
Professor Neff is a sociologist who studies innovation, the digital transformation of industries, and how new technologies impact work. She has studied digital change in the media, health care, and construction industries.
Professor Gina Neff
Professor of Technology & Society
- gina.neff@oii.ox.ac.uk
- +44 (0)1865 612778
- CV
- My papers
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Profile
Professor Gina Neff is Professor of Technology & Society at the Oxford Internet Institute and the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford. She studies the future of work in data-rich environments. Professor Neff leads a new multinational comparative research project on the effects of the adoption of AI across multiple industries. She is the author of Venture Labor (MIT Press, 2012), which won the 2013 American Sociological Association Communication and Information Technologies Best Book Award; and with Dawn Nafus Self-Tracking (MIT Press, 2016). Her writing for the general public has appeared in Wired, Slate and The Atlantic, among other outlets. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University, where she remains a faculty affiliate at the Center on Organizational Innovation, and she serves as a strategic advisor on the social impact of AI for the Women’s Forum.
Areas of Interest for Doctoral Supervision
Professor Neff is not taking on new doctoral students at this time.
Research interests
Innovation, work, organisations, culture, communication, theory, qualitative methods, critical data studies, science and technology studies.
Position held at the OII
- Professor of Technology & Society, October 2020 –
- Director of DPhil programme, January 2017 – September 2019
- Senior Research Fellow, July 2016 – October 2020
- Associate Professor, July 2016 – October 2020
Research
Current projects
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The Futures for Online Consumption
Participants: Professor Gina Neff, Blake DiCosola
How might the future of consumption change how we track and monitor ourselves? This project will test different strategies for helping people make healthier choices in online food shopping.
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The A-Z of AI
Participants: Professor Gina Neff, James Ward IV, Margaret McGrath, Blake Dicosola, Nayana Prakash
The A-Z of AI is an interactive guide that allows anyone who is curious about AI to develop a baseline understanding of the technology.
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Reconfiguring Citizen Participation in Cybersecurity
Participants: Julia Slupska, Professor Gina Neff, Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, Linda Ma, Nayana Prakash, Selina Cho
Reconfigure is a feminist cybersecurity project that uses community-based participatory methods and feminist approaches to reconfigure cybersecurity research and build public capacity for data privacy and action.
Past projects
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AI & Data Diversity
Participants: Professor Gina Neff
This project seeks to advance public understanding of data diversity and the everyday decisions around AI and technology innovation. This will help build better technologies and strengthen the science on diversity in technology-led growth.
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Data Work: Collaboration, Sense Making and the Possible Futures for Work
Participants: Professor Gina Neff
How do new types of data change workplace practices?
Featured
- (2021) Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity. Oxford, UK: Oxford Internet Institute.
- (2020) AI @ Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace. Oxford: Future Says_.
- (2019) "The gendered affordances of Craigslist ‘new-in-town girls wanted’ ads", New Media and Society. 21 (11-12) 2404-2421.
- (2019) "Innovation Through Practice: The Messy Work of Making Technology Useful for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Teams", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management 2019. ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print).
- (2017) "Critique and Contribute: A Practice-based Framework for Improving Critical Data Studies and Data Science", Big Data. 5 (2) 85-97.
- (2016) Self-Tracking. MIT Press.
- (2016) "Technologies for Sharing: lessons from Quantified Self about the political economy of platforms", Information, Communication & Society. 19 (4) 518-531.
- (2016) "Developing a Research Agenda for Human-Centered Data Science", Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Companion - CSCW '16 Companion. the 19th ACM Conference, 26 February – 2 March 2016. ACM Press. 529-535.
- (2015) "Imagined Affordance: Reconstructing a Keyword for Communication Theory", Social Media + Society. 1 (2) 205630511560338.
- (2015) "Communication, Mediation, and the Expectations of Data: Data Valences Across Health and Wellness Communities", International Journal of Communication. 9 1466-1484.
- (2013) "Why Big Data Won't Cure Us", Big Data. 1 (3) 117-123.
- (2012) Venture Labor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- (2011) "Messy talk and clean technology: communication, problem-solving and collaboration using Building Information Modelling", Engineering Project Organization Journal. 1 (2) 83-93.
- (2010) "Organizational Divisions in BIM-Enabled Commercial Construction", Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 136 (4) 459-467.
Books
- (2016) Self-Tracking. MIT Press.
- (2015) Surviving the New Economy. Routledge.
- (2012) Venture Labor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chapters
- (2019) "The Political Economy of Digital Health" In: Society and the Internet How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing Our Lives GRAHAM, M. and Dutton, W.H. (eds.). Oxford University Press. 281-292.
- (2018) "Agency in the digital age: Using symbiotic agency to explain human-technology interaction" In: A Networked Self: Human Augmentics, Artificial Intelligence, Sentience Papacharissi, Z. (eds.). Routledge. 97-107.
- (2018) "The Potential of Networked Solidarity: Communication at the End of the Long Twentieth Century" In: Trump and the Media Boczkowski, P.J. and Papacharissi, Z. (eds.). MIT Press.
- (2016) "Disruption and the Political Economy of Biosensor Data" In: Quantified: Biosensing Technologies in Everyday Life Nafus, D. (eds.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 101-122.
- (2012) "Conclusion: Lessons from a New Economy for a New Medium?" In: Venture Labor. The MIT Press. 149-166.
- (2012) "The Crash of Venture Labor" In: Venture Labor. The MIT Press. 133-148.
- (2012) "Why Networks Failed" In: Venture Labor. The MIT Press. 101-132.
- (2012) "Being Venture Labor: Strategies for Managing Risk" In: Venture Labor. The MIT Press. 69-100.
- (2012) "The Origins and Rise of Venture Labor" In: Venture Labor. The MIT Press. 39-68.
- (2012) "The Social Risks of the Dot-Com Era" In: Venture Labor. The MIT Press. 1-38.
- (2004) "Permanently Beta: Responsive Organization in the Internet Era" In: Society Online The Internet in Context Howard, P.N. and Jones, S. (eds.). SAGE. 173-188.
- "The Potential of Networked Solidarity: Communication at the End of the Long Twentieth Century" In: Trump and the Media Boczkowski, P.J. and Papacharissi, Z. (eds.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Conference papers
- (2020) "Using Social Comparisons to Facilitate Healthier Choices in Online Grocery Shopping Contexts", CHI 2020 Extended Abstracts, April 25–30, 2020, Honolulu, HI, USA.. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, Hawaii, 25 – 30 April 2020. Association for Computing Machinery. (ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-6819-3/20/04)
- (2017) "Deliberate Individual Change Framework for Understanding Programming Practices in Four Oceanography Groups", Computer Supported Cooperative Work: the journal of collaborative computing. Springer Verlag (Germany). 26 (4-6) 663-691.
- (2016) "Technical Boundary Spanners and Translation:A Study of Energy Modeling for High Performance Hospitals", Engineering Project Organization Conference. Engineering Project Organization Society.
- (2016) "Finding Connections Between Design Processes and Institutional Forces on Integrated AEC Teams for High Performing Energy Design", Engineering Project Organization Conference. Taylor & Francis: STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles.
- (2016) "Developing a Research Agenda for Human-Centered Data Science", Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Companion - CSCW '16 Companion. the 19th ACM Conference, 26 February – 2 March 2016. ACM Press. 529-535.
- (2014) "Achieving Higher Energy Efficiency in High-Performance Buildings Using Integrated Practices: A Fuzzy Set- Qualitative Comparative Analysis Approach", Construction Research Congress 2014. Construction Research Congress 2014. American Society of Civil Engineers.
- (2012) "Construction to Operations Exchange: Challenges of Implementing COBie and BIM in a Large Owner Organization", Construction Research Congress 2012. Construction Research Congress 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
- (2010) "Theoretical Categories of Successful Collaboration and BIM Implementation within the AEC Industry", Construction Research Congress 2010. Construction Research Congress 2010. American Society of Civil Engineers.
- (2009) "The Realities of Building Information Modeling for Collaboration in the AEC Industry", Construction Research Congress 2009. Construction Research Congress 2009. American Society of Civil Engineers.
Journal articles
- (2021) "Three Pathways to Highly Energy Efficient Buildings: Assessing Combinations of Teaming and Technology", Journal of Management in Engineering. 37 (2) 04020110.
- (2020) "Who does the work of data?", ACM Interactions. 27 (3) 52-55.
- (2019) "The gendered affordances of Craigslist ‘new-in-town girls wanted’ ads", New Media and Society. 21 (11-12) 2404-2421.
- (2019) "Innovation Through Practice: The Messy Work of Making Technology Useful for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Teams", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management 2019. ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print).
- (2017) "Critique and Contribute: A Practice-based Framework for Improving Critical Data Studies and Data Science", Big Data. 5 (2) 85-97.
- (2017) "Conclusion: Agendas for Studying Communicative Capitalism", INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION. 11 2046-2049.
- (2016) "Talking to Bots: Symbiotic Agency and the Case of Tay", International Journal of Communication. 10 4915-4931.
- (2016) "Technologies for Sharing: lessons from Quantified Self about the political economy of platforms", Information, Communication & Society. 19 (4) 518-531.
- (2015) "Imagined Affordance: Reconstructing a Keyword for Communication Theory", Social Media + Society. 1 (2) 205630511560338.
- (2015) "Communication, Mediation, and the Expectations of Data: Data Valences Across Health and Wellness Communities", International Journal of Communication. 9 1466-1484.
- (2015) "Learning from documents: Applying new theories of materiality to journalism", Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism. 16 (1) 74-78.
- (2014) "Messy Talk in Virtual Teams: Achieving Knowledge Synthesis through Shared Visualizations", Journal of Management in Engineering. 31 (1) A4014003-1.
- (2014) Materiality: Challenges and Opportunities for Communication Theory.
- (2014) "Participations: Dialogues on the Participatory Promise of Contemporary Culture and Politics PART 4: KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION", INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION. 8 1216-1242.
- (2014) "Participations: Dialogues on the participatory promise of contemporary culture and politics", International Journal of Communication. 8 (1) 1216-1242.
- (2013) "What we talk about when we talk data: Valences and the social performance of multiple metrics in digital health", Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings. 2013 (1) 74-87.
- (2013) "Why Big Data Won't Cure Us", Big Data. 1 (3) 117-123.
- (2012) "Affordances, Technical Agency, and the Politics of Technologies of Cultural Production", Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 56 (2) 299-313.
- (2012) "THE SOCIAL MATRIX OF THE EMERGENT WEB: GOVERNANCE, EXCHANGE, PARTICIPATION, & ENGAGEMENT", Information, Communication & Society. 15 (4) 449-454.
- (2011) "Messy talk and clean technology: communication, problem-solving and collaboration using Building Information Modelling", Engineering Project Organization Journal. 1 (2) 83-93.
- (2010) Messy Talk and Clean Technology: Requirements for Inter-Organizational Collaboration and BIM Implementation within the AEC Industry.
- (2010) "A CASE STUDY OF THE FAILURE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION TO CROSS KNOWLEDGE BOUNDARIES IN VIRTUAL CONSTRUCTION", Information, Communication & Society. 13 (4) 556-573.
- (2010) "Organizational Divisions in BIM-Enabled Commercial Construction", Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 136 (4) 459-467.
- (2006) Surviving in the New Economy: Sharecroppers in the Ownership Society.
- (2005) "Entrepreneurial Labor among Cultural Producers: “Cool” Jobs in “Hot” Industries", Social Semiotics. 15 (3) 307-334.
- (2005) "How Do Organizations Matter? Mobilization and Support for Participants at Five Globalization Protests", Social Problems. 52 (1) 102-121.
- (2005) "The Changing Place of Cultural Production: The Location of Social Networks in a Digital Media Industry", The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 597 (1) 134-152.
- (2004) "Risk Relations: The New Uncertainties of Work", WorkingUSA. 5 (2) 59-68.
- (2004) "Sous la culture des fondations", Agone. (31-32) 124-131.
Reports
- (2021) Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity. Oxford, UK: Oxford Internet Institute.
- (2020) AI @ Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace. Oxford: Future Says_.
Videos
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Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity Report Launch
Recorded: 4 February 2021
Duration: 00:55:39
For the Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity Report Launch, authors Julia Slupska, Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, and Professor Gina Neff, were joined by Folami Prehaye, Activist & Founder of Victims of Image Crime.
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The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain in Times of Crisis
Recorded: 3 February 2021
Duration: 00:58:24
As part of the Next Gen series the OII brings you Dr Francesca Sobande, hosted by Professor Gina Neff, this session focuses on the digital experiences of Black women in Britain and the rise of brand “woke-washing”.
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Professor Gina Neff presents ‘The A to Z of AI’
Recorded: 23 March 2020
Duration: 00:03:34
Leading sociologist, Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor Gina Neff, Oxford Internet Institute, presents her guide to artificial intelligence, in association with Google
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Does AI Have Gender?
Recorded: 25 June 2018
Duration: 00:36:53
The spring 2018 Oxford Internet Institute London Lecture, with speaker Professor Gina Neff on the subject of 'Does AI Have Gender?'
Events
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OII’s Wednesday Webinar Week 6 ‘What is “urban data justice”?: Defining, conceptualizing, and exploring data use, re-use, and refusal for racial justice’
24 February 2021
As part of the Next Gen series Professor Gina Neff of the OII hosts Dr Matthew Bui, during this webinar he will explore the relationship between marginalized communities of color and data.
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Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity (Report Launch)
4 February 2021
For the Reconfigure: Feminist Action Research in Cybersecurity Report launch, authors Julia Slupska, Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, and Professor Gina Neff, are joined by Folami Prehaye, Activist & Founder of Victims of Image Crime.
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OII’s Wednesday Webinar Week 3 ‘The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain in Times of Crisis’
3 February 2021
As part of the Next Gen series the OII brings you Dr Francesca Sobande, lecturer in digital media studies and director of the BA Media, Journalism and Culture programme at Cardiff University, hosted by Professor Gina Neff of the OII.
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OII London Lecture: Does AI Have Gender?
25 June 2018
The Oxford Internet Institute is excited to present OII faculty member Gina Neff for the talk "Does AI Have Gender?" in London.
Blog
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AI @ Work: overcoming structural challenges to ensure successful implementation of AI in the workplace
13 August 2020
Author: Gina Neff
By Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Gina Neff, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford News reports about artificial intelligence overwhelmingly showcase how AI ...
Read More AI @ Work: overcoming structural challenges to ensure successful implementation of AI in the workplace -
Challenging gender stereotypes in cybersecurity: a feminist perspective
8 March 2020
Authors: Julia Slupska
A Blog by Julia Slupska, Doctoral Candidate, Centre for Doctoral Training in Cybersecurity, Oxford Internet Institute and Scarlet Dawson Duckworth, Cyber Technologist, Darktrace. Slupska ...
Read More Challenging gender stereotypes in cybersecurity: a feminist perspective -
Doctoral research opportunity in Gender and AI Applications Open!
5 February 2020
Author: Sara Spinks
ESRC Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) collaborative doctoral studentship with the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. The Oxford Internet Institute is ...
Read More Doctoral research opportunity in Gender and AI Applications Open! -
Professor Gina Neff on the rise of online advertising for non-monetary rent arrangements in the online markeplace
25 October 2019
Authors: Gina Neff, Rebecca Schwartz
The growth of online marketplaces has led to an explosion of a new type of advertisement with potential tenants being asked for just more ...
Read More Professor Gina Neff on the rise of online advertising for non-monetary rent arrangements in the online markeplace -
Exploring the world of self-tracking: who wants our data and why?
7 April 2017
Author: Gina Neff
Benjamin Franklin used to keep charts of his time spent and virtues lived up to. Today, we use technology to self-track: our hours slept, ...
Read More Exploring the world of self-tracking: who wants our data and why?
Press
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Employees overwhelmingly hostile to workplace monitoring tech
5 October 2020 Computer Weekly
The use of workplace surveillance technologies to monitor and track staff working from home has increased hugely since the start of the pandemic, but most workers say it makes them feel uncomfortable.
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Professor Gina Neff on How to Introduce AI in Your Business
27 August 2020 Computer Business Review
The key skill set of the next decade will be in that translation work between artificial intelligence and the C-Suite.
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The UK exam debacle reminds us that algorithms can’t fix broken systems
20 August 2020 MIT Technology Review
The problem began when the exam regulator lost sight of the ultimate goal—and pushed for standardization above all else.
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‘Serious Shortcomings’: Study Finds Workplace AI Not Doing What It Claims
18 August 2020 Which-50
Artificial Intelligence used in workplaces is frequently “ineffective, simplistic and opaque”, often making human workers’ jobs harder and relying on cheap human labour from the Global South to “automate” processes, according to a new study.
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Employees must be consulted on technologies monitoring the return to work
1 June 2020 Computer Weekly
Employees should be involved in the “design, construction, testing and implementation” of any technologies used to control or monitor their return to work as the Covid-19 lockdown eases, according to experts.
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Learn The ABCD of AI With Oxford And Google Internet
27 March 2020 Analytics India Mag
To help amateurs understand what AI is in its truest form, The Oxford Internet Institute has partnered with Google to launch a portal that explains the how AI is created, its fundamentals and ethics, and how it is created.
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Google and the Oxford Internet Institute explain artificial intelligence basics with the ‘A-Z of AI’
25 March 2020 Venture Beat - The Machine
The Oxford Internet Institute has partnered with Google to launch a portal with a series of explainers outlining what AI actually is — including the fundamentals, ethics, its impact on society, and how it’s created.
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Tech Experts Are Pessimistic About Their Industry
21 February 2020 The Atlantic
A new report from the Pew Research Center on digital technology’s influence on democracy shows just how muddled and dark experts’ views have become.
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How at risk is your job from automation? New data reveals the threat of robots is, in fact, receding
25 March 2019 The Telegraph
New data from the Office of National Statistics revealed that far fewer jobs are at risk of automation than previously thought
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World’s first genderless voice created to stop ‘exclusion’ of non-binary users by assistants like Alexa
11 March 2019 The Telegraph
Speakers like Alexa, Google and Siri are excluding people who do not identify as male or female, the creators of a new gender-neutral voice assistant have claimed.
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Could Google Maps plot safer routes?
26 September 2018 Financial Times
The app’s vast access to data could help late-night walkers get home
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For a Relaxing Vacation, Look to the Data
5 August 2016 The Wall Street Journal
To avoid the risk of your leisure time feeling like work when it is tracked, Gina Neff, co-author of “Self-Tracking,” suggests using “non-quantitative” tracking.
Integrity Statement
In the past five years work my work and the work of my students has been financially supported by UK taxpayers, UK Economic and Social Research Council, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, British Academy, US National Science Foundation, University of Washington, Leverhulme Trust, Google and Microsoft. As part of my science communication and policy outreach, I have served in an advisory capacity with paid talks, paid training or unpaid service on an advisory board or working group with the following organizations: AI Now, Configuring Light Project at LSE, Data & Society Research Institute, Deloitte UK, DigiMed, GMG Ventures, IAC, ING Bank, Minderoo Foundation, Northern Illinois University, Understanding Public Uses of Data and Dashboards Project at UC Irvine, Saïd School of Business Executive Education, Structure Tone, University of Calgary Gairdner Lecture, VIRT-EU H2020 Project, The Women’s Forum for Economy & Society, Zinc VC.