Sarah T. Roberts
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Sarah T. Roberts (born September 2, 1975) is a professor, author, and scholar who specializes in
content moderation On websites that allow users to create content, content moderation is the process of detecting contributions that are irrelevant, obscene, illegal, harmful, or insulting. The purpose of content moderation is to remove or apply a warning label to ...
of
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
. She is an expert in the areas of
internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...
, social media, digital labor, and the intersections of media and technology. She coined the term "commercial content moderation" (CCM) to describe the job paid content moderators do to regulate legal guidelines and standards. Roberts wrote the book ''Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media''.


Early life and education

Roberts grew up in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
and attended
Madison West High School Madison West High School is a grade 9-12 public high school in Madison, Wisconsin, operated by the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). The school was founded in 1930. It is one of the five high schools in MMSD, and serves students from th ...
. In 1997, Roberts received a
B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...
from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, where she double-majored in French and Spanish language and literature. She also earned a certificate of
Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
. In 2007, Roberts received an
M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
in
Library and Information Science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with inf ...
from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
's iSchool. In 2014, Roberts earned a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
Library and Information Science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with inf ...
from the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
. Her dissertation, directed by Linda C. Smith, was titled ''Behind the Screen: The Hidden Digital Labor of Commercial Content Moderation''.


Career

From 2013 to 2016, Roberts was an assistant professor at the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...
's Faculty of Information & Media Studies. In 2016, Roberts became an assistant professor at
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Roberts' research focuses on commercial content moderation (CCM), the information work and workers, and on the social, economic, and political impact of the widespread adoption of the internet in everyday life. Her work has raised public awareness around issues of social media platform moderation. Roberts' research has been featured in various media outlets including ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
'', ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', among others. As part of her work, Roberts consulted on the 2018 documentary ''The Cleaners'', which focused on content moderators and the challenges they face. In 2019, Roberts' book ''Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media'' was published by
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
. It is the first book-length
ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
study of the work commercial content moderators. The book received positive reviews by publications including the ''
Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...
''. Along with longtime collaborator
Safiya Noble Safiya Umoja Noble is the David O. Sears presidential endowed chair of social sciences and professor of gender studies, African American studies, and information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the director of ...
, Roberts is co-director of the Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2) at UCLA. In 2019, Roberts was awarded an NSF grant to further her research on CCM.


Awards

* 2009:
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
, Google Policy Fellowship at
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...
in Washington, D.C. * 2018:
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...
,
EFF Pioneer Award The EFF Award, formerly EFF Pioneer Award, is an annual prize by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for people who have made significant contributions to the empowerment of individuals in using computers. Venue Until 1998 it was presented ...
: Groundbreaking Content Moderation Researcher * 2018:
Carnegie Fellow Carnegie may refer to: People *Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name **Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist * Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie * ...


Select works and publications


Selected works

* * * * * *


Selected publications

* * * * * * * *


Films


Documentary

* '' Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age'.'' Canada. 2022
La Ruelle Films
Dir.
Léa Clermont-Dion Léa Clermont-Dion (born 5 April 1991) is a Canadian author, feminist, television and radio host, and body image advocate. She was a co-facilitator, with Jacinthe Veillette, and spokesperson of the Québec Charter for a Healthy and Diverse Bod ...
, Guylaine Maroist. Je vous salue salope: la misogynie au temps du numérique] (French version).


References


External links

*
Sarah Roberts
at the
UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies The UCLA School of Education and Information Studies (UCLA Ed & IS) is one of the academic and professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. Located in Los Angeles, California, the school combines two departments. Established ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Sarah T. American women academics Living people 1975 births Writers from Madison, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni University of Illinois alumni Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies faculty Madison West High School alumni 21st-century American women