Alex Halavais (the “s” is silent) is a social architect, interested in ways of helping form a communities of creativity, freedom, and justice. In particular, he helps people to discover ways in which social media changes the nature of scholarship and learning, and allows for new forms of collaboration and self-government.

He is an associate professor at Arizona State University. He formerly taught in an MS program in Interactive Media at Quinnipiac University, directed a masters program in informatics at the University at Buffalo, and was Research Director for the New Media Research Lab at the University of Washington. He has worked in marketing for a large financial services firm, designed simulations for NASA, worked as a public school teacher in Japan, and in city government as a budget analyst and planner. He has published articles and book chapters on how social media relates to social change, as well as a book introducing the social role of search engines. He serves as the Technical Director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub based at the University of California Humanities Research Institute. He received a Ph.D. in Communications from the University of Washington, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Irvine.

He keeps a blog–a thaumaturgical compendium–and tweets @halavais.