Updates — Tricia Wang

My Ode to Hans Rosling

TED asked me to contribute a post as part of their annual 31 Days of Ideas series. So I chose to write about Hans Rosling, who I only met a few months before he publicly announced his cancer.

Tricia WangApril 16, 2019hans rosling, tricia wang, quantitative, statistics, bias

The Cost of Missing Something

What happens when companies over-rely on big data while totally ignoring thick data-- at their peril?

tricia wangMarch 1, 2017talk, big data, thick data, nokia, smartphone, ted, tedx, cambridge, quantification bias

Don’t Trust the Truth

What are the consequences of believing in absolute truth and not making room for multiple perspectives? Back in August, I returned to my favorite conference in the world to give the opening keynote at The Conf. I gave the talk I always to give, but never had the chance to write.

tricia wangOctober 1, 2016

Attempts to Stop Terrorists on Social Media Threaten Both Privacy and Anonymity

When I first started hearing about the encryption ban, I saw many writers give thoughtful and cogent responses, pointing out inaneness of the ban. But one thing I saw missing from the conversation was a discussion about how the ban wouldn’t just harm our privacy, but also our anonymity. I’m grateful to Slate for giving me a space to pen an op-ed on this topic.

tricia wangJanuary 15, 2016writing, anonymity, op-ed, encryption, privacy

A speech for my mentor, Richard Madsen, a wonderfully magnanimous soul

I came to San Diego to give a speech at the retirement party for my mentor, friend, and dissertation chair, Richard Madsen, a world renowned bridge builder who is known for his work in sociology of religion and culture, established the field of sociology in China, founded the UC Fudan Center, and who is now retiring.

tricia wangMay 22, 2015china, dick madsen, retirement, richard madsen, sociology, speech, tricia wang, ucsd

I've joined IDEO as an Expert-In-Residence in Shanghai, China

Hello friends, I've moved to Shanghai to join IDEO as an Expert-In-Residence for a few months! For both of IDEO and I, Design Thinking is a fundamental approach to solving business problems. In particular, the IDEO Shanghai studio and I think that understanding Chinese companies is a window to the world. And most importantly, we both care deeply about putting humans at the center of systems.

tricia wangJanuary 6, 2015IDEO, china, consumer insights, design thinking, ethnography, expert-in-residence, shanghai, tricia wang

Talking to Strangers: Chinese Youth and Social Media — My PhD dissertation

And after seven years of research, I present to you my PhD dissertation.

tricia wangFebruary 6, 2014china, chinese, dissertation, ethnography, phd, research, social media, strangers, tricia wang, youth

Transcript of my talk, "The Conceit of Oracles: How we ended of up in a world where quantitative data is more valued than qualitative data"

In September 2013, I delivered the opening keynote to the EPIC (Ethnographic Praxis In Industry Conference) 2013, a conference for people who care deeply about making organizations more human-centered. EPIC is a truly an interdisciplinary gathering, bringing together people who work in marketing, strategy, design, research, and academia.

tricia wangFebruary 5, 2014big data, epic 2013, ethnography, keynote, london, oracles, prediction, thick data, transcript, tricia wang

New Talk, "The Elastic Self: Understanding Identity in Social Media"

I returned in 2013 to one of my favorite places on earth, Malmö, Sweden, to give a talk on youth and social media (my love letter on why Malmö is the best place in Scandanavia) at my favorite conference in the world, The Conference at Media Evolution.

tricia wangJanuary 26, 2014eethnographer, elastic self, identity, malmö, social media, sweden, the conference, tricia wang, tumblr, youth media

New Talk "Designing for Trust: How China's Free Lunch avoided The Curse of Kelvin" and Notes from Media Evolution's The Conference

Free Lunch is a non-profit in China that uses a crowd-sourced reporting and monitoring system to gain donor's trust. The system is filled with inefficiencies and redundancies, but it's very good at getting people to donate and participate.

Fast Company feature: a slideshow and interview about my research

Every ethnographer needs a break from their fieldsite. When I came back to the US in July, I didn't want to think about China. I just wanted to sleep, play with my doggy, and eat fresh food. But when Fast Company reached out to do a profile on me for their Generation Flux series, I couldn't say no!

tricia wangOctober 4, 2012china, fast company, interview, social media, sociologist, tricia wang, twitter, weibo

Lift Talk Notes - Dancing with Handcuffs: The Changing Geography of Trust in China

When I moved to China to do a year of continuous fieldwork, I didn't want to leave the country to give any talks. But when I got an invite from Lift Conference to speak, I didn't want to turn it down. I have been a fan of Lift Conferences for a long time and it was an honor to be invited. So I skipped out to Geneva for a week to speak at LIFT12.

tricia wangAugust 2, 2012censorship, china, conference, ethnography, internet, lift, research, shoe throwing, social media, trust, twitter, weibo

New Article - Dumplings for Sale: What migrant work is really like

I wrote a piece for That's Shanghai in 2012 about my fieldwork with migrant workers in Beijing.

tricia wangAugust 1, 2012bytes of china, china, chinese, migrant labor, migrant workers, migrants, street vendors

Article in Wired UK: 'Building transparency in China, one lunch at a time'

After speaking at LIFT 2012 in Geneva, Switzerland, I got to spend some time with co-speaker, David Rowan, who is the editor of Wired UK. David has spent a lot of time researching how the internet is changing Africa. He gave a talk about at LIFT 2012 and wrote an article about it.

tricia wangJuly 22, 2012china, david rowan, deng fei, free lunch, reginald zhu, transparency, wired

Op-Ed with An Xiao Mina in Wired's Threat Level: Real-Name Registration Threatens the Lively World of China’s Microblogs

As researchers of the Chinese inter-webs, An Xiao Mina and I always get lots of questions about what happens on Weibo. People think that the only thing that happens on Weibo is censorship or resistance. In reality, it's somewhere in the middle. So we wanted to write an article that would capture what really is happening on Weibo. It's in English and Chinese below. Enjoy!

tricia wangMarch 25, 2012an xiao mina, article, china, micoblog, tricia wang, weibo, wired

Presented paper that I co-wrote with Barrry Brown at Mobile HCI 2011

I got to spend a wonderful few days in Stockholm, Sweden for Mobile HCI 2011. I presented a paper that Barry Brown and I co-wrote about our research in mobile use in Mexico, Ethnography of the telephone: Changing uses of communication technology in village life.

tricia wangSeptember 30, 2011ethnography, human computer interaction, mexico, mobile, mobile HCI, oaxaca, users

Speaking at Mobile Life in Stockholm, Sweden.

I had a great day speaking at Mobile Life VINN Excellence Center in Sweden.

tricia wangAugust 29, 2011barry brown, computer, design, mobile life, oskar juhlin, research, stockholm, sweden, tricia wang, users

"Technology for Migrant Workers" Interview in Agenda Magazine

I had a lovely time chatting with Abby McBride from Agenda Magazine.

tricia wangAugust 26, 2011agenda magazine, beijing, china, digital urbanism, interview, media, migrants, non-elite, press, smartphone, technology, tricia wang

The Atlantic covers my research on Weibo Instant Photo Phenomenon

Alexis Madrigal, senior editor of The Atlantic, wrote about how Weibo users are using it as a dating site based off of my research on Weibos' Instant Photo Singles Rescue Phenomenon.

tricia wangJune 30, 2011alexis madrigal, china, chinese, culture, dating, internet, rescue singles, tricia wang, weibo

An Xiao Mina's Article About my Research on Chinese Migrants living in Internet Cafes (Huffington Post)

Design strategist, new media artist, and digital community builder Anxiao Mina interviewed me for her latest article in Huffington Post on internet cafes in China, The 21st Century Saloon: A Peek Inside China's Wangba, or Internet Cafes.