Author Archives: Priya Kumar

Making Indian Food

This summer, I want to learn how to make my favorite Indian foods. The ones that remind me of home and childhood; Mom’s cooking, in short. I’ve attempted this before but found it frustrating. Other second-gen Indian kids will sympathize when I say that my mom’s instructions have been, well, less than precise. Take dal,Continue reading “Making Indian Food”

Gathering in Gratitude: My Commencement Speech

The College of Information Studies selected me as the PhD student speaker for yesterday’s commencement ceremony. The recording of the ceremony is below; my speech begins a few seconds after minute 7. The text of the speech is below the video. Hello, fellow graduates of the Class of 2021. What a year. But we’ve madeContinue reading “Gathering in Gratitude: My Commencement Speech”

Graduation

Today I graduate from the University of Maryland with a doctorate of philosophy in information studies. My college is hosting a 30-minute virtual ceremony followed by a reading of graduates’ names. This graduation is different for obvious reasons—no donning of regalia, no gathering in a campus auditorium, no handshakes, hugs, or hooding, the tradition ofContinue reading “Graduation”

Re-making Boundaries

I study privacy. I’ve done so since joining the field of internet studies eight years ago, and I plan to do so for the foreseeable future. But early in my PhD program, a creeping sense of disillusionment made me question whether this work mattered. I was part of a few research teams studying how peopleContinue reading “Re-making Boundaries”

Exploring Digital Privacy and Security in Elementary Schools @ CHI 2019

How do elementary school educators think about privacy and security when it comes to technology use in the classroom? What privacy and security lessons do students receive? Below, I describe findings and recommendations from a paper I co-wrote on this topic with Marshini Chetty, Tammy Clegg, and Jessica Vitak. I’ll present this paper at theContinue reading “Exploring Digital Privacy and Security in Elementary Schools @ CHI 2019”

Why Deepak Chopra is Wrong About Technology

One reason I value my newspaper subscription is that it reminds me not to take things for granted. Especially when it comes to technology. In a recent column, the Washington Post’s Geoffrey Fowler recounted a conversation with alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra. Chopra has been criticized for promoting medical treatments based on pseudoscience, and hisContinue reading “Why Deepak Chopra is Wrong About Technology”

LaTeX: A Window onto Another Way of Thinking

Last week, I worked with LaTeX, a formatting system that uses markup language to create documents, for the first time. The experience was: Not as complicated as I imagined, and Offered a glimpse into how the more technically oriented people in my research field think. The decision to use LaTeX was not mine. The organizersContinue reading “LaTeX: A Window onto Another Way of Thinking”

Becoming a Scholar

Since starting this PhD program, I’ve wanted to write an academic version of my personal mission statement. I assumed that if I dug deeply enough, or pondered long enough, the contours of Priya-as-scholar would sharpen into focus and reveal where in the realm of knowledge my research fits. My fixation on “figuring it out,” beliedContinue reading “Becoming a Scholar”

Creating a Productivity System that Works for Me

Like many people, I enjoy having a routine. This summer, after moving from a cubicle into a shared office space, I began going to campus more routinely and working a similar schedule each day. The regular schedule plus the commute activated more natural boundaries around “work” and “home” time. On campus, I focused a bitContinue reading “Creating a Productivity System that Works for Me”