Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang is a global technology ethnographer and co-founder of PL Data, a startup that helps organizations innovate in the era of big data. With more than 15 years of experience working with designers, engineers, and scientists, Tricia has a particular interest in designing human-centered systems. Organisations she has worked with include Nokia, Microsoft, O’Reilly, Kickstarter, the United Nations, and NASA. Recognized as a leading authority on ethnographic research, human-centered design, youth and social media, and Chinese internet culture, Tricia’s work and points of view have been featured in The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Fast Company, and Wired. She co-founded Ethnographer Matters, a website that features cutting edge insights about technology from formally and non-formally trained researchers. Tricia has a BA in Communication and PhD in Sociology from UC San Diego. She holds affiliate positions at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and at New York University's ITP. She is also a Fulbright Fellow and National Science Foundation Fellow where she was the first Western scholar to work with China Internet Network Information Center in China. Tricia began her career as a documentary filmmaker, an HIV/AIDS activist, a hip-hop education advocate, and a technology educator in low-income communities. She is currently writing a book about the emotional effects of the internet on Chinese citizens.  She is the proud owner of an internet famous dog, @ellecheese.