  {"id":758,"date":"2015-09-23T16:58:20","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T20:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?post_type=cu-people&#038;p=758"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:08:45","slug":"bivens-rena","status":"publish","type":"cu-people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/profile\/bivens-rena\/","title":{"rendered":"Bivens, Rena"},"template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"people-type":[20],"areas-of-expertise":[190,195,208,209],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bivens, Rena | School of Journalism and Communication<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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I received my PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2008 where I worked with the Glasgow Media Group. Before coming to 杏吧原创, I was a Lecturer in Digital Media and Mass Communication at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China and a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow.<\/p>\n<p>My current research interests focus on the intersection of lesbian media history, queer theory, and trans studies. I am currently working on a book project about how we use media to make our identities. For a small taste of this, take a look at a piece I wrote for The Conversation: <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-queer-themed-shows-evoke-a-bittersweet-nostalgia-for-missed-childhood-moments-259341\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why queer-themed shows evoke a bitter-sweet nostalgia for missed childhood moments<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>My past work has explored normative design practices that become embedded within media technologies, including social media software, mobile phone apps, and technologies associated with television news production. A set of articles explores how social media companies program gender in different locations within their platforms and the implications of these practices. Sexual violence and speculative design have also been a focus of some of this work. Dr. Amy Hasinoff (UC Denver) and I developed Feature Analysis as a method for researchers to identify and analyze ideology within a set of mobile apps.<\/p>\n<h3>Selected Publications<\/h3>\n<p>Hasinoff, A. and Bivens, R. (2026) How to use feature analysis to reveal dominant norms and assumptions in a set of apps, in B. Marent (ed.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.degruyterbrill.com\/document\/isbn\/9783111247854\/html\">De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Health &amp; Society,<\/a> Berlin: De Gruyter, 345-361.<\/p>\n<p>Hasinoff, A. and Bivens, R. (2021) <a href=\"https:\/\/jdsr.se\/ojs\/index.php\/jdsr\/article\/view\/56\">Feature Analysis: A Method for Analyzing the Role of Ideology in App Design<\/a>. <em>Journal of Digital Social Research<\/em>, 3(2): 89-113. doi: 10.33621\/jdsr.v3i2.56.<\/p>\n<p>Bannerman, S., Baade, C., Bivens, R., Regan Shade, L., Shepherd, T., Zeffiro, A. (2020) <a href=\"https:\/\/cjc.utpjournals.press\/doi\/full\/10.22230\/cjc.2020v45n3a3901\">Platforms and Power: A Panel Discussion<\/a>. <em>Canadian Journal of Communication<\/em>, 45(3) doi: 10.22230\/cjc.2020v45n3a3901.<\/p>\n<p>Pasek, A., Bivens, R. and Hogan, M. (2019) <a href=\"https:\/\/cjc.utpjournals.press\/doi\/full\/10.22230\/cjc.2019v44n3a3653\">Data Segregation and Algorithmic Amplification: A Conversation with Wendy Hui Kyong Chun<\/a>. <em>Canadian Journal of Communication<\/em>, 44(3): 455-469.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. and Khan, U. (2019) <a title=\"https:\/\/scholarsbank.uoregon.edu\/xmlui\/handle\/1794\/26792\">Torn: A Social Media Drama over the Aziz Ansari Scandal<\/a>. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No. 15. <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/311140231\">video available here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2019) Programming the Rules of Engagement: Social Media Design and the Nonprofit System, in M. X. Delli Carpini (ed.) <a title=\"http:\/\/www.upenn.edu\/pennpress\/book\/15929.html\" href=\"http:\/\/www.upenn.edu\/pennpress\/book\/15929.html\">Digital Media and Democratic Futures<\/a>, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. and Hoque, A. S. (2018)\u00a0<a title=\"https:\/\/ir.library.carleton.ca\/pub\/20572\" href=\"https:\/\/ir.library.carleton.ca\/pub\/20572\">Programming Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: Infrastructural Failures in \u2018Feminist\u2019 Dating App Bumble<\/a>. Canadian Journal of Communication, 43(3): 441-459.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2018) <a title=\"https:\/\/scholarsbank.uoregon.edu\/xmlui\/handle\/1794\/26787\">Exploiting a Dystopic Future to Unsettle our Present-Day Thinking about Sexual Violence Prevention<\/a>. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No. 13. doi:\u00a010.5399\/uo\/ada.2018.13.5<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2018) <a title=\"http:\/\/nomorepotlucks.org\/site\/coding-sexual-violence-or-realizing-your-survivor-identity-is-part-of-the-problem-rena-bivens\/\" href=\"http:\/\/nomorepotlucks.org\/site\/coding-sexual-violence-or-realizing-your-survivor-identity-is-part-of-the-problem-rena-bivens\/\">Coding Sexual Violence, or Realizing your \u2018Survivor\u2019 Identity is Part of the Problem<\/a>. No More Potlucks, 49.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. and Hasinoff, A. A. (2017) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1080\/1369118X.2017.1309444\">Rape: is there an app for that? An empirical analysis of the features of anti-rape apps<\/a>\u201d <em>Information, Communication &amp; Society. <\/em>Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080\/1369118X.2017.1309444<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. and Haimson, O. L. (2016) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/2056305116672486\">Baking gender into social media design: How platforms shape categories for users and advertisers<\/a>\u201d <em>Social Media + Society<\/em>. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177\/2056305116672486<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2016) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/2016\/01\/27\/programming-violence-under-a-progressive-surface-facebooks-software-misgenders-users\/\">Programming Violence: Under a Progressive Surface, Facebook\u2019s Software Misgenders Users<\/a>\u201d, Cyborgology, 27 January. *<a href=\"http:\/\/culturedigitally.org\/2016\/01\/programming-violence-under-a-progressive-surface%20facebooks-software-misgenders-users\/\">cross-posted on <em>Culture Digitally<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2015) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/nms.sagepub.com\/content\/early\/2015\/12\/23\/1461444815621527.abstract\">The gender binary will not be deprogrammed: Ten years of coding gender on Facebook<\/a>\u201d <em>New Media &amp; Society<\/em>. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177\/1461444815621527<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2015) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1080\/14680777.2015.1053717\">Under the Hood: The Software in your Feminist Approach<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<em>Feminist Media Studies<\/em>. doi: 10.1080\/14680777.2015.1053717<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. and Fairbairn, J. (2015) \u201cQuit Facebook, Don\u2019t Sext and Other Futile Attempts to Protect Youth\u201d in S. Tarrant (ed.)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.taylorandfrancis.com\/books\/details\/9780415737838\/\"><em>Gender, Sex, and Politics: In the Streets and Between the Sheets in the 21st Century<\/em><\/a>, New York: Routledge.<\/p>\n<p>Handel, M. J., Bivens, R., Brubaker, J. R., Haimson, O. L., Lingel, J., &amp; Yarosh, S. (2015) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/2685553.2699337\">Facebooking in \u2018Face\u2019: Complex Identities Meet Simple Databases<\/a>\u201d, in\u00a0<em>Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference Companion on Computer Supported Cooperative Work &amp; Social Computing<\/em>\u00a0(pp. 122\u2013125). New York, NY, USA: ACM.\u00a0doi:10.1145\/2685553.2699337<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2015) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/culturedigitally.org\/2015\/06\/interrogating-crystals-design-flaws-highlights-options-for-technical-advocacy\/\">Interrogating Crystal\u2019s Design Flaws Highlights Options for Technical Advocacy<\/a>\u201d,\u00a0<em>Culture Digitally<\/em>, June 9.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2015) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/ijoc.org\/index.php\/ijoc\/article\/viewFile\/1001\/1295\">Affording Immediacy in Television News Production: Comparing Adoption Trajectories of Social Media and Satellite Technologies<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<em>International Journal of Communication\u00a0<\/em>9: 191-209.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2014)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.utppublishing.com\/Digital-Currents-HowTechnology-and-the-Public-are-Shaping-TV-News.html\"><em>Digital Currents: How Technology and the Public Are Shaping TV News<\/em><\/a>, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (ISBN: 9781442615861)<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. and Li, C. (2009) \u201cWeb-Oriented Public Participation in Contemporary China\u201d in G. Monaghan and S. Tunney (eds.)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sussex-academic.com\/sa\/titles\/CulturalSocialStudies\/TunneyMonaghan.htm\"><em>Web Journalism: A New Form of Citizenship?<\/em><\/a>, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.<\/p>\n<p>Bivens, R. (2008) \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1080\/17512780701768568\">The Internet, Mobile Phones and Blogging: How New Media is Transforming Traditional Journalism<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<em>Journalism Practice<\/em>\u00a02(1): 113-129.\u00a0doi: 10.1080\/17512780701768568<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","email_address":"Rena.Bivens@carleton.ca","phone_number":"","phone_extension":"","mobile_number":"","on_campus":"yes","department_list":"school-of-journalism","office_number":"4209","select_building":"river","personal_website":"","twitter_profile":"","linkedin_profile":"","youtube_channel":"","pinterest_profile":"","facebook_profile":"","profile_image":23538,"degrees":"","heading":"","expertise":"no","instagram_profile":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu-people\/758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu-people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu-people"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu-people\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23541,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu-people\/758\/revisions\/23541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"people-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people-type?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"areas-of-expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas-of-expertise?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}