Catherine D'Ignazio, Emerson College

Catherine D'Ignazio is a researcher, artist and software developer who investigates how data visualization, technology and new forms of storytelling can be used for civic engagement.

Professor D'Ignazio has conducted research on geographic bias in the news media, developed custom software to geolocate news articles and designed an application, "Terra Incognita", to promote global news discovery. She is currently working with the Public Laboratory for Technology and Science to explore the possibilities for journalistic storytelling with DIY environmental sensors.

Her art and design projects have won awards from the Tanne Foundation, Turbulence.org, the LEF Foundation, and Dream It, Code It, Win It. In 2009, she was a finalist for the Foster Prize at the ICA Boston. Her work has been exhibited at the Eyebeam Center for Art & Technology, Museo d'Antiochia of Medellin, and the Venice Biennial.

Professor D'Ignazio is currently a fellow at the Emerson Engagement Lab and a research affiliate at the MIT Center for Civic Media.

About

Department Office of Research & Creative Scholarship

Publications

D’Ignazio, C. & Klein, L. Feminist Data Visualization. Presented at and published in the workshop proceedings from the Workshop on Visualization for the Digital Humanities at IEEE VIS Conference 2016.

2016

D’Ignazio, C. Questions on Design, Social Justice and Breast Pumps. Presented at and published in the workshop proceedings from the Exploring Social Justice, Design & HCI Workshop at ACM SIGCHI Conference 2016.

2016

D’Ignazio, C., Bhargava, R. Approaches to Building Big Data Literacy. Presented at and published in the workshop proceedings of the Bloomberg Data for Good Exchange 2015.

2015

D’Ignazio, C. “Terra Incognita: Serendipity and Discovery in the Age of Personalization”. Case study for the Civic Media Reader. Eric Gordon and Paul Mihailidis, Editors. MIT Press. 2015.

2015

Grants

RISD Faculty Professional Development Grant ($5K, Research on Fear & Public Space) 2008

2008

RISD Faculty Professional Development Grant ($5K, Research on Fear & Public Space) 2009

2009

RISD Faculty Professional Development Grant ($5K, Research on Fear & Public Space) 2010

2010

MIT Media Lab Director’s Fund ($12K, Maternal Health & Innovation Research) 2013

2013

DeFlorez Fund for Humor at MIT ($4K, Engaging the Public with Sensor Data Research) 2014

2014

Emerson College Faculty Advancement Fund Award ($5K, Sensor Journalism Research) 2014

2014

Emerson College Presidential Fund for Curricular Innovation ($1.2K, Hyperlocal-International Research) 2015

2015

Emerson College Faculty Advancement Fund Award ($8K, Databasic.io Research) 2015

2015

Knight Foundation Prototype Grant ($35K, Databasic.io Platform Development) 2015

2015

Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant ($5K, Data Literacy Research) 2016

2016

Global & Civic Engagement

Art Interactive. Curatorial Committee.

2004

2004-2007

Cambridge Arts Council. Grant Program Selection Committee.

2005

2005 - 2006

LEF Foundation Contemporary Work. Selection Committee.

2005

2005-2006

Real Art Ways Emerging Artists Program. Jury member. Hartford, CT.

2006

College Art Association Public Art Forum. Advisory Board.

2007

2007-2008

Cartographica: Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, Editorial Board.

2007

2007-2010

Cambridge Arts Council. Jury Member. Kendall Street Update project.

2010

MIT Media Lab Diversity Committee.

2012

2012-2014

MIT Climate CoLab Jury Member.

2015

MassArt Student Exhibition Jury Member.

2015

Generation Citizen: Youth Civics Day Judge.

2015

New England Foundation for the Arts. Jury member. Creative Cities Initiative.

2015

Program Committee Member for Visualizing Cities for Habitat III, UN Conference.

2016

Awards & Honors

57 Things to Do For Free in Harvard Square. Video project commissioned by lumeneclipse.

2006

Individual Artist Award (The Institute for Infinitely Small Things), Cambridge Arts Council.

2006

Artist to Watch, 2006 Year in Review, Big, Red & Shiny magazine.

2006

AICA New England, Second Prize for Best Work in a Public Place.

2008

ICA Boston, James & Audrey Foster Prize, Finalist.

2008

Extending Creativity in Digital Media NEA Residency, Anderson Ranch.

2008

Cambridge Arts Council, Finalist for the $50K Cambridge St Commission.

2010

Tanne Foundation Artist Award.

2010

Prospectus for the Nation, selected artist, Artists in Context.

2012

Turbulence Networked Art Commission.

2012

Dream It. Code It. Win It. Prize for Women in Technology.

2014

Pitch Accelerator Award for NewsPix, Newspaper Association of America.

2015