AMELIA ACKER

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Information Studies, 2014
University of California, Los Angeles.
Dissertation: Born Networked Records: A History of the Short Message Service Format

Master of Library & Information Science, 2008
Specialization in Archival Studies
University of California, Los Angeles.
Thesis: Understanding Cell Lines as Records: Some Implications for Archival Theory in Biotechnology

Bachelor of Arts, Comparative Literature and Women’s Studies, 2006
University of California, Irvine.

Iliadis, A., & Acker, A. (2024). The Palantir Files: public interest archives for platform accountability. Information, Communication & Society, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2352624

Kim, Y., Finn, M., Acker, A., Chaudhuri, B., Wedlake, S., Ellis, R., & Srinivasan, J. (2024). Epistemologies of missing data: COVID dashboard builders and the production and maintenance of marginalized COVID data. Big Data & Society, 11(2), 20539517241259666

Acker, A. (2024). Accessing Software: Emulation in Information Institutions. Information & Culture, 59(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.7560/IC59101

Adavi, K.A.K., & A. Acker (2023). What is a File on a Phone? Personal Information Management  Practices Amongst WhatsApp Users. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1145/3610221

Iliadis, A., Acker, A., Stevens, W., & Kavakli, B. (2023). One schema to rule them all: How Schema.org models the world of search. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 1-64. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24744

Iliadis, A. and A. Acker (2022). The seer and the seen: Surveying Palantir’s surveillance platform, The Information Society. 1-30. DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2022.2100851

Kriesberg, A. and A. Acker (2022). The second US presidential social media transition: How private platforms impact the digital preservation of public records. Journal of the Association Information Science and Technology. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24659

Acker, A. (2021). Emulation Practices for Software Preservation in Libraries, Archives and Museums. Journal of the Association Information Science and Technology. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24482

Carter, D., Acker, A., and D. Sholler, (2021). Investigative approaches to researching information technology companies, Journal of the Association Information Science and Technology 72(2), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24446

Acker, A. and M. Chaiet. (2020). “The weaponization of web archives: Data craft and COVID-19 publics,” The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-41

Acker, A. and D. Murthy (2020). “What is Venmo? A descriptive analysis of social features in the mobile payment platform,” Telematics and Informatics, Vol. 52. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2020.101429

Carter, D. and A. Acker (2020). “To Oblivion and Beyond: Imagining Infrastructure After Collapse,” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775820911940

Acker, A. and A. Kriesberg. (2019). “Social Media Data Archives in an API-Driven World,” Archival Science. 1-19. doi: 10.1007/s10502-019-09325-9. 

Acker, A. and J. Donovan (2019). “Data Craft: A Theory/Methods Package for Critical Internet Studies,” Information, Communication & Society. 1-20. 

Bowler, L., Acker, A., and Y. Chi (2019). “Librarian Perspectives on Youth Data Literacy at the Public Library,” Journal of Research on Libraries & Young Adults. 10(2), 1-21.

Acker, A. and T. Clement (2019). “Data Cultures, Cultures of Data,” Journal of Cultural Analytics. doi:10.22148/16.035

Acker, A. (2018). “A Death in the Timeline: Memory and Metadata in Social Platforms,” in “Information/Control: Control in the Age of Post-Truth,” eds. Stacy Wood and James Lowry. Special issue, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies. 2(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.24242/jclis.v2i2.66

Vigil-Hayes, M., J. Matthews, A. Acker, D. Carter. (2018). “Reflections on Alternative Internet Models and How They Inform Mindful Connectivity.” ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, 1(2), 1-9. https://www.itu.int/en/journal/002/Pages/14.aspx 

Mayernik, M. S. and A. Acker (2017), Tracing the Traces: The Critical Role of Metadata within Networked Communications. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. doi:10.1002/asi.23927 

Acker, A. (2017). Ambient Intimacy and the Habituation of Software Updates. No More Potlucks, no. 46. Retrieved from: http://nomorepotlucks.org/site/ambient-intimacy-and-the-habituation-of-software-updates-amelia-acker/

Acker, A. (2017). “When is a Record? A Research Framework for Locating Electronic Records in Infrastructure,” In A. Gilliland, A.J. Lau, and S. McKemmish, eds. Research in the Archival Multiverse, Social Informatics Monograph Series. Monash University Press.

Beaton, B., Acker, A., Di Monte, L., Shivrang, S., Sutherland, T., and S. Tracy (2017). “Debating Data Science: A Roundtable.” Radical History Review. doi: 10.1215/01636545-3690918

Fidler, B. and A. Acker. (2016). “Metadata, Infrastructure, and Computer Mediated Communication in Historical Perspective.” Journal of the Association Information Science and Technology 68(2): 412-422.
doi: 10.1002/asi.23660 

Acker, A. (2015). “Radical Appraisal Practices and the Mobile Forensic Imaginary.” Archive Journal 5(1).
http://www.archivejournal.net/issue/5/archives-remixed/radical-appraisal-practices-and-the-mobile-forensic-imaginary/ 

Sharma, S., Wilson, J., Tian, Y., Finn, M., Acker, A. (2023). The New Information Retrieval             Problem: Data Availability. In ASIST 2023: Proceedings of the 86rd ASIS&T Annual Meeting,    October 2023, 378-386. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.796

Sharma, S., Obregon, A., Shaikh, Z., Tian, Y., Finn, M., Acker, A. (2023). Evaluating Tools for Data Management Plans: A Comparative Study of the DART Rubric and the Belmont Scorecard.      iConference 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13972, p. 26-46. Springer, Cham.        https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28032-0_3

Bennett, A., Sutherland, W., Tian, Y., Finn, M., & Acker, A. (2021). Pathways to Data: From Plans to Datasets. In 2021 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL), 254-257. https://doi.org/10.1109/JCDL52503.2021.00077

Tian, Y., Bennett, A., Sutherland, W., Ferguson, A., Ford, M., Li, J. N. K., Yarbrough, E., Finn, M., & Acker, A. (2021). An Analysis of NSF Data Management Plan Guidelines. iConference 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109701

Acker, A. and L. Flamm (2021). “COVID-19 Community Archives and the Platformization of Digital Cultural Memory.” In System Sciences (HICSS), 2021 54 Hawaii International Conference, 2544-2553. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/70926

Acker, A. (2020). “Emulation Encounters: Software Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums.” In ASIST 2020: Proceedings of the 83rd ASIS&T Annual Meeting, October 2020, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.279 

Bowler, L., Aronofsky, M., Milliken, G., & Acker, A. (2020). Teen engagements with data in an after-school data literacy programme at the public library. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Pretoria, South Africa, 28-1 October, 2020. Information    Research, 25(4). 7,091 words. Retrieved from http://InformationR.net/ir/25-4/isic2020/isic2015.html 

Acker, A., A. C. Loos, and J. Sufrin. (2020). “Neil deGrasse Tyson Problem: Methods for Exploring Base Memes in Web Archives.” In International Conference on Social Media and Society (SMSociety ’20), July 2020, 255-264. https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400836 

Unger, C., D. Murthy, A. Acker, I. Arora and A. Chang. (2020). “Examining the evolution of mobile social payments in Venmo.” In International Conference on Social Media and Society (SMSociety ’20), July 2020, 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400819

Acker, A. and D. Murthy. (2018). “Venmo: Understanding Mobile Payments as Social Media.” In SMSociety18 2018 proceedings, p. 5-12. doi: 10.1145/3217804.3217892 

The Information Maintainers. Olson, D., Meyerson, J., Parsons, M., Castro, J., Lassere, M., Wright, D., … Acker, A. (2019) Information Maintenance as a Practice of Care. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3236409 

Acker, A. and D. Carter. (2018). “Pocket Preppers: Performing Preparedness with Everyday Carry Posts on Instagram.” In SMSociety18 2018 proceedings, p. 207-211. doi: 10.1145/3217804.3217913 

Acker, A. and L. Bowler. (2018). “Youth Data Literacy: Teen Perspectives on Data Created with Social Media, and Mobile Device Ownership,” In System Sciences (HICSS), 2018 51 Hawaii International Conference, 1923-1932. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/50130 

Acker, A., & Kriesberg, A. (2017). Tweets may be archived: Civic engagement, digital preservation and Obama white house social media data. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 1-9. doi: 10.1002/pra2.2017.14505401001 

Bowler, L., Acker, A., Jeng, W., & Chi, Y. (2017). “It lives all around us”: Aspects of data literacy in teen’s lives. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 27-35. doi: 10.1002/pra2.2017.14505401004 

Acker, A. and L. Bowler. (2017). “What is Your Data Silhouette? Raising Teen Awareness of their Data Traces in Social Media” In SMSociety ‘17 2017 International Conference on Social Media & Society. ACM. doi:  10.1145/3097286.3097312 

Acker, A. (2017). Review: Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online. Internet Histories. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2017.1313928

Acker, A. (2017). Review: Smartphones as Locative Media, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 61:1, 182-184, DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2016.1273935  

Acker, A. and B. Beaton. (2017). “How Do You Turn a Mobile Device into a Political Tool?” In System Sciences (HICSS), 2017 50 Hawaii International Conference. Best Paper Nomination. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/41436 

Acker, A. and B. Beaton. (2016). “Software Update Unrest: The Recent Happenings Around Tinder and Tesla.” In System Sciences (HICSS), 2016 49 Hawaii International Conference. IEEE. doi: 10.1109/HICSS.2016.240

Weiss, M. B., Lehr, W. H., Acker, A., & Gomez, M. M. (2015). “Socio-Technical Considerations for Spectrum Access System (SAS) Design.” In Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN), Stockholm. IEEE.

Lyon, L., Mattern, E., Acker, A. & Langmead, A. (2015). “Applying Translational Principles to Data Science Curriculum Development.” iPres 2015: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects, November 2-6, 2015. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail_object/o:429552 

Acker, A., Burton, M., Geiger, R. S., & Ribes, D. (2015). Trace Ethnography Workshop: iConference 2015. University of California, Irvine. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73785

ACM History and Archiving Fellowship, 2024-2025.

Humanities Institute Faculty Fellow, University of Texas. Digital Futures and Social Justice cohort. 2022-2024.

Sloan Foundation and Ford Foundation, Digital Infrastructure Grant: Open Source COVID Data Infrastructure. Co-PIs Megan Finn and Ryan Ellis, 2021-2022, $100,000 total for collaborative project.

NSF OISE-2109653, Principal Investigator (with Co-I Megan Finn, University of Washington and Ryan Ellis, Northeastern), RAPID International Type I: Collaborative Research: COVID Data Infrastructure Builders: Creating Resilient and Sustainable Research Collaborations, 2021-2022. UT: $38,932.

NSF SES-2020183, Principal Investigator (with Co-I Megan Finn, University of Washington), $461,085 total for collaborative project, “Data Afterlives: The long-term impact of NSF Data Management Plans on data archiving and sharing for increased access” 2020-2023. $287,031.

Public Interest Technology-University Network: Undergraduate Informatics Education for Public Interest Technology Conference, New America Foundation. Co-Investigator (with PI Kenneth Fleischmann). 2020. $90,000.

Provost’s Teaching Fellow, University of Texas at Austin, 2019-2021.

Activity Leader, Good Systems Grand Challenge Initiative. University of Texas at Austin. 2018-Present.

IMLS Award RE-07-18-0008-18, “Investigating Platform Development for Mobile and Social Media Data Preservation,” a three-year empirical investigation into emerging preservation tools and new data stewardship practices to prepare information professionals. Principal Investigator, $308,920. 2018-2021.

Resident, Media Archaeology Lab, University of Colorado-Boulder, 2018.

Affiliate, Data & Society Research Institute, 2018.

UT iSchool, John P. Commons Teaching Fellowship, FY 2017-2018.

UT iSchool, Vara Martin Daniel Regents Professorship in Libraries, Archives, & Information Studies, FY 2016-2017.

IMLS Award RE-31-16-0079-16, “Exploring Data Worlds at the Public Library,” a two-year project exploring data literacy and LIS curriculum development opportunities to prepare data literate information professionals. Co-principal Investigator, $109,399.00 awarded. 2016-2019. https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/youthdataliteracy

National Science Foundation grant for “Social Facets of Data Science,” a workshop that brings together sociologists, information scientists, historians, and STS-ers to address the present and future directions of studying social aspects of data science. Co-organizer, $24,941.00 awarded. 2016-2017.

SPROUT Hive Grant, Co-Principal investigator for “Blue Slide Laboratory,” a research project aimed at developing playful situated learning scenarios in urban playgrounds, using augmented reality mobile apps. 2015.