I'M AN ACADEMIC
I am a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Digital Sociology at the University Complutense of Madrid (P2P Models) and Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (New Media & Digital Culture). I hold a PhD degree in Digital Sociology at the University of Milan (NASP).
My areas of expertise are digital platforms affordances, socio-technical imaginaries, gender and data justice.
At the end of 2018, I became the promoter of the Italian campaign #intimitàviolata, which succeeded in approving a law reform, i.e. art.612-ter in the law 'Codice Rosso' of 17/07/19, that now criminalizes in Italy the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (i.e. revenge porn).
My political engagement goes together with the research on inequalities in the digital space. I published a book with Lucia Bainotti in which we analyse the problem of cyberviolence against women and girls in male-populated digital environments, such as Telegram groups and channels.
I also work as a teenager educator to teach positive and inclusive information regarding 'sexuality+' and the digital society, together with my association Virgin & Martyr.
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I'M A DOCTORAL STUDENT
I was born in Valdobbiadene (TV) in 1991.
I am a PhD student in Digital Sociology at the University of Milan (NASP).
I hold a MA in Social Communication from the University Complutense of Madrid, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Padua. My areas of expertise are digital rights and data justice, and I am currently writing a PhD thesis on Blockchain social applications to research on new sets of power dynamics and algorithmic bias in digitally-mediated contexts.
I have a broad experience of lecturing, teaching and speaking at conferences, as well as a strong attested experience in building new strategies of digital communication for digital rights.
I have collaborated with different human rights organizations, in particular Amnesty International, and I have been the promoter of the Italian campaign #intimitàviolata to ask for introducing a law against revenge porn (officially approved on 17/07/19).
I'M A DOCTORAL STUDENT
I was born in Valdobbiadene (TV) in 1991.
I am a PhD student in Digital Sociology at the University of Milan (NASP).
I hold a MA in Social Communication from the University Complutense of Madrid, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Padua. My areas of expertise are digital rights and data justice, and I am currently writing a PhD thesis on Blockchain social applications to research on new sets of power dynamics and algorithmic bias in digitally-mediated contexts.
I have a broad experience of lecturing, teaching and speaking at conferences, as well as a strong attested experience in building new strategies of digital communication for digital rights.
I have collaborated with different human rights organizations, in particular Amnesty International, and I have been the promoter of the Italian campaign #intimitàviolata to ask for introducing a law against revenge porn (officially approved on 17/07/19).
I'M A DOCTORAL STUDENT
I was born in Valdobbiadene (TV) in 1991.
I am a post-doctoral researcher in Digital Sociology at the University Complutense of Madrid (see P2P Models).
I hold a PhD degree in Sociology and Methodology of Social Research at the University of Milan (NASP).
My areas of expertise are human/digital rights, social movements and data justice, and I wrote a PhD dissertation on Blockchain technology to analyze new sets of power dynamics and algorithmic discrimination in digitally-mediated contexts.
At the end of 2018, I became the promoter of the Italian campaign #intimitàviolata, which asked for the introduction of a law against image-based sexual abuse. The campaign took to the approval of the law n.S. 1200 contained in the ddl. 'Codice Rosso' on 17/07/19 that today criminalizes the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCII) in Italy.
My political engagement goes together with academic research. In our latest article, Lucia Bainotti and I analyze the problem of NCII in male-populated digital environments, such as Telegram groups.
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
My work focuses on the intersection between technical and social aspects of technology, especially in the context of algorithmic imaginaries and the reproduction of discriminations through the use of digital tools.
During my PhD, I conducted qualitative research on the social applications of blockchain to understand how blockchain developers and experts conceive of sociality, social relations and social change. I investigated the political imaginaries that underlie the development of decentralized technologies, in order to understand how they contribute to the construction and reproduction of neoliberal discourses around the blockchains implementations.
In parallel, I started researching gender-based online violence and how the use of digital platforms intertwines with pre-existing forms of social discrimination. In 2020, together with Lucia Bainotti, I published a digital ethnography in which we studied the role of Telegram in the amplification and automation of digital sexual violence and argued that platforms may reinforce gender performativity.
In addition, together with the collective Tracking Exposed, we investigated the role of Pornhub's algorithms in the promotion of heteronormative imaginaries and the reproduction of gender stereotypes through the socio-technical architecture of the platform.
My PhD research focused on the imbalances arising from the datafication of society, such as mass surveillance and data monopolies, that are calling for broader reflections on how to achieve 'data justice' (Dencik, 2016).
My case study, Blockchain technology, has been advocated by many as a technical solution to problems related to data ownership, privacy and concentrations of power on the Internet, and it is therefore starting to be applied to several dimensions of sociality, e.g. governance, art, education, music, etc.
The decentralized essence of Blockchain and its use of encryption represent among some 'crypto-enthusiasts' a technological revolution and the final solution to the centralization of power (Tapscott and Tapscott, 2016). However, some scholars have also pointed to the anarcho-libertarian essence of Blockchain (Golumbia, 2016; Gerard, 2017), which in its most extreme form believes that governments should exist only to ensure dominant private power over economy and citizens. In this sense, Blockchain might as well represent the latest innovation advocated to restructure power relation that might end up re-centralizing power dynamics and reproducing bias in digitally-mediated contexts.
My research looked at the societal applications of Blockchain and research on the imaginaries that underlie its development, trying to understand what biases may be encoded into blockchain technology, who are the actors that might ultimately benefit from the arrival of this new technology, and which are the political and economic interpretations that drive the implementations of technopolitics. To do so, I relied on a digital ethnography that unpacks different political approaches rooted in the crypto-culture of the broader hacker community.
AREA OF SPECIALIZATION
Online gender-based violence, blockchain, data justice, digital rights, algorithmic culture, crypto-culture, digital methods
Digital rights, data justice, social movements, digital activism, algorithmic culture, hacker culture, digital methods, gender theory, qualitative research.
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
“Swipe up to smash the patriarchy”: Instagram feminist activism and the necessity of branding the self (Silvia Semenzin) | AG About Gender, 2022 | LINK
Blockchain-based application at a governmental level: Disruption or illusion? The case of Estonia (Silvia Semenzin, David Rozas, Samer Hassan) | Policy and Society, 2022 | LINK
The Platformization of Gender and Sexual Identities: An Algorithmic Analysis of Pornhub (Ilir Rama, Lucia Bainotti, Alessandro Gandini, Giulia Giorgi, Silvia Semenzin, Claudio Agosti, Giulia Corona, Salvatore Romano) | Porn Studies, 2022 | LINK
Automating trust with the blockchain? A critical investigation of ‘blockchain 2.0’ cultures (Silvia Semenzin, Alessandro Gandini) | Global Perspectives, 2021 | LINK
Donne Tutte Puttane. Revenge Porn e Maschilità Egemone (Silvia Semenzin, Lucia Bainotti) | Durango Edizioni, 2021 | LINK
The use of Telegram for the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images and the construction of masculinities (Silvia Semenzin, Lucia Bainotti) | Social Media + Society, 2020 | LINK
Blockchain and data justice: the political culture of technology (Silvia Semenzin) | PhD Dissertation, 2021 | University of Milan. LINK
The use of Telegram for the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images and the construction of masculinities (with Lucia Bainotti) | (Forthcoming) | LINK
Internet Archive and Hacker Ethics (blogpost for DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam) | 2018 | LINK
Hacktivismo y ética hacker: el caso del Cryptoparty | 2016 | LINK
La comunicación politica en tiempos de crisis | 2015 | LINK
The use of Telegram for the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images and the construction of masculinities (with Lucia Bainotti) | (Forthcoming) | LINK
Internet Archive and Hacker Ethics (blogpost for DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam) | 2018 | LINK
Hacktivismo y ética hacker: el caso del Cryptoparty | 2016 | LINK
La comunicación politica en tiempos de crisis | 2015 | LINK
Automating trust with the blockchain? A critical investigation of ‘blockchain 2.0’ cultures (Silvia Semenzin, Alessandro Gandini) | Global Perspectives, 2021 | LINK
Donne Tutte Puttane. Revenge Porn e Maschilità Egemone (Silvia Semenzin, Lucia Bainotti) | Durango Edizioni, 2021 | LINK
The use of Telegram for the non-consensual dissemination of intimate images and the construction of masculinities (Silvia Semenzin, Lucia Bainotti) | Social Media + Society, 2020 | LINK
Internet Archive and Hacker Ethics (blogpost for DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam) | 2018 | LINK
La comunicación politica en tiempos de crisis | 2015 | LINK
ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE
ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE
CURRENT POSITION
Post-doctoral researcher at University Complutense of Madrid (Faculty of Computer Science) | P2P MODELS
Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (New Media and Digital Cultures)
DEGREES
PhD | Sociology and Methodology of Social Research | University of Milan | 2017-2021
Master Degree | Comunicación Social | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | 2014 - 2016
Bachelor Degree | Scienze Politiche, Relazioni Internazionali e Diritti Umani | Università di Padova | 2010 - 2013
Master Degree | Comunicación Social" | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | 2014 - 2016
Bachelor Degree | Scienze Politiche, Relazioni Internazionali e Diritti Umani | Università di Padova | 2010 - 2013
Master Degree | Comunicación Social" | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | 2014 - 2016
Bachelor Degree | Scienze Politiche, Relazioni Internazionali e Diritti Umani | Università di Padova | 2010 - 2013
Master Degree | Comunicación Social | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | 2014 - 2016
Bachelor Degree | Scienze Politiche, Relazioni Internazionali e Diritti Umani | Università di Padova | 2010 - 2013
PhD VISITING UNIVERSITIES
Universidad de Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Sociology | 2020
TalTech | Tallinn University of Technology | Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance | 2019
King’s College | London | Digital Humanities | 2018
TalTech | Tallinn University of Technology | Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance | 2019
King’s College | London | Digital Humanities | 2018
SUMMER SCHOOLS
University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Trolls, bots and dictators - On the current state of social media research | 2019
University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Retraining the machine: Addressing algorithmic bias | 2018
Harvard University | Sociological and Political Research, offered by CIS, at RCC Harvard University | 2017
Université Paris-Est Créteil | International Media, Political Action and Communication Technologies | (2016)
RESEARCH PROJECTS COLLABORATIONS
Tracking Exposed https://tracking.exposed/
Deplatforming project, University of Amsterdam | 2020 | LINK to Richard Rogers' article
DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam | 2018 | LINK to blogpost
University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Trolls, bots and dictators - On the current state of social media research | 2019
University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Retraining the machine: Addressing algorithmic bias | 2018
Harvard University | Sociological and Political Research, offered by CIS, at RCC Harvard University | 2017
Université Paris-Est Créteil | International Media, Political Action and Communication Technologies | (2016)
SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES
CONFERENCES
ACADEMIC SEMINARS
Università di Palermo |Palermo | Generi, Sessualità e Regolazione Sociale | Invited by Cirus Rinaldi | 2021
Università degli Studi di Padova | Padova | Digital Culture & Society | Invited by Cosimo Marco Scarcelli | 2021
Università di Roma Tre | Roma | Master Studi e Politiche di Genere | Invited by Francesca Lopez | 2021
Università degli Studi di Milano | Milano | Book presentation "Donne Tutte Puttane" | Invited by Cinzia Meraviglia | 2021
Università degli Studi di Pavia | Pavia | Methodology of social research on Telegram | Invited by Alessandro Caliandro | 2020/21
Università Federico II | Napoli | Methodology of social research on Telegram | Invited by Cristiano Felaco | 2021
Univerdad de Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Porno vengativo: violencia, sexualidad y tecnología | Invited by Santiago Boira | 2019
Università Federico II | Napoli | Revenge porn: violenza, sessualità e tecnologia | Invited by Adam Arvidsson | 2019
Università degli Studi di Milano | Milano | Revenge porn: violenza, sessualità e tecnologia | Invited by Annalisa Murgia | 2019
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore | Milano | Does privacy still exist? | Invited by Ivana Pais | 2019
PARTICIPATION IN CONFERENCES
Global Forum on Democratizing Work | Governing the algorithms | 2021
TOKEN Policy Observatory | Future scenarios for blockchain technology | P2P Models | 2021
Scuola Democratica Conference | Reiventing Education | Virgin & Martyr | 2021
Tech for Society | Rights to the Blockchain Cities | Values in the blockchain city | 2021 Goldsmiths University | Figurations Conference | Persons In/Out of Data | 2019
University of Milan| COMPOL Conference| Political Communication in the digital media ecosystem | Secretary | 2019
University of Bremen | Data Power | Global In/securities | 2019
Università degli Studi di Urbino | AOIR Symposia | Below the Radar | 2019
Università Federico II | Digital Hackathon | 2019
Università Federico II | Post start-up cultures | 2018
University of Leicester | New Directions in Media and Sociology Research Conference | 2018
University of Cardiff | Data justice conference | 2018
University of Milan | Centro Genders | “La rete che umilia” | Main organizer | 2018
University of Gijón | FES: XII Congreso Espanol de Sociologia | 2016
ACADEMIC SEMINARS
Univerdad de Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Porno vengativo: violencia, sexualidad y tecnología | Invited by Santiago Boira | 2019
Università Federico II | Napoli | Revenge porn: violenza, sessualità e tecnologia | Invited by Adam Arvidsson | 2019
Università degli Studi di Milano | Milano | Revenge porn: violenza, sessualità e tecnologia | Invited by Annalisa Murgia | 2019
PARTICIPATION IN CONFERENCES
Goldsmiths University | Figurations Conference | Persons In/Out of Data | 2019
University of Milan| COMPOL Conference| Political Communication in the digital media ecosystem | Secretary | 2019
Global In/securities | University of Bremen | Data Power | 2019
University of Urbino | AOIR Symposia Below the Radar | 2019
University Federico II | Digital Hackathon | 2019
Centro Genders | La violenza di genere dentro e fuori i luoghi di lavoro | 2019
Università Federico II Napoli | Post start-up cultures | 2018
University of Leicester | New Directions in Media and Sociology Research Conference | 2018
University of Cardiff | Data justice conference | 2018
Centro Genders | Centro Genders | “La rete che umilia” | Main organizer | 2018
University of Gijón | FES: XII Congreso Espanol de Sociologia | 2016
UNED Madrid | III Jornadas de Ciberpolitica | 2016
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Deplatforming project, University of Amsterdam | 2020 | LINK to Richard Rogers' article
DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam | 2018 | LINK to blogpost
LECTURES
LECTURES & SEMINARS
Digital Sociology lectures
University of Amsterdam | Lecturer in New Media & Digital Culture | Faculty of Humanities | from 2021 Università Statale di Milano | Milano |Teaching Assistant | 2018/2019/2020
IULM | Milano | Ordine dei Giornalisti della Lombardia | 2019 King’s College | London | Teaching Assistant | 2018
IULM | Milano | Ordine dei Giornalisti della Lombardia | 2019
Università Statale | Milano | BA Comunicazione e Società + MA Comunicazione Pubblica e d'Impresa | 2019
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore | Milano | invited by Ivana Pais | 2019
King’s College | London | invited by Alessandro Gandini | 2018
Classes of digital and gender education AT SCHOOL