Biography
Short version:
Michael Zimmer, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an associate at the Center for Information Policy Research. With a background in new media and Internet studies, the philosophy of technology, and information policy, Zimmer studies the ethical dimensions of new media and information technologies, with particular interest in privacy, social media, information ethics, access to knowledge, and value-conscious design.
Long version:
Michael Zimmer, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an associate at the Center for Information Policy Research.
With a background in new media and Internet studies, the philosophy of technology, and information policy, Zimmer studies the social, political, and ethical dimensions of new media and information technologies. His research and teaching focuses on:
- Ethics and Information Technology
- Information Policy
- Web Search Engines
- Web 2.0 and Library 2.0
- Privacy and Surveillance Theory
- Information and Web Literacy
- Access to Knowledge
Zimmer received his PhD in 2007 from the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University under the guidance of Profs. Helen Nissenbaum, Alex Galloway, and Siva Vaidhyanathan. He was a Student Fellow at the Information Law Institute at NYU Law from 2004-2007, and was the Microsoft Resident Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School for 2007-2008. Zimmer joined UW-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies in 2008.
Zimmer earned a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame in 1994 and worked for an electronic payment processing company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for several years before moving to New York City to pursue a new career in academia. He earned an M.A. in Media Ecology from NYU in 2002, and his doctoral studies were supported by the Phyllis and Gerald LeBoff Doctoral Fellowship in Media Ecology from the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. His dissertation research was supported by an NSF SES Dissertation Improvement Grant.
Zimmer has published in international journals and delivered talks across North America and Europe. He has appeared in the The New York Times, National Public Radio, GQ Magazine, The Montreal Gazette, The Boston Globe, MIT Technology Review, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and in various other national and local print and radio outlets. Zimmer was also featured in the “Is My Cellphone Spying on Me?” commentary accompanying the 2-disc special edition DVD for the hit action/thriller movie Eagle Eye.
View or download Zimmer’s CV here.
