Scholar
Jessica Vitak
Google Scholar ID: RC9bN7kAAAAJ
Professor, College of Information, University of Maryland
Citations & Impact
Citations
9,727
H-index
49
i10-index
88
Publications
20
Co-authors
0
Publications
Resume (English only)
Academic Achievements
- General Chair, CSCW 2025; Has ORCID, BlueSky, Mastodon academic social platform accounts; Affiliated with multiple research centers such as the Social Data Science Center (SoDA), Center for Trustworthy AI in Law and Society (TRAILS), and Values-Centered AI (VCAI) group at UMD.
Research Experience
- Serves as the faculty director of the iSchool’s PhD program and the Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Leads the Privacy Education and Research Lab (PEARL). Her research focuses on understanding underlying motivations for user behaviors and how users interpret and engage with technologies when sharing data about themselves, the risks they perceive to adopting or engaging with new technologies, and how developers, researchers, and policymakers can do a better job of conveying critical information to consumers to aid in decision-making processes around technology.
Background
- Professor in the University of Maryland's iSchool and an affiliate professor in UMD’s Communication Department and the Joint Program in Survey Methodology (JPSM). Currently, she is the faculty director of the iSchool’s PhD program and Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Her primary research areas are networked privacy and pervasive data ethics. She has a long history of studying the social impacts of new technologies, particularly how people use social media platforms and the benefits and harms they face when using these platforms.
Miscellany
- Her personal website is not frequently updated; Welcomes journalists to contact her regarding broad data privacy, specific issues of data privacy and technology, consumer use of surveillance technologies like smart speakers and IoT devices, workplace surveillance, data ethics, and online harassment.
Co-authors