
Hi, I’m Sebastian!
I’m a researcher and engineer currently working for metaLAB (at) Harvard.
About
Select Projects
AI Pedagogy Project
An open resource helping educators engage critically and creatively with AI in the classroom
Beyond Disinformation
Investigating the digital disinformation capabilities and strategies of authoritarian empires
AI Personality Study
Exploring how LLMs shift their "personality" depending on a user's language and cultural background
Failure: Learning in Progress
An open resource helping students embrace, learn, and bounce back from failure
About
I’m a design engineer and researcher at metaLAB within the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. My research explores critical surveillance and security studies, algorithmic governance and critical data practices, digital humanities, and pedagogical development. At metaLAB, I am the lead engineer and designer of the AI Pedagogy Project, where I’m building digital tools that help educators critically and creatively engage with AI in the classroom. I hold a Bachelor of Information from the University of Toronto and a MSc in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford.
Outside of metaLAB, I work as a research collaborator with the Data Nutrition Project, where I contribute to the organization’s efforts to mitigate AI bias through educational initiatives. I’m also affiliated with several interdisciplinary research and educational initiatives, including the Failure: Learning in Progress Project at the University of Toronto, the REFLECT Project at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and the Beyond Disinformation Research Cluster, a collaboration between researchers at the Universities of Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto.
Areas of Research
Internet Studies
Human-Centered AI
Digital Humanities
Privacy and Surveillance
Human-Computer Interaction
Critical Security Studies
University Pedagogy
Preserving the Past, Generating the Future: How Archivists Can Contribute to Generative AI’s Development
Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference
June 12, 2024 • With C. Thierstein
Facing the Fallout: The Private Military Contractors Protecting America’s Nuclear Arsenal
DH Fest 2024 at the University of Toronto
April 9, 2024
Dark Patterns: Deception and Manipulation in UX Design
Critical Digital Humanities International Conference
October 1, 2022 • With M. Iantorno & D. Guadagnolo
The United States of Surveillance
Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) Conference and Colloquium
June 18, 2021
Shaping Reality: How America Wages (Dis)Information Warfare
Beyond Disinformation Research Symposium by the Universities of Manchester, Melbourne, & Toronto
October 7, 2024
Dark Patterns: Where Marketing Meets UX Design
University of Toronto CDHI Emerging Scholar Showcase
April 22, 2022
The United States of Surveillance: A Review of America’s Mass Surveillance Laws, Programs, and Oversight
Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in Arts & Humanities (IDEAH), 3(2)
2022
My Work
Design Engineer & Researcher
metaLAB (at) Harvard, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
JUN 2023 – Present
Research Collaborator
Data Nutrition Project
NOV 2024 – PRESENT
Web Designer & Research Engineer
Society for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education
Apr 2024 – Sep 2024
Web Developer & Research Assistant
University of Toronto
SEP 2022 – SEP 2024