New CBI Research Fellows Just Named: Janaki Srinivasan, Lana Swartz, and Malte Ziewitz

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/23/2026)—The Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) for Computing, Information and Culture is absolutely delighted to announce the addition of University of Oxford’s Janaki Srinivasan, University of Virginia’s Lana Swartz, and Cornell University’s Malte Ziewitz as CBI Research Fellows.

Janaki Srinivasan is Associate Professor, Digital South Asian Studies, Oxford University. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley, and master’s degrees in physics and information technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and Indian Institute of Technology, Bangalore. She is a specialist in technology and political economy and uses ethnography to examine the ways gender, class, and caste influence the structuring and use of digital technologies. These are principal themes within her 2022 monograph The Political Lives of Information (MIT Press). This tremendously insightful book offers three major cases in India— “the circulation of price information in a fish market in Kerala, government information in information kiosks operated by a nonprofit in Puducherry, and a political campaign demanding a right to information in Rajasthan”—to examine different uses of information to promote social change. Janaki’s current work concentrates on privacy and algorithmic control of workers. She is co-investigator on the Fairwork India Team, conducting research and advocating for change to improve the precarious working conditions of gig labourers in India.

Lana Swartz is Associate Professor of Media Studies and Shannon Mid-Career Fellow at the University of Virginia, where she also runs the Digital Cultures and Economies Lab. She is also currently a Fellow Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Lana earned her doctorate at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, and a Master’s in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. In 2020 she published a masterfully conceived and executed book entitled, New Money: How Payments Became Social Media (Yale University Press). It holds the distinction of being named number 12 on The Verge’s “Greatest Tech Books of All Time.” She is currently working on two book projects; her second monograph is on swindles and scam culture in the world of cryptocurrency. She is also co-editing a volume with Maximilian Brichta that spans the first 20 years of cryptocurrency, which is under contract with MIT Press with the title “Shitcoins.” Lana’s work has been featured by The Atlantic, BBC, NPR, New York Times, The New Yorker and other publications, and she has given public talks at such diverse venues as the Museum of Modern Art and at Central Banks.

Malte Ziewitz is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University and is the Director of the school’s Digital Due Process Clinic. He earned his doctorate from University of Oxford and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University and a Law degree from University of Hamburg. Malte’s research has been supported by a National Science Foundation Career Award, a McCloy Fellowship, grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, and other funders. During the 2023-2024 academic year, he was at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Malte’s research is ethnographic in orientation, and it focuses on the changing role of science, technology, and computation in our lives. Recently, he has been studying the lived experiences with credit report scoring, attempts at algorithmic regulation, and the search engine optimization (SEO) industry. Malte’s publications include many diverse and impactful articles in major edited volumes and leading journals in science and technology studies, including Big Data and Society; Social Studies of Science; Science, Technology and Human Values; and Social Science and Medicine.

We are so grateful to Malte, Lana, and Janaki for signing on and adding to our distinguished group of interdisciplinary CBI Research Fellows.

Jeffrey R. Yost