Dr. Roderic Crooks is an assistant professor in the Department of Informatics at UC Irvine. His research examines the use of digital technology in minoritized communities and the civic institutions that serve them. His current project explores the application of data analytics and associated computational techniques to the politically fraught realm of urban education. He has also published works on science and technology studies, political theories of online participation, and equity of access to information and media technologies.
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Awards & Fellowships
July 2016
UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship
Awarded to "outstanding women and minority Ph.D. recipients to pursue academic careers at the University of California." Includes two years of support, research funds, and a faculty hiring incentive.
September 2015
Dissertation-Year Fellowship
Awarded by UCLA's Graduate Division to support the final year of doctoral study. Includes tuition, fees, and stipend. Supported the completion of dissertation project, "The Coded Schoolhouse: One-to-one Tablet Computer Programs and Urban Education."
May 2015
Sotheby’s Institute of Art Research Award
Awarded by The Art Libraries Society of North America for a collaborative project led by Dr. Miriam Posner. “Experiments with the Getty’s Provenance Data” analyzes and visualizes 1.5 million records relating to archival inventories, auction catalogs, and dealer stock books.
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Education
June 2016
Doctor of Philosophy. Information Studies.
University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Dissertation title: “The Coded Schoolhouse: One-to-one Tablet Computer Programs and Urban Education.” Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities.
June 2011
Master of Library and Information Science. Informatics.
University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Thesis title: “Exploring Paradoxical User Reactions to iPhone Tracker: Journalism, Business, Cyberinfrastructure, Privacy, and Regulation.”
June 2005
Master of Fine Arts. Fiction.
University of Iowa, Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Thesis title: “The Human Technique.”
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Teaching
2017 - Present
INF 161: Social Analysis of Computing
Department of Informatics, UC, Irvine. Introduction to core concepts of informatics research, including sociotechnical perspective, infrastructural analysis, and social construction of technology. Class culminates in a group project, a ten-minute video presentation focusing on analysis of a specific technology, device, or platform (e.g., blockchain, dating apps, social media).
2013 - 2015
IS 30: Internet and Society
Department of Information Studies, UCLA. An undergraduate class about the historical development of the Internet and its contemporary relationship to politics, education, economics, and culture. Students worked on three technology-based projects, including a census of surveillance cameras on campus and a class blog.
2015
IS 10: Information and Power
Department of Information Studies, UCLA. Contributed significantly to the design and curriculum of a new undergraduate class organized around the question, "Does knowledge equal power?" We look at emergent forms of access to information and the challenges they pose to institutional authority. Case studies include WikiLeaks, citizen science, and academic publishing.
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Select Publications
Crooks, R. (2018). Times thirty: Access, maintenance, and justice. Science, Technology & Human Values.
Crooks, R. (2017). Representationalism at work: Dashboards and data analytics in urban education. Education Media International 54 (4), p. 289 – 303.
Boczkowski, P., Crooks, R., Lievrouw, L., Siles, I. (2016). Science and technology studies. International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Kelty, C., Panofsky, A., Erickson, S., Currie, M., Crooks, R., Wood, S., Garcia, P., Wartenbe, M. (2014). Seven dimensions of contemporary participation disentangled. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 66 (3), p. 474 – 88.
