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Amy Johnson is a linguistic anthropologist and scholar of science, technology, and society (STS). She studies digital technologies across English, Japanese, and Arabic, with particular attention to unexpected users and uses; government social media practices; platform policy; software localization; and digital forms of parody, personification, and play.

Since early 2018 Dr. Johnson has been experimenting with speculative techniques for exploring the societal impact of technologies and social change, and runs a related working group at BKC. She holds a PhD from MIT's Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society and is currently a visiting research fellow at the Language and Technology Lab at MIT.


Projects & Tools

Digital Identity

Exploring the ethical and human rights considerations of digital identity.


Publications

Publication
Aug 14, 2017

Perspectives on Harmful Speech Online

This collection of short essays and opinion pieces on harmful speech online covers a broad spectrum of thought and ideas from the Berkman Klein community.


News

Mar 30, 2023

Digital Identity During Times of Crisis

What We Learned During the Fall 2022 Research Sprint

BKC hosted a 10-week Research Sprint from October to December 2022 investigating Digital Identity in Times of Crisis, in collaboration with partners metaLAB at Harvard, the…

News
Nov 4, 2013

Meet members of the 2013-2014 Berkman Community: Shane Greenstein, Niva Elkin-Koren, and Amy Johnson

This week we are featuring our second installation of a series of interviews showcasing individuals in the 2013-2014 Berkman community. Conducted by our 2013 summer Berkterns, the…


Community

Forbes

'Sealioning' Is A Common Trolling Tactic On Social Media--What Is It?

"Sealioning" and good versus bad faith demands for evidence on social media.

Mar 7, 2019
Digital Asia Hub

Drones & Dreams

A Speculative Sprint Story Collection

This new publication from the Digital Asia Hub collects the outputs of a two-day speculative fiction–writing workshop held in December 2018

Jan 16, 2019