Siva Vaidhyanathan (born 1966) is a

cultural historian Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

and

media scholar Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

, and the Robertson professor of Media Studies at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Vaidhyanathan is a permanent columnist at

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

and

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

; he is also a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...

'', ''

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'',

, and ''

The Baffler ''The Baffler'' is an American magazine of cultural, political, and business analysis. Established in 1988 by editors Thomas Frank and Keith White, it was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, until 2010, when it moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

''. He directs the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia, which produces a television show, a radio program, several podcasts, and the ''

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion"'' ...

''.

Biography

Vaidhyanathan was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, and attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, earning a BA in History in 1994 and a Ph.D. in 1999 in American Studies. From 1999 through the summer of 2007 he worked in the Department of Culture and Communication at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, the School of Library and Information Studies at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. From 1988 through 1993 he was a professional journalist working for several Texas daily newspapers. He has appeared in an episode of ''

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' to discuss early social network services. Vaidhyanathan has appeared in several documentary films, including ''

Terms and Conditions May Apply Term may refer to: *Terminology, or term, a noun or compound word used in a specific context, in particular: **Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field, specifically: ***Scientific terminology, terms used by scienti ...

'' (2013)
''Inside the Mind of Google''
(2009), and ''

Freedom of Expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

'' (2007). In 2016 Vaidhyanathan played a prominent role in the higher-education documentary
''Starving the Beast''
Vaidhyanathan was portrayed as a character on stage at the

Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

in New York City in a play called ''Privacy'' (2016). Vaidhyanathan is a fellow of the

New York Institute for the Humanities The New York Institute for the Humanities (NYIH) is an academic organization founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, writers, and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the publi ...

and the Institute for the Future of the Book. Vaidhyanathan serves on the board of the

Digital Public Library of America The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a US project aimed at providing public access to digital holdings in order to create a large-scale public digital library. It officially launched on April 18, 2013, after two and a half years of dev ...

Selected books

* ''Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity'', NYU Press, 2001. () * ''The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System'', Basic Books, 2004. () * ''Rewiring the Nation: The Place of Technology in American Studies'', co-edited with Carolyn de la Peña, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. () * ''The Googlization of Everything -- and Why We Should Worry'', University of California Press, 2011. (). The text was in open development on a blog, launched September 27, 2007 in collaboration with the Institute for the Future of the Book. * ''Intellectual Property: A Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2017. () * ''Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us And Undermines Democracy'', Oxford University Press, 2018. ()

References

* Camp, L. Jean. DRM: doesn't really mean digital copyright management * Eschenfelder, Kristin R. (2007) Every Library's Nightmare? Digital Rights Management and Licensed Scholarly Digital Resources * Ross, Andrew. "Technology and Below-the-Line Labor in the Copyfight over Intellectual Property". ''American Quarterly'', Volume 58, Number 3, September 2006, pp. 743–766 * Vaidhyanathan, Siva. "Critical Information Studies: A Bibliographic Manifesto". ''Cultural Studies'' 20(2/3) (March/May 2006): 292–315. ISSN 0950-238
Download the .pdf

External links

Video of Vaidhyanathan discussing social media in 2005 on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Videos of conversations and discussions involving Vaidhyanathan
on

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

Video: Siva Vaidhyanathan discusses ''The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry)''
on Forum Network. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaidhyanathan, Siva 1966 births Copyright activists Copyright scholars Intellectual property activism Living people American bloggers University of Virginia School of Law faculty University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni Academics from New York (state) Writers from Buffalo, New York American male non-fiction writers

Biography

Selected books

See also

References

External links