Alexander Halavais (born July 21, 1971) is an Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the Social Data Science master's program at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, a social media researcher and former President of the

Association of Internet Researchers Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

. Before joining the faculty at Arizona State University, Halavais taught in the Interactive Media program at Quinnipiac University, the School of Informatics at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

and at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. In 1993, Halavais earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Washington in 2001. His dissertation examined the social implications of the

Slashdot ''Slashdot'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''/.'') is a social news website that originally billed itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories on science, technology, and politics that are submitted and evaluated by site ...

website. He also completed coursework in communication and cognitive science at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

and

complex adaptive system A complex adaptive system (CAS) is a system that is ''complex'' in that it is a dynamic network of interactions, but the behavior of the ensemble may not be predictable according to the behavior of the components. It is '' adaptive'' in that the ...

s at the

Santa Fe Institute The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, inc ...

. ''Online Journalism Review'' has referred to Halavais as one of a number of "blogologists," exploring the ways in which social computing affects the society at large. His work has explored how

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s are used in education, the patterns of international

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...

s, the benefits and pitfalls of personal branding, and the role of pornography on the Internet. He is the editor of a volume on cyberporn and society. In one project, Lackaff and Halavais explored Wikipedia's topical coverage using the

Library of Congress Classification The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress in the United States, which can be used for shelving books in a library. LCC is mainly used by large research and academic li ...

to compare Wikipedia's coverage with that of Books in Print. Halavais was an early proponent of hyperlink analysis and

webometrics The science of webometrics (also cybermetrics) tries to measure the World Wide Web to get knowledge about the number and types of hyperlinks, structure of the World Wide Web and using patterns. According to Björneborn and Ingwersen, the definiti ...

, and has examined the relationship between national borders and hyperlinks, as well as hyperlinks between US cities. With Maria Garrido, he also looked at the linking patterns among global NGOs and grassroots organizations. To test

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

as a trustworthy source of accurate information, Halavais created one of the more publicized examples of Wikipedia

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The t ...

. He afterwards dubbed it "The Isuzu Experiment". Halavais altered 13 records in Wikipedia to include spurious information. A number of Wikipedia editors spotted the errors, and quickly corrected the articles. His most recent book is ''Search Engine Society''. He has more recently spoken about the role of peer to peer surveillance in participatory government.Halavais, Alexander (2009). Knowledge Everywhere. Media in Transition Conference, Cambridge, Mass.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halavais, Alexander 1971 births Living people Quinnipiac University faculty University of California, San Diego alumni University of California, Irvine alumni University of Washington alumni University at Buffalo faculty