About

My name is Alex Leavitt, and I'm an Internet and media researcher. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm 25 years old.

Currently, I'm pursuing a PhD in Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, where I'm advised by Henry Jenkins and Dmitri Williams.

Previously, I worked with danah boyd at Microsoft Research New England. Before that, I was a researcher in the Comparative Media Studies department at MIT, where I worked on the Convergence Culture Consortium project.

Email me at alexleavitt [at] gmail [dot] com.
Follow me on Twitter at @alexleavitt.

Professional

Curriculum Vitae (CV)
[last updated 2 January 2013]

Hi-res Photo (front)

My research has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the Huffington Post.

Writing

Academic Papers

Department of Alchemy
   (personal blog)
Web Ecology Project
   (white papers)
Convergence Culture Consortium
   (research blog)

Collaborations

ROFLcon
Web Ecology Project
YouTomb
Students for Free Culture

Research Overview

Digital Culture & Computational Ethnography

My research focuses on networked participation in technologically-mediated social spaces. I am particularly interested in how social media sites facilitate user-generated content production, social network formation, information sharing practices, and collaboration. I also do work around cultural and social capital within online communities, specifically how the creation of media and information impacts cultural dynamics within these systems, usually involving youth.

Previously, I researched transmedia franchises and developments within the creative industries across the globe, especially their reactions to changing technologies and shifting social norms of active audiences. In my spare time, I extend my research to Japanese popular culture and its global audiences.

Social Science & Digital Data-Driven Methods

In my work, I combine ethnographic methods with large-scale digital data analysis to investigate social traces in social media systems. I like to pursue mixed methods research involving both interpretive and analytical approaches and, I am testing new methodologies for using digital data to look at everyday information practices that emerge from people's interactions with technology. Recently, I have been experimenting with data processing involving social network analysis, machine learning, and high performance computational resources.

Research Teams

I am a member of numerous research groups at USC:

Research Projects

Current Projects

Recent Projects