I'm Stephen Yang, researching
futures of media and technologies
PhD Researcher @ USC Annenberg。NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Responsible AI。Technology Design。Critical Innovation Studies。Futures Studies。Time and Temporality
↓ Scroll down to learn more about me ↓
Who's Stephen?
I'm Stephen Yang, a writer, researcher, and futurist. I ruminate on where the future holds with the advent of new media, computing technologies, and artificial intelligence.

Presently, I'm pursuing my PhD at the
Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, where I'm supported by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP).

My research offers critically oriented design and policy principles for emerging media technologies. I have held research appointments at Microsoft Research (Social Media Collective), Center for Democracy & Technology (AI Governance Lab), and Partnership on AI.

I'm always open to new connections and opportunities. You can find me on X (formerly Twitter) or reach out to me at stepheny [at] usc [dot] edu.
Research Agenda
My research investigates the hopes, hypes, and ambivalence about the future with the advent of new media and computing technologies. I work to rethink the promises and pitfalls of innovation, the ethico-political tensions of progress, and how we can reimagine better futures together.

My ongoing work scrutinizes digital media as a speculative project of accelerated futures. I study how conceptions of speed are bound up with the future imaginaries of these technologies, their design and development, and the cultures around them. Beyond the universalist narratives of acceleration, I examine how disparate temporalities of digital media are envisioned, produced, experienced, and contested.

Download my CV
In the past...
I hold a B.S. in Communication and Information Science from Cornell University, where I graduated as the Degree Marshal of the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, a Merrill Presidential Scholar, and a Rawlings Presidential Research Scholar.

Outside of academia, I have worked in journalism and advertising at organizations such as the Taipei Times and Wunderman Thompson.  

Growing up in Taiwan, I witnessed firsthand the rapid changes that accompanied the rise of networked media and the computing industries, through which I became intrigued by the ambivalence of innovation.
Recent Updates
    2024
    • June 2024 I presented a paper at the annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA)! As part of a panel on genAI and cultural production, I discussed news media's projected futures of generative AI amidst the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
    • April 2024 I received funding from the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life at USC to study the future imaginaries of Hollywood with the advent of AI.
    • Jan 2024 I just presented our EAAMO'23 paper on participatory approaches to AI design (co-authored with Fernando Delgado, Michael Madaio, and Qian Yang) for Data & Society's series on participatory methods series on AI design and accountability!
    Diversity and Inclusion
    I'm a queer person of color who was born and raised outside of the United States. As someone who have affiliations with elite institutions, I often sit in between marginality and privilege. To put my commitment to diversity and inclusion in practice, I actively seek ways to reduce barriers to success for those coming from marginalized backgrounds. This often translates to sharing tacit knowledge I acquired from prior experience and from my position of privilege.

    Are you a marginalized person contemplating a career in research or responsible AI? Send me an email with any questions you may have at stepheny[at] usc [dot] edu.