Matthew Bui, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, where he directs the Race and Data (RAD) Justice Lab and co-organizes the Urban Tech Collective (housed at the Digital Studies Institute). Bui is also a faculty affiliate with the Digital Studies Institute and the Program in Asian/Pacific Islander American (A/PIA) Studies at the University of Michigan; and the New York University Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies. His research explores novel methodologies, frameworks, and practices for effecting data-driven racial and social justice. 

Bui’s first book, Appetite for Data, under contract with the University of California Press, uses foodie platforms to examine and spotlight the mundane everyday interactions through which platform capitalism expands its reach while simultaneously obfuscating—and amplifying—racial and class inequalities within local communities. It also documents the “digital resistance recipes” through which grassroots organizations subvert and reimagine digital platforms as aligned with values of care and solidarity, calling attention to both the local and material impacts of digital platforms. Bui’s research has received support from the Annenberg Foundation, Benton Foundation, Democracy Fund, Kauffman Foundation, and Urban Communication Foundation; and received recognition from the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and the Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC). 

Prior to UMSI, Bui was a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the Alliance for Public Interest Tech at New York University. He received his PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a Graduate Certificate in Geospatial Information Science and Technologies. He received his MSc in Media and Communication (Research) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Communication from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Pronouns

He/him

Areas of interest

critical data studies, data justice and activism, race and technology, social media, urban data

Education

PhD & MA, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California

Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science and Technologies, Spatial Sciences Institute, University of Southern California

MSc, Media and Communication (Research), London School of Economics and Political Science

BA, Communication, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)