Technology, Culture, and Power Speaker Series: Gabriella (Biella) Coleman

Join Stanford PACS and the Cyber Policy Center for a monthly gathering that explores critical insights on the intersections and implications of technology and society. The Technology, Culture, and Power Speaker Series is a thought-provoking forum on the Stanford campus featuring leading experts and scholars examining the interactions of digital technologies, culture, and inequality.

Light refreshments will be served. Please arrive 5 minutes early to avoid disrupting the guest speaker.

Location:

Encina Commons, Room 119

Stanford University

615 Crothers Way, Stanford, CA 94305

We are joined by Gabriella (Biella) Coleman to discuss the rise of new hacktivist tactics. Drawing on 15 years of research across diverse hacker communities, Coleman explores how Anonymous transformed "hack and leak" operations from an accidental discovery into a deliberate whistleblowing tool. Through this case study, Coleman proposes a broader methodological approach: "recursive micro-historical work.” This technique revisits completed research with fresh questions and perspectives, sparking new insights and rounds of investigation. Her talk reveals how this now-ubiquitous tactic emerged through activist experimentation and the growing collaboration between journalism and hackers, rather than from technical innovations alone.

Gabriella (Biella) Coleman is a full professor in Harvard University's Department of Anthropology, where she studies the politics, cultures, and ethics of hacking. A faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and faculty affiliate in the History of Science Department, she is the author of two books on computer hackers and the founder of Hack_Curio, a video portal exploring hacking cultures. She hosted the BBC4 series "The Hackers" in 2022. Her current work includes a collaborative research project on the professionalization of security hackers, a book of essays about hackers and the state, and contributions to various hacker preservation initiatives, including the Where Warlocks Stay Up Late project, which documents cybersecurity history and maps connections between hacker associations and the modern security industry.

Request disability accommodations and access information here.

This event is made possible with support from the Humanities Seed Grant from Stanford Public Humanities.

Host or Publisher Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society