Alexander Halavais
Encyclopedia
Alexander Halavais is an associate professor of communications at Quinnipiac University
, a social informatics researcher and President of the Association of Internet Researchers
. Before joining the faculty at Quinnipiac, Halavais taught in the School of Informatics at the University at Buffalo and at the University of Washington
.
In 1993, Halavais earned a bachelors degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine
and a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Washington in 2001. His dissertation examined the social implications of the Slashdot
website. He also completed coursework in communications and cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego
and complex adaptive systems at the Santa Fe Institute
.
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
s are used in education, the patterns of international hyperlink
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
to compare Wikipedia's coverage with that of Books in Print.
Halavais was an early proponent of hyperlink analysis and webometrics
, 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
as a trustworthy source of accurate information, Halavais created one of the more publicized examples of Wikipedia vandalism. 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.
Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Hamden, Connecticut, United States at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park...
, a social informatics researcher and President of the Association of Internet Researchers
Association of Internet Researchers
Founded in 1999, the Association of Internet Researchers is an learned society dedicated to the advancement of the transdisciplinary field of Internet studies...
. Before joining the faculty at Quinnipiac, Halavais taught in the School of Informatics at the University at Buffalo and at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
.
In 1993, Halavais earned a bachelors degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
and a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Washington in 2001. His dissertation examined the social implications of the Slashdot
Slashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
website. He also completed coursework in communications and cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
and complex adaptive systems at the Santa Fe Institute
Santa Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, including physical, computational, biological, and social systems.The Institute houses a...
.
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
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s are used in education, the patterns of international hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
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
Library of Congress Classification
The Library of Congress Classification is a system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress. It is used by most research and academic libraries in the U.S. and several other countries; for example, Australia and Taiwan, R.O.C. It is not to be confused with the Library of...
to compare Wikipedia's coverage with that of Books in Print.
Halavais was an early proponent of hyperlink analysis and webometrics
Webometrics
The science of webometrics tries to measure the World Wide Web to get knowledge about the number and types of hyperlinks, structure of the World Wide Web and usage patterns...
, 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
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
as a trustworthy source of accurate information, Halavais created one of the more publicized examples of Wikipedia vandalism. 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.