Joan Donovan

Dr. Donovan is a leading public scholar and disinformation researcher, specializing in media manipulation, political movements, and extremism. As the Research Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and Director of the Technology and Social Change project, Donovan is a thought leader, and sought-after social scientist whose expertise is in internet and technology studies, online extremism, media manipulation, and disinformation campaigns.

Dr. Donovan has coined many of the terms that the disinformation field and mainstream media use to understand technologies' impact on society, and she has laid out the philosophical frameworks for how to research, report on, and understand this moment in internet history and American politics. Her conceptualizations of strategic silence, meme wars, and media manipulation campaigns provide crucial frameworks for understanding how the US got to this point. Dr. Donovan has testified in front of Congress about the trust costs of misinformation, as well as Qanon and conspiracy, and helps policymakers understand how regulation could help society adapt to and defend against disinformation. She also discusses the implications of her research with major technology companies and start-ups, and government defense agencies such as DARPA, the DOD, and ISAT.

Dr. Donovan is a co-creator of the beaver emoji.