Audience Tools

Jason Young

CV Director of TASCHA, Principal Research Scientist, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Affiliate Assistant Professor
Allen Library 198

Affiliate Positions

  • Director, Technology & Social Change Group
  • Research Fellow, Center for an Informed Public
  • Affiliate Assistant Professor, UW Information School
  • Affiliate Instructor, UW Jackson School of International Studies

Specializations

  • Critical Technology Studies
  • Digital Knowledge Politics
  • Community-Based Research

Research Areas

Biography

My work explores the intersection between technology, knowledge systems, and power. I am interested in understanding how technological practices -- from the use of social media and AI to the spread of disinformation -- are leveraged to make different kinds of knowledge are made visible (or made invisible) and given authority (or marginalized). 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 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.

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. 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 2025-2026 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 and nature/society relationships, or that have interest in one of my active projects below:

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.

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.

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.

Education

  • Ph D, Geography, University of Washington, 2017
  • MA, Geography, University of Washington, 2012
  • BA, Geography, Miami University (Ohio), 2009

Publications and Contributions

  • Conference Poster
    Making Ends Meet in a Pandemic: African Library Initiatives During COVID-19 (2023)
    Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 60(1), pp. 895-898 Authors: Charles Bugre, Chris Jowaisas, Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Auditing Google's Search Headlines as a Potential Gateway to Misleading Content: Evidence from the 2020 US Election (2022)
    Journal of Online Trust & Safety, 1(4) Authors: Jevin West, Himanshu Zade, Morgan Wack, Yuanrui Zhang, Kate Starbird, Ryan Calo, Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Gender dynamics in high school policy debate: Propagating gender hierarchies in advocating 'better' futures (2022)
    Gender and Education Authors: Stella Robertson, Petra Zuniga, Hannah Christenson, Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    What makes an ideal partner? African libraries and neoliberal discourses in international development (2022)
    Applied Linguistics Authors: Renee Lynch, Jason C Young, Chris Jowaisas, Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Joel Sam
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge. (2021)
    Volume 37(2), pp. 292-306 Authors: Lynch R, Jason Young, Chris Jowaisas, Maria Garrido
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Public Libraries and Development Across Sub-Saharan Africa: Overcoming a Problem of Perception (2021)
    Libri Authors: Jason Young, Renee Lynch, Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Chris Jowaisas, Joel Sam
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    African Libraries in Development: Perceptions and Possibilities (2020)
    International Information & Library Review Authors: Renee Lynch, Jason Young, Chris Jowaisas, Stanley Boayke-Achampong, Joel Sam
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Benefits of Crowdsourcing for Libraries in the Global South: A Case Study from Africa (2020)
    IFLA Journal Authors: Renee Lynch, Jason Young, Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Chris Jowaisas, Joel Sam, Bree Norlander
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Benefits of Crowdsourcing for Libraries in the Global South: A Case Study from Africa (2020)
    The IFLA Journal Authors: Renee Lynch, Jason Young, Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Chris Jowaisas, Joel Sam
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge (2020)
    Information Development Authors: Renee Lynch, Jason Young, Chris Jowaisas, Maria Garrido, Joel Sam, Stanley Boakye-Achampong
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Disinformation as the weaponization of cruel optimism: A critical intervention in misinformation studies (2020)
    Emotion, Space and Society Author: Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Environmental colonialism, digital indigeneity, and the politicization of resilience (2020)
    Environmental Planning E: Nature and Space 0(0), pp. 1-22 Author: Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The Role of Libraries in Misinformation Programming: A Research Agenda (2020)
    Journal of Librarianship and Information Science Authors: Jason Young, Brandyn Boyd, Katya Yefimova, Stacey Wedlake, Christopher Coward
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Volunteer geographic information in the Global South: barriers to local implementation of mapping projects across Africa (2020)
    GeoJournal Authors: Jason Young, Renee Lynch, Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Chris Jowaisas, Joel Sam, Bree Norlander
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Volunteer geographic information in the Global South: barriers to local implementation of mapping projects across Africa (2020)
    GEOJOURNAL, ISBN/ISSN: 0343-2521 Authors: Jason Young, Renee Lynch, Stanley Boakye-Achampong, Chris Jowaisas, Joel Sam, Bree Norlander
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Rural digital geographies and new landscapes of social resilience (2019)
    Journal of Rural Studies Author: Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The new knowledge politics of digital colonialism (2019)
    Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space Author: Jason Young
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    Knowledge Politics (2018)
    Digital Geographies Author: Jason Young
  • Book, Reprint in Translation
    Ukiuqta'qtumi-Hivuniptingun – One Arctic, One Future (2018)
    One Arctic: The Arctic Council and Circumpolar Governance Authors: Nadine C Fabbi, Jason Young, Eric W Finke
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Canadian Inuit, digital qanuqtuurunnarniq, and emerging geographic imaginations (2017)
    Geoforum, 86(Unknown Issue), pp. 53-62 Author: Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Participatory Uses of Geospatial Technologies to Leverage Multiple Knowledge Systems within Development Contexts (2017)
    World Development, 93(Unknown Issue), pp. 389-401 Authors: Jason Young, Michael Gilmore
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Polar Bear Management in a Digital Arctic: Inuit Perspectives Across the Web (2016)
    The Canadian Geographer, 60(4), pp. 574-91 Author: Jason Young
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    Subaltern empowerment in the Geoweb: Tensions between publicity and privacy (2014)
    Antipode, 46(2), pp. 574-91 Authors: Jason Young, Michael P Gilmore
  • Journal Article, Professional Journal
    The Spatial Politics of Affect and Emotion in Participatory GIS (2013)
    Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 103(4) Authors: Jason Young, Michael P Gilmore
  • Journal Article, Academic Journal
    The use of participatory mapping in ethnobiological research, biocultural conservation, and community empowerment: a case study from the Peruvian Amazon (2012)
    Journal of Ethnobiology, 32(1), pp. 6-29 Authors: Michael P Gilmore, Jason Young
  • Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
    The Maijuna Participatory Mapping Project: Mapping the Past and the Present for the Future (2010)
    Peru: Maijuna Authors: Michael P Gilmore, Jason Young

Presentations

  • Beyond Super Searchers: Public Libraries in the Age of Misinformation. (2023)
    Public Library Association - Online
  • Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Create a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
    BiblioCommons - Online
  • Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
    American Library Association - Chicago, Illinois
  • Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
    BiblioCommons Webinar - Virtual
  • Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
    Washington Library Association Annual Conference - Wenatchee, WA, USA
  • Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
    American Library Association Annual Conference - Wenatchee, WA, USA
  • Countering Misinformation, Strengthening Democracy (2023)
    NEXT Library Festival - Aarhus, DK
  • Making Ends Meet in a Pandemic: African Library Initiatives During COVID-19 (2023)
    86th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology - London, United Kingdom
  • Auditing Google’s Search Headlines as a Potential Gateway to Misleading Content: Evidence from the 2020 US Election (2022)
    Stanford Trust and Safety Research Conference - Virtual
  • Community Approaches to Misinformation (2021)
    UW iSchool - Virtual
  • Development Organization Interviews: Perceptions and Possibilities for African Libraries (2021)
    African Library & Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) - Online
  • Library Survey: Current Data Practices in African Libraries (2021)
    African Library & Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) - Online
  • Panel Discussion: Recommendations from the ALVA Pro (2021)
    African Library & Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) - Online
  • Going Public: Opening Scholarship to All (2020)
    UW Libraries, University of Washington - Seattle, Washington
  • Advancing Library Visibility in Africa (2019)
    3rd African Library & Information Associations & Institutions (AfLIA) Conference & 5th African Library Summit - Nairobi
  • Exploring The Benefits and Challenges of Community-Powered Connectivity In The New Arctic
    NNA Annual Meeting - Virtual
  • Knowledge Politics Across Digital Divides: Environmental Change, Indigeneity, and Technology Use in the Arctic
    Development Studies Association 2018 Conference - Manchester, UK