My name is Christopher J. Persaud and I am a researcher and writer. My research agenda engages with cultural production and content creators on the Internet; the social and cultural dimensions of AI; gender, sexuality, and digital intimacies; and social media platform governance.
In my work, I tend to leverage ethnography alongside other qualitative methods, though I am happy to engage in collaborations that integrate computational and quantitative methods as well. Alongside my academic work, I have experience doing research and expert consulting services for tech companies, media and creative firms, and nonprofit organizations. I enjoy working at the intersection of “academia” and “industry” to explore interesting questions that have the potential to change how we think about pleasure, work, and community.
To that end, I am a Research Scientist in the Sociotechnical Systems group at Intel Labs. I received my PhD from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, alongside graduate certificates in Science and Technology Studies and Visual Studies. I maintain affiliations with the Content Creator Scholars Network, the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, the LGBTQ Studies Interest Group within the International Communication Association, the Association of Internet Researchers, and the Society for Social Studies of Science.
Before graduate school, I was a research assistant to the Social Media Collective at Microsoft Research New England. I received my BA in Sociology, French, and LGBT Studies from Temple University, where I worked on the LGBTQ Video Game Archive. As an undergraduate research fellow through The Leadership Alliance, I spent summers at Harvard University in the Department of Sociology and the Department of the History of Science. In a past life, I was an e-sports writer, community moderator, and graphic designer in the competitive Super Smash Brothers scene.
Check out my Google Scholar profile for an up-to-date list of my publications. For a more comprehensive view of my work and background, refer to my CV. Feel free to send an email if you’d like to talk about anything mentioned above. If you just want to say hi, that’s perfectly fine too. You can fine me on Mastodon or LinkedIn as well. For a professional bio in third-person, please click here.