About Jack Bandy

Jack Bandy is a Ph.D. candidate in Northwestern's Technology and Social Behavior program, working in the Computational Journalism Lab. His research focuses on algorithmic systems like Twitter, Apple News, and TikTok, and how they shape human communication.

📲 Contact Information:

Over time I've become more convinced that everything worthwhile is done with other people — "what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?" Also, I'm happy to meet in person if you're in Chicagoland. Here are the best ways to connect with me:

• 📧 Send me an email directly, to jackbandy(at)u[dot]northwestern{dot}edu
• 📮 Send me an email using the form below

You are also welcome to follow me on Medium, Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or GitHub, though you can reach me directly with this form:

📣 Recent Updates:

• May 2023: I successfully defended my dissertation, and am now wrapping up at Northwestern before the move to Lexington this summer.
• January 2023: My job search is complete - this Fall, I am excited to start as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Transylvania University! 👨🏻‍🏫
• December 2022: glad to be finishing the most hectic quarter of my PhD 😌
• September 2022: teaching my computer ethics course this Fall, and also preparing my job application materials! 📑
• August 2022: I'm excited to present a preview of my dissertation at the AI, Ethics, and Society conference! Check out my abstract, poster, and/or slides.
• July 2022: Another preprint available on SSRN! I wrote this paper with Tomo Lazovich during my Twitter internship, and it's been accepted to ICWSM.
• June 2022: I defended my prospectus and am now a PhD candidate!
• May 2022: New preprint available on SSRN! Forthcoming book chapter about the local news crisis, The New York Times, and Twitter 📖🗞

📜 Old News:

• October 2021: Fall internship with Twitter's META team 🐣
• September 2021: New publication in Social Media + Society 📊📄
• September 2021: Presented on "The Science of Social Media Algorithms" at Uncontrolled Variables (link to my slides) 📽🎤
• August 2021: Now serving as a board member for the AI@NU Graduate Student Group
• July 2021: BookCorpus paper accepted to NeurIPS Datasets track 📚 📄
• July 2021: New essay for Real Life 🖋
• June 2021: Developed this new website 👻
• May 2021: New op-ed (on police tech) in the Chicago Tribune 📰
• April 2021: New op-ed (on algorithmic transparency) in The Hill 🏛
• April 2021: CSCW 2021 Papers now in the official ACM Library 😎
• March 2021: Volunteered at FAccT 2021 🦜🙂

📄 Curriculum Vitae:

I am off the job market for the time being, but you can see a recent CV below:

Other Tidbits

Just a sample of some art I find meaningful / inspiring (see also my book list):

🎬 Favorite Movies:

• The Before Trilogy directed by Richard Linklater
• Contact directed by Robert Zemeckis (story by Carl Sagan)
• The Snowman by Dianne Jackson
• Devs directed by Alex Garland
• Good Will Hunting directed by Gus Van Sant
• Ad Astra directed by James Gray
• The Post directed by Steven Spielberg

🎙 Favorite Speeches and Poems:

• The Shapes of Stories by Kurt Vonnegut
• This is Water by David Foster Wallace
• The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry
• The Three Oddest Words by Wisława Szymborska
• Questionnaire by Wendell Berry

💬 Longer Bio

I was recently asked for a 100-150 word biography – here is a version of that:

Jack Bandy is a PhD candidate in the Technology and Social Behavior program at Northwestern University, where he works in the Computational Journalism Lab. His research investigates algorithmic platforms like Twitter, Apple News, and TikTok, and how they shape mass communication flows in today's media ecosystem. Jack's research combines topics and methods from algorithm auditing, data science, human-computer interaction, ethics, and media studies. He also writes on topics related to technology and society, with recent pieces in The Hill, Real Life Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. Before coming to Northwestern, Jack received an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky. He has also completed internships at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Legit Apps, and Twitter.