Robert W. Gehl
Department of Communication & Media Studies
Associate Professor
Ontario Research Chair in Digital Governance for Social Justice
Email: rwg@yorku.ca
Primary website: Homepage
Attached CV
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
*NB: I am now seeking grad students and post-docs: please see https://fossacademic.tech/2023/07/02/GradStudentsPostDocs.html for more information.*
Dr. Robert W. Gehl is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at York University and Ontario Research Chair in Digital Governance for Social Justice.
He is a Fulbright scholar and award-winning author whose research focuses on contemporary communication technologies. Before joining York University as an Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, he held an endowed research chair at Louisiana Tech.
He has published over two dozen articles in journals such as New Media & Society, Communication Theory, Social Media + Society, and Media, Culture and Society. His books include Reverse Engineering Social Media, Weaving the Dark Web and Social Engineering, published in 2022 by MIT Press. He also has published a co-edited collection of essays, Socialbots and Their Friends.
Degrees
Ph.D., Cultural Studies (George Mason University)M.A., English (Western Michigan University)
B.S., English (Central Michigan University)
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
- Nancy Baym Book Award by Association of Internet Researchers -
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
This project engages with activists building ethical alternative social media, social media that are more democratically run that their corporate counterparts.
Cinque, Toija, Alexia Maddox, and Robert W. Gehl, eds. The Dark Social: Online Practices of Resistance, Motility and Power. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Gehl, Robert W., and Sean T. Lawson. 2022. Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Create a New Form of Manipulative Communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gehl, Robert W. 2018. Weaving the Dark Web: Legitimacy on Freenet, Tor, and I2P. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gehl, Robert W. 2020. “Afterword: The Legitimacy of Produsage.” In Produsing Theory in a Digital World 3.0, edited by Rebecca Lind, 245–55. New York: Peter Lang.
Siuda, Piotr, Jakub Nowak, and Robert W Gehl. “Darknet Imaginaries in Internet Memes: The Discursive Malleability of the Cultural Status of Digital Technologies.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 28, no. 1 (January 1, 2023): zmac023. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac023.
Gehl, Robert W., and Diana Zulli. 2022. “The Digital Covenant: Non-Centralized Platform Governance on the Mastodon Social Network.” Information, Communication & Society 0 (0): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2147400.
Gehl, Robert W. 2021. “Dark Web Advertising: The Dark Magic System on Tor Hidden Service Search Engines.” Continuum, October, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2021.1983251.
Gorissen, Sebastiaan, and Robert W. Gehl. 2021. “When Wikipedia Met Tor: Trials of Legitimacy at a Key Moment in Internet History.” Internet Histories 0 (0): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2021.2015967.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/CMDS1666 3.0 | A | Social Media, Public Relations & Society | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | GS/STS6001 3.0 | M | Intro. to Science & Technology Studies | SEMR |
*NB: I am now seeking grad students and post-docs: please see https://fossacademic.tech/2023/07/02/GradStudentsPostDocs.html for more information.*
Dr. Robert W. Gehl is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at York University and Ontario Research Chair in Digital Governance for Social Justice.
He is a Fulbright scholar and award-winning author whose research focuses on contemporary communication technologies. Before joining York University as an Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, he held an endowed research chair at Louisiana Tech.
He has published over two dozen articles in journals such as New Media & Society, Communication Theory, Social Media + Society, and Media, Culture and Society. His books include Reverse Engineering Social Media, Weaving the Dark Web and Social Engineering, published in 2022 by MIT Press. He also has published a co-edited collection of essays, Socialbots and Their Friends.
Degrees
Ph.D., Cultural Studies (George Mason University)M.A., English (Western Michigan University)
B.S., English (Central Michigan University)
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
Awards
- Nancy Baym Book Award by Association of Internet Researchers -
Current Research Projects
-
Summary:
This project engages with activists building ethical alternative social media, social media that are more democratically run that their corporate counterparts.
All Publications
Gehl, Robert W. 2020. “Afterword: The Legitimacy of Produsage.” In Produsing Theory in a Digital World 3.0, edited by Rebecca Lind, 245–55. New York: Peter Lang.
Cinque, Toija, Alexia Maddox, and Robert W. Gehl, eds. The Dark Social: Online Practices of Resistance, Motility and Power. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Gehl, Robert W., and Sean T. Lawson. 2022. Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Create a New Form of Manipulative Communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gehl, Robert W. 2018. Weaving the Dark Web: Legitimacy on Freenet, Tor, and I2P. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Siuda, Piotr, Jakub Nowak, and Robert W Gehl. “Darknet Imaginaries in Internet Memes: The Discursive Malleability of the Cultural Status of Digital Technologies.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 28, no. 1 (January 1, 2023): zmac023. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac023.
Gehl, Robert W., and Diana Zulli. 2022. “The Digital Covenant: Non-Centralized Platform Governance on the Mastodon Social Network.” Information, Communication & Society 0 (0): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2147400.
Gehl, Robert W. 2021. “Dark Web Advertising: The Dark Magic System on Tor Hidden Service Search Engines.” Continuum, October, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2021.1983251.
Gorissen, Sebastiaan, and Robert W. Gehl. 2021. “When Wikipedia Met Tor: Trials of Legitimacy at a Key Moment in Internet History.” Internet Histories 0 (0): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2021.2015967.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AP/CMDS1666 3.0 | A | Social Media, Public Relations & Society | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2025 | GS/STS6001 3.0 | M | Intro. to Science & Technology Studies | SEMR |
