Daniel S. Griffin has a PhD in Information Science from the UC Berkeley School of Information. His dissertation, Situating Web Searching in Data Engineering: Admissions, Extensions, Repairs, and Ownership, explored the use of web search by data engineers. He was an assistant professor at Michigan State University in Spring 2023. While there he developed and taught a course on Understanding Change in Web Search. While at UC Berkeley, Daniel co-directed UC Berkeley’s Center for Technology, Society & Policy from July 2017 to August 2019. He also worked with both the Algorithmic Fairness and Opacity Group—where he co-organized The Refusal Conference and shared research on the interaction between searcher’s perception of Google and Google’s obligation to respect human rights—and the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity—where he contributed to Cybersecurity Futures 2020, a set of scenario thinking scenarios, and presented them in a keynote at the 2017 Forum International de la Cybersécurité. He completed the Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS) program at the I School in 2016.
Prior to graduate school he was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. As an undergraduate, he studied philosophy at Whitworth University. In his free time, Daniel enjoys [trail running].
Added October 04, 2023 11:59 AM (PDT)
I love curiosity. I love questions. I love working through ignorance.
I am an advocate for those who search. I’m passionate about delving deep into search practices and supporting their evolution. I explore the dynamics of our searches, from their initial inspiration to their formulation as queries, buffeted or beset by the search system and those around us. I promote a diverse search landscape. One where user context, voice, and choice take center stage.
I remain critical of unfounded claims and distracting hyperbole. Nonetheless, I am deeply interested in how generative search and search-like systems have ignited the imaginations of many. I believe we can turn this disruption into something better. My interdisciplinary expertise in situating searching positions me to evaluate, critique, and support the evolution of search systems. I aim to ensure search systems can be freely learned, critiqued, shared, repaired, and extended.
We can find better ways to search than the status quo.
I am available for consulting work and discuss searching with reporters (see here for media mentions).
I am available to conduct scoreless peer review of scientific research on topics related to web search practices, search engines, and search-like uses of LLM-based systems, with a particular focus on user perceptions, corporate articulations, societal implications, and ethical considerations.