Dr. J. Nathan Matias

Dr. J. Nathan Matias

Faculty, Cornell.
Founder, CAT Lab.

Teaching

COMM 2450 - Communication and Technology

Undergraduate Lecture Class, Cornell University, Communication and Information Science, 2023

This large lecture course sets out to create intellectual pathways for students interested in technology and society questions by supporting them to carry out a scavenger hunt in the world and in their lived experience. As they encounter examples and challenging questions about Communication & Technology, we will support students to learn about scholarly concepts that can help them understand, reason, and take action as designers, researchers, and citizens.

Governing Human-Algorithm Behavior

Grad/Undergrad Project Class, Cornell University, Communication and Information Science, 2022

Algorithms that monitor and influence human behavior are everywhere—directing the behavior of law enforcement, managing the world’s financial systems, shaping our cultures, and flipping a coin on the success or failure of movements for change. Since human-algorithm feedback is already a basic pattern in society, we urgently need ways to assess the impact of attempts to steer that feedback toward justice.

Designing Field Experiments at Scale (Seminar)

Undergraduate Class, Princeton University, Sociology, 2019

Online platforms, which monitor and intervene in the lives of billions of people, routinely host thousands of experiments to evaluate policies, test products, and contribute to theory in the social sciences. These experiments are also powerful tools to monitor injustice and govern human and algorithm behavior. How can we do field experiments at scale, reliably, and ethically?

Unpacking Impact

Undergraduate and Graduate Class, MIT Media Lab, 2015

Creating impact is a hallmark goal of many projects and collaborations with the Media Lab. What does this impact look like to you? What are its boundaries, contexts, and possible unintended consequences? How can students learn to design with this awareness?