Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Gradecki

Jennifer Gradecki is an artist and theorist who aims to facilitate a practice-based understanding of socio-technical systems that typically evade public scrutiny. She has recently been appointed Assistant Professor of Game Design + Media Arts at Northeastern University.

Using methods from institutional critique, tactical media, and information activism, she investigates information as a source of power and resistance. The dissertation is a comparative analysis of intelligence analysts and surveillance artists that applies the method of counterinduction to examine the impact of metaphorical and linguistic representation on the conceptions and practices of intelligence analysis. It explores ontological and epistemological assumptions inherent in metaphors and conceptions of data and information.  Gradecki focuses on the visual metaphor of the mosaic, which is used by intelligence agencies simultaneously to justify withholding of information often sought in Freedom of Information requests, while also justifying massive data collection efforts by these agencies.