Colin Rhinesmith is a doctoral candidate and Information in Society Fellow at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
Rhinesmith's interdisciplinary research investigates information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures, community engagement, and public policy by drawing upon literature and methods from the following areas: science and technology studies, community informatics, and telecommunication and information policy. His dissertation research uses ethnographic methods to investigate the structural, historical, and cultural contexts shaping the implementation of a human services software package and its consequences within a community-based organization in East St. Louis, Illinois.
Rhinesmith is also a researcher with the Center for People and Infrastructures at UIUC, research scholar with the Center for Digital Inclusion at GSLIS, and adjunct research fellow with the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute in Washington, DC. He has been a Google Policy Fellow with the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative and Summer Institute Fellow with the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, hosted at Microsoft Research New England, organized by the University of California Humanities Research Institute, and supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Previously, Rhinesmith was Community Media and Technology Manager for Cambridge Community Television (CCTV), where he managed a citizen journalism program, public computing center, and community wireless network. Before joining CCTV, he worked for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Rhinesmith has been nationally recognized as a leader within the field of community media and technology. His work has been mentioned by the Federal Communications Commission, PBS MediaShift, Current.org, and the MacArthur Foundation's Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning. He has presented workshops and lectures at Harvard Law School, Columbia University, Bentley University, and Apple, Inc., and he was awarded the 2010 Buske Leadership Award from the Alliance for Community Media.
(Photo above by Joanie Tobin)
