Michael Zimmer, PhD
Scholar focusing on digital privacy & surveillance, the ethics of big data & artificial intelligence, and the broader social & ethical dimensions of emerging digital technologies. Recognized globally as an expert in data, AI, and internet research ethics used by researchers, ethics bodies, and government & industry partners worldwide.
Director
Center for Data Ethics
50+
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Nearly $1M
External Awards & Gifts
Marquette Center for Data Ethics
An interdisciplinary center advancing research, education, and collaboration on the ethics of data and AI for human dignity, justice, and the common good.
News & Research Updates
Latest publications, appointments, honors & fellowships · 2025–2026
JULY 2026
Recommendations for Conducting Ethical Network Research Published
Icontributed to new interdisciplinary guidance published in Network Science : “Recommendations for conducting ethical network research” (July 2026), providing frameworks for relational data ethics.
Network Science Journal
JUNE 2026
Infrastructure of Ethics: Publication Workflows Study
Excited to see our paper “Infrastructure of Ethics: How Publication Workflows Shape Ethical Expectations in Computational Research” published in ACM Journal on Responsible Computing with Marquette Undergraduates Tania Mishra & Riley Abrahamson.
ACM Journal on Responsible Computing
2025 – 2026
Ask an HCI Research Ethicist: SIGCHI Column Series
The SIGCHI Research Ethics Committee launched a quarterly column with essays co-authored with Casey Fiesler & Jessica Vitak: r/ChangeMyView Consent , Breaking ToS for Data , and Peer Review Responsibility .
4 Essays in SIGCHI Newsletter
NOV 2025
Web Scraping for Research: Multi-Layered Guidance
Co-authored landmark paper “Web scraping for research: Legal, ethical, institutional, and scientific considerations” published in Big Data & Society , establishing best practices for automated data collection.
Big Data & Society
NOV 2025
Privacy in Public: Wikimedia Foundation Whitepaper
Published whitepaper “Privacy in Public: Navigating Research, Personal Data, and Safety on Wikipedia” with Wikimedia Foundation researchers & accompanied by official Wikimedia blog post guidelines.
Wikimedia Research Whitepaper
JULY 2025
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Revision
Major revised edition of “Internet Research Ethics” published in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (co-authored with Elizabeth Buchanan), updating core definitions for generative AI.
Stanford Encyclopedia Entry
APRIL 2025
Appointed to ACM Committee on Professional Ethics
Appointed to the ACM Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) , advancing application and education around the ACM Code of Ethics across the global computing community.
ACM Professional Committee
APRIL 2025
Way Klingler Research Fellowship Awarded
Awarded Marquette University’s prestigious Fellowship for “Data Ethics through Discernment,” articulating an ethical framework for data and AI grounded in Jesuit discernment principles.
Way Klingler Fellowship
Ongoing Major Projects
Active NSF grants, global ethics guidelines, open digital archives, and the MIT Press book series.
01 · Pervasive Data Ethics Resources
NSF ER2 Grant · 3-Year Project
Developing Educational Resources for Pervasive Data Ethics
Collaborating with Jessica Vitak and Casey Fiesler on a 3-year NSF grant through the Ethical & Responsible Research (ER2) program to continue the work started by the PERVADE Project, enhancing research ethics education through empirical case studies and interactive modules.
02 · Smart Environments Privacy
NSF Funded Project
Privacy Negotiation in Smart Environments
Collaborating with Yaxing Yao, Danny Huang, and Jessica Vitak on an NSF-funded project supporting privacy negotiation among multiple stakeholders in smart environments — researching how multi-user smart home and IoT settings can balance conflicting privacy preferences.
03 · Internet Research Ethics (IRE 3.0)
AoIR Ethics Working Committee
Internet Research Ethics Guidelines (IRE 3.0)
Serving as Co-chair of the Association of Internet Researchers’ Ethics Working Committee, leading a global, community-based effort to update the Internet Research Ethics Guidelines (IRE 3.0) to address AI methods, platform policies, and evolving digital research contexts.
04 · The Zuckerberg Files Archive
Open Digital Archive (2004–2025)
The Zuckerberg Files Digital Archive
Curation of The Zuckerberg Files, an open-access digital archive preserving over 1,700 transcript files and 300 videos of Mark Zuckerberg’s public utterances spanning 2004–2025 for academic researchers worldwide.
05 · MIT Press Book Series
MIT Press Book Series
“Information Society” Book Series at MIT Press
Co-editor of the prestigious “Information Society” book series at MIT Press (with Laura DeNardis), publishing groundbreaking monographs at the intersection of media, technology, and society — latest volume Archiving Machines (2025) by Amelia Acker.
Featured Flagship Initiatives
Pioneering digital archives and influential published book volumes.
The Zuckerberg Files
The Zuckerberg Files is a digital archive of all public utterances of Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, spanning 2004–2025. Preserving over 1,700 transcript files and 300 videos, it serves as an essential research database for studying digital privacy, platform governance, and corporate discourse.
Internet Research Ethics for the Social Age
Published with Peter Lang Publishing (edited with Katharina Kinder-Kurlanda), this comprehensive volume gathers top global scholars to examine empirical cases, legal boundaries, and ethical contexts shaping research in the social media era.
Recent Publications
A selection of recent peer-reviewed papers (2019–2026).
2026
Zimmer, M., Mishra, T., & Abrahamson, R.
Infrastructure of Ethics: How Publication Workflows Shape Ethical Expectations in Computational Research
ACM Journal on Responsible Computing, 3(3), 1–18.
2026
Ortiz Ruiz, F., Tubaro, P., Molina, J. L., Neal, J. W., Vacca, R., Diesner, J., … Zimmer, M.
Recommendations for conducting ethical network research
Network Science, 14, e17.
2025
Brown, M. A., Gruen, A., Maldoff, G., Messing, S., Sanderson, Z., & Zimmer, M.
Web scraping for research: Legal, ethical, institutional, and scientific considerations
Big Data & Society, 12(4).
Recent Activities
A selection of recent keynotes, panels, workshops, and invited talks.
Demo
The PERVADE Data Ethics Tool: Supporting Reflexive Research Ethics Education
SIGCSE Technical Symposium, St. Louis, MO
February 2026
Invited Panelist
On the Issue: Data Centers: Pitfalls or Possibilities?
Marquette Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education
January 2026
Invited Participant
Computing on the Fly: Navigating a Vision for the Future of Drone Computing
Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Visioning Workshop, Washington, DC
December 2025
You must be logged in to post a comment.