Karen Louise Smith

Associate Professor

PhD, University of Toronto
MA, Simon Fraser University
BA, McMaster University

Office: SBH 316
905-688-5550 x6497 
karen.louise.smith@brocku.ca

VISIT WEBSITE

Karen Louise Smith (PhD University of Toronto) conducts research that explores the themes of openness, privacy and participation in digital society. Karen teaches courses related to social media, surveillance, and new media policy issues. Karen is published in journals such as Surveillance & Society, and participates with open source software communities as part of her research.

RESEARCH INTERESTS & STUDENT SUPERVISION

I’m interested in supervising projects in the areas of:

  • internet research
  • privacy
  • open source culture
  • technology policy
  • civic technology

PUBLICATIONS & COLLECTIONS

  • Smith, K. L., and Guzik, E. (2022). Developing Privacy Extensions: Is it Advocacy through the Web Browser?. Surveillance & Society, 20(1), 64-81. Available online: https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v20i1.13958 
  • Smith, K. L. (2021). iPads, Free Data and Young Peoples’ Rights: Refractions from a Universal Access Model During the Pandemic. Studies in Social Justice, 15(3), 414-441. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v15i3.250
  • Smith, K. L. (2019). Our Community Hacks: Exploring Hive Toronto’s Open Infrastructures. In Making Our World: Hacker and Maker Movements in Context (Eds. Schrock, A. & Hunsinger, J.) Peter Lang.
  • Smith, K. L. and Shade, L. R. (2018). Children’s Digital Playgrounds as Data Assemblages: Problematics of Privacy, Personalization and Promotional Culture. Big Data & Society. Available online
  • Smith, K. L., Shade, L. R. & Shepherd, T. (2017). Open Privacy Badges for Digital Policy Literacy. The International Journal of Communication. 11: 2784-2805. Available online
  • Smith, K. L. (2017). Social Innovation Partnerships: An Opportunity for Critical, Activist Scholarship. Canadian Journal of Communication. 42(1): 99-112. Available online

TEACHING AREAS

  • Social media
  • Data and society
  • Technology policy