Floor Fiers is a Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in the Media, Technology and Society (MTS) program at Northwestern University, where they are co-advised by Dr. Aaron Shaw and Dr. Eszter Hargittai. They are a member of the inter-university research group Community Data Science Collective and the WebUse Project (University of Zurich). In addition, they have ongoing collaborations with the Citizens and Technology Lab (Cornell University) and the Center of Media Psychology and Social Influence (Northwestern University).

Fiers’ research examines the role of digital technologies in simultaneously reproducing social inequality and opening a range of opportunities for individuals and communities. They draw on and extend research on digital inequality, digital skills and literacy, platform studies, and user agency. Across their work, Floor regularly returns to the setting of online labor and the gig economy, in which the tension between digital technologies as a source of opportunity and risk is particularly pronounced.

Fiers has published in top-tier Communication journals, such as International Journal of Communication, Information, Communication, and Society, and New Media & Society. Please see their Google Scholar profile for a full list of publications.

Brief background

Originally from the Netherlands, Fiers attended the international boarding school United World College in Montezuma (NM, USA; see archived blog here). They pursued a BA in Sociology at St. Lawrence University (minors in Film and English). Their honors thesis (advised by Dr. Stephen Barnard; published by Social Media + Society) drew on digital ethnographic content analysis to understand the strategies users of the hashtag “Instagood” employ to seek status while hiding such labor.

Since September 2019, Fiers has been working towards my Ph.D. in Communications. They spent the academic year of 2020-2021 working remotely from Dr. Eszter Hargittai‘s lab Internet & Society at the University of Zurich. In addition to conducting and publishing research, Fiers has taught multiple undergraduate courses, organized workshops (e.g., the pre-conference on global digital inequalities at International Communication Association 2023), and engaged in other forms of service.

Outside of academia, Fiers is involved in the organization of two cultural festivals in the Netherlands: Totaalfestival Bladel and Festival Hongerige Wolf. Most recently, they primarily program artists and coordinate artist production. Prior to the Ph.D., Fiers worked as a videographer.