User behavior plays a crucial role in creating and maintaining cybersecurity, and children are an under-researched user group who are at risk from a range of online privacy and security threats.
Jessica Vitak
Jessica Vitak
Associate Professor and Director of CASCI
Email:
Office:
Hornbake Building (South Wing), Room 2117-G
Telephone:
(301) 405-8617
Fax:
(301) 314-9145
Dr. Jessica Vitak is an associate professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland and an affiliate professor in the Communication Department. In addition, she is director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Communities and Information (CASCI) and associate director of the Human Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL).
Focus
Dr. Vitak's research evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of mediated communication technologies by focusing on the role that social and technical affordances shape interactions online.
Current Research Interests
- Data privacy and security
- Pervasive data ethics
- Generation, collection, and analysis of large-scale user data
Education
- PhD, Michigan State University
SaTC: EDU: Collaborative: Connecting Contexts: Building Foundational Digital Privacy and Security Skills for Elementary School Children, Teachers, and Parents
Principal Investigator: Jessica Vitak February 2020 - February 2023
Investigator: Tamara Clegg
CHS: Large: Collaborative Research: Pervasive Data Ethics for Computational Research
Principal Investigator: Katie Shilton, Jessica Vitak, Richard Marciano, Greg Jansen
Investigator:
The increasing scope and scale of pervasive data about people has enabled fundamentally new computational research. Simultaneously, changes in scale, scope, speed, and depth of data availability require reconsideration of the ethical calculus for computational research.
Enhancing Digital Privacy and Security Skills for Low-Socioeconomic Families: Resources for Librarians and Patrons
Principal Investigator: Jessica Vitak, Mega M. Subramaniam
Investigator:
The project detailed below responds to the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries (Research grant category) and covers a three-year period from December 2016 to November 2019.
Collaborative Research: Pervasive Data Ethics for Computational Research (PERVADE)
Principal Investigator: Katie Shilton, Jessica Vitak
Investigator: Sarah Gilbert
Increasingly pervasive data about people enables fundamentally new computational research. Simultaneously, changes in scale, scope, speed, and depth of data availability require reconsideration of ethics for computational research. Much work addressing ethics for big and pervasive data proceeds from first principles, applying traditional tenets of research ethics to computational data research.