians, and Ideologies of Access (2016)
    Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, 9(Unknown Issue) Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Raina Bloom
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Google Books, libraries, and self-respect: Information justice beyond distributions (2016)
    The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 86(1), pp. 76–92 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Preface: A decade of Web 2.0 - Reflections, critical perspectives, and beyond (2016)
    First Monday, 21(6) Authors: Michael Zimmer, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Privacy, Intellectual Freedom, and Self-Respect: Technological and Philosophical Lessons for Libraries (2016)
    Perspectives on Libraries as Institutions of Human Rights and Social Justice, pp. 49–69 Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    “Making the world more open and connected”: Mark Zuckerberg and the discursive construction of Facebook and its users (2016)
    New Media & Society, pp. 1–20 Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Nicholas Proferes, Michael Zimmer
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    On considering the application of Amartya Sen’s capability approach to an information-based rights framework (2013)
    Information Development, 29(2), pp. 106–113 Authors: Johannes Britz, Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Shana Ponelis, Michael Zimmer, Peter Lor
  • Book, Chapter in Non-Scholarly Book-New
    Privacy, Context, and Oversharing: Reputational Challenges in a Web 2.0 World (2012)
    The reputation society: How online opinions are reshaping the offline world, pp. 175-184 Authors: Michael Zimmer, Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Master's Thesis
    Oversharing: A critical discourse analysis (2009)
    Author: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
  • Report
    Teaching Data Ethics: Foundations and Possibilities from Engineering and Computer Science Ethics Education
    University of Washington ResearchWorks Archive Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Katherine Cross
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The unremarked optimum: Whiteness, optimization, and control in the database revolution
    The Review of Communication Authors: Anna Lauren Hoffmann, N. L. Stevens, S. Florini

Presentations

  • Annual Colloquium Series (2023)
    Department of Geography, University of Washington - Seattle, WA
  • Bringing Up Bot: Child, Potential, and the Domesticated Subject of AI Ethics (2023)
    2023 Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) - Honolulu, HI
  • Fugitive Maneuvers for BlackSTS (2023)
    2023 Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) - Honolulu, HI
  • Indexing Ambivalence: What is cyberfeminism? (2023)
    Cyberfeminism Index, Space.City and Seattle Public Library - Seattle, WA
  • Recovering Critique in a Datafied World (2023)
    73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) - Toronto, Ontario
  • Recovering Misinformation’s Missing Children: Appropriating ReAnalysis for Self-Reflexivity in Critical Mis/Disinformation Studies (2023)
    24th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) - Philadelphia, PA
  • Tech Criticism at the Limit (2023)
    73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) - Toronto, Ontario
  • “In Conversation With…” webinar series (2022)
    PERVADE, University of Maryland - College Park, MD (virtual)
  • Critically reading Discriminating Data: Sense of PLACE amid the politics of predictive analytics (2022)
    108th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association (NCA) - New Orleans, LA
  • Data&US seminar series (2022)
    Faculty of Design, Technology, and Communication - Universidade Nova de Lisboa & IADE - Lisbon, Portugal (virtual)
  • Justice and Content Governance speaker series (2022)
    Algorithmic fairness and opacity group (AFOG), University of California - Berkeley, CA
  • Big Data at the Margins series (2021)
    Western University, Ryerson University, and Concordia University (Montreal) - virtual
  • Bringing Ethics into the Conversation (2021)
    Online Ethics Center - University of Virginia
  • Categories of Control: The Regulation of Sexuality & Gender (2021)
    Privacy at the Margins. Joint event with University of Colorado-Boulder and Silicon Flatirons - Boulder, CO
  • Data Justice (2021)
    National Workshop on Data Science Education - Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. UC Berkeley.
  • Engaging Refusal (2021)
    Labor Tech Research Network - Virtual
  • Exploring Bias & Technology (2021)
    UW Bothell IT - Virtual
  • Faculty of Information & Media Studies, Western University (w/ Ryerson University and Concordia University) (2021)
    London, ON, CA
  • Ideology (2021)
    Public Conversations About Design, Inequality, and Technology, NYU Institute for Public Knowledge - New York, NY
  • Sorry, but...: Platform apologies, abuse, and constructing the culpable subject (2021)
    22nd Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers - Virtual
  • Tech Ethics Pedagogy Workshop (2021)
    Data & Society - New York, NY (virtual)
  • Technology, Equity, and Social Justice (2021)
    IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS21) - Virtual
  • Toward Intimate Data: Re-thinking digital, social, political relations (2021)
    Meeting of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) - Virtual
  • A Unique Educational Experience: Logics of Security and Vulnerability in the University of Farmington Case (2020)
    EASST/4S 2020 - virtual
  • Critical Media and Digital Studies Workshop (2020)
    Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), Columbia University - New York, NY
  • Data Violence, or: How the Push for Fair and Inclusive Tech Undermines the Pursuit of Data Justice (2020)
    Tech + Justice seminar Series, Haverford College - Haverford, PA
  • Feminist Data Manifest-No (2020)
    The Refusal Conference, UC Berkeley's Algorithmic Fairness and Opacity Working Group (AFOG) - Virtual
  • Gender & AI (2020)
    100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics Summit - virtual
  • Harms from AI Research (2020)
    Navigating the Broader Impacts of AI Research Workshop - NeurIPS 2020 - virtual
  • Something Had Been Ruined Forever: Interrupting AI Ethics (2020)
    Queer in AI Workshop - NuerIPS - virtual
  • Tech & Justice Series (2020)
    President's Initiative on Ethical Engagement and Leadership, Haverford College - Haverford, PA
  • Technology Determinism and Unethical Technologies (2020)
    University of Texas' 2020 Global Analytics Summit on Ethics of AI - Virtual
  • The Discursive Bases of Data Violence (2020)
    Critical Media + Digital Studies Workshop, Columbia University - New York, NY
  • Virtual Symposium: Race, Representation & Justice (2020)
    2020 Ethics of Big Data Symposium, Marquette University - Virtual
  • Beyond Fairness: Data, Violence, and the Limits of Antidiscrimination Discourse (2019)
    4th Annual Information + Humanities Conference - University Park, PA
  • Beyond Fairness: Justice, Discourse, and Violence in a Datafied World (2019)
    UC San Diego's Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute - San Diego, CA
  • Connecting the Dots: Racism and White Supremacy in Algorithms (2019)
    University of Washington Critical Platform Studies Group - Seattle, WA
  • Data Violence: Discourse and Justice in a Datafied World (2019)
    Launch of University of Michigan's Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC) - Ann Arbor, MI
  • Feminism in the Age of Big Data: Towards an Intersectional Data Justice (2019)
    Global Women's Rights Forum - San Francisco, CA
  • Feminist Data Studies Retreat, Invited Participant (2019)
    The Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI
  • Global Challenges/Interdisciplinary Answers Technology, ethics and social change…who cares? (2019)
    UW Honors Program: Global Challenges - Seattle, WA
  • Keynote Address (2019)
    Computer Ethics - Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) 2019 - Norfolk, VA
  • Mozilla @ UCSD: A conversation about student advocacy for the Development of Trustworthy AI (2019)
    UC San Diego's Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute - San Diego, CA
  • Normative Bases of Data Justice (2019)
    International Communication Association (ICA) 2019 Pre-Conference - Washington, DC
  • Amplifying Harm: Gender, Bias, and Violence in Security Research and Design (2018)
    OURSA Conference, Panel on "Security Policy & Ethics for Emerging Tech" - San Francisco, CA
  • Beyond Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in the Ethics of Algorithms: Contributions and Perspectives from LIS (2018)
    81st Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology - Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
  • Configuring the Trans Voice: Gender, Race, and Class in Mobile Voice Training Applications for Transgender People (2018)
    2018 Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) - Montreal, Québec
  • Data Violence: Dignity and Vulnerability Beyond Algorithmic Discrimination (2018)
    University of Kansas Libraries - Lawrence, Kansas
  • Transdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Data Studies (2018)
    81st Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology - Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
  • Confronting Bias in Automated Content Moderation: Discursive, Technical, and Political Opportunities for Change (2017)
    All Things in Moderation Conference; UCLA - Los Angeles, California
  • Data & Governance (2017)
    Women in Data Science Conference - Palo Alto, California
  • Data Violence: Dignity and Vulnerability Beyond Algorithmic Discrimination (2017)
    Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; Kalamazoo College - Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • Data Violence: Dignity, Discrimination, and Algorithmic Identity (2017)
    Electronic Resources and Libraries - Austin, Texas
  • Navigating History, Privilege, and Power in Information and Data Science. (2017)
    National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education session on Integrating Ethics and Privacy Concerns into Data Science Education; NAS - Washington, District of Columbia
  • Overcoming Challenges for Infusing Ethics into the Development of Engineers (2017)
    The National Academy of Engineering and the Center for Engineering Ethics and Society - Washington, District of Columbia
  • Ethics of Online Experimentation (2016)
    ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining - San Francisco, California
  • Non-Normative Identities and the Sociotechnical Bases of Self-Respect (2016)
    IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science, and Technology - Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Pedagogy and Professional Norms (2016)
    ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining - San Francisco, California
  • The Value of Respect: Reclaiming the Philosophical and Political Foundations of Informed Consent (2016)
    Privacy Law Scholars Conference; George Washington University - Washington, D.C.
  • Towards a Conception of Data Violence (2016)
    Terms of Privacy: Intimacies, Exposures, Exceptions; McGill University. - Montreal, Quebec
  • Academic Researchers on Social Data's Critical Frontier: A Conversation with Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Jim Thatcher, and Shawn Walker (2015)
    Big Boulder - Boulder, CO
  • Engaging with Issues of Social Justice in Higher Education (2015)
    Internet Research 16: the 16th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers - Phoenix, Arizona
  • Imagining Social Justice Through the Internet and Beyond (2015)
    Internet Research 16: the 16th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers - Phoenix, Arizona
  • On the Philosophical and Political Foundations of Informed Consent (2015)
    Ethics of Data Science: The Landscape for the Alan Turing Institute; University of Oxford - Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Privacy is Dead, The End of Theory, and Other Things People Shout On the Internet: A Conversation About Ethics, Power, and Data Science (2015)
    Data Dialogs; UC Berkeley School of Information - Berkeley, California
  • Privacy, Intimacy, and Forced Disclosure: Insights from Facebook, Tinder, and Ashley Madison (2015)
    Business Law Journal Symposium on Corporate Data Breaches: Learning from Sony, Ashley Madison, and Target - Davis, California
  • Teaching Ethics in Big Data and Social Media: Bridging Theory and Practice in the Classroom (2015)
    Internet Research 16: the 16th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers - Phoenix, Arizona
  • Google Books, Libraries, and the Gender of Access. (2014)
    Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium; University of Toronto - Toronto, Ontario
  • Privacy and Control in Mark Zuckerberg's Discourse on Facebook (2014)
    Internet Research 15: the 15th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers - Daegu, South Korea
  • "Mutual Connexions": Technology, Infrastructure, and the Scope of Social Justice (2013)
    Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) - San Diego, California
  • Google Books as Infrastructure of In/Justice (2013)
    Internet Research 14: the 14th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers - Denver, Colorado
  • Just Things: Justice, Technology, and the Limits of Liberal Egalitarianism (2013)
    18th Annual Conference for the Society for Philosophy and Technology - Lisbon, Portugal
  • Rewiring Rawls: Social Justice, Technology, and the Information Society (2012)
    The 4th ICTs and Society Conference: Critique, Democracy, and Philosophy in the 21st Century Information Society; Uppsala University - Uppsala, Sweden
  • Rewiring Rawls: Towards a Sociotechnical Critique of Justice as Fairness (2012)
    Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme; University of Oxford - Oxford, United Kingdom
  • "Mutual Connexions": On Obligation and the Scope of Justice in the Information Society (2011)
    Center for Information Policy Brown Bag Research Lunch; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Me, not Mine: Facebook, Ontic Informational Beings, and the Problem with Information as Property (2011)
    Theorizing the Web; University of Maryland-College Park - College Park, Maryland
  • New Directions for the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology (INSEIT) (2011)
    Computer Ethics/Philosophical Enquiry - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • The Social (Network) Contract: On Facebook, Persons, and Information Property (2011)
    The Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • I, Me, Mine: Facebook's Philosophy and Personal Information as Property (2010)
    Internet Research 11: the 11th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers - Göteborg, Sweden
  • New Directions for Information Justice (2009)
    Computer Ethics/Philosophical Enquiry - Corfu, Greece
  • Oversharing: A Critical Discourse Analysis (2009)
    Internet Research 10: the 10th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Rethinking Roles, Reinforcing Ethics: Intellectual Authority in the Digital Era (2009)
    95th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association - Chicago, Illinois
  • 'Ethical Tech’ and the Politics of Potential, or: Algorithms are Kid Stuff
    Symposium on Information for the Social Good - UNC School of Information and Library Science - Chapel Hill, NC
  • Cyberfeminism Index with Mindy Seu
    Space.City and Seattle Public Library - Seattle, WA