Alex Jiahong Lu
鲁 家宏

I am a phd candidate at the university of michigan’s school of information. I am a sociotechnical scholar and a policy-oriented social worker. My work is grounded in cscw (computer-supported cooperative work), sts (science and technology studies), and hci (human-computer interaction). I adopt arts-based and community-based participatory research approaches and ethnographic inquiries in my current/dissertation work. At michigan, I am co-advised by Tawanna Dillahunt and Mark Ackerman.

I’m excited to join the school of communication and information at rutgers university as an assistant professor in fall 2024.

[01]
CRITICAL
INQUIRY

Social and Cultural Implications of Digital Surveillance Infrastructures
My work looks into the implications of digital surveillance infrastructures in varied social domains, particularly policing surveillance in the city of Detroit, behavior management in K-8 classrooms, hiring surveillance in low-wage labor markets, and ideology control in China. I am particularly interested in the role of emerging data-driven surveillance technologies in remediating and upscaling the containment of minoritized communities, and how impacted communities navigate, interact with, and resist these surveillance technologies.

[02]
Design-based
Inquiry

Decentering through Community-Based Participatory Research and Design
I am committed to centering communities in knowledge coproduction and dissemination. By employing existing and developing innovative Community-Based Participatory Research approaches to the study of surveillance with my community partners, my work seeks opportunities to extend community members’ expertise and wisdom to the processes of tech and policy design and deployment.

[03]
Photography

All About Living
All About Living is my photographic project that looks beyond bias and stereotype to mutual understanding, as well as documenting voices, vulnerabilities, and agencies of everyday people and communities, such as North Korea, Cuba, and Mexico. Through the lens of my camera, I hope to depict oft-derided figures in a “foreign” place as what I see: generous and earnest, worthy of respect and empathy.