PIL Research Analyst
Principal and Creative Technologist
metaLAB (at) Harvard
Jessica Yurkofsky is a researcher with PIL and a Principal and Creative Technologist at metaLAB (at) Harvard, and recent MLIS from San Jose State University. She graduated from the urban planning program at Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), writing her master’s thesis on seniors’ use of social media as a means of accessing geographically dispersed social spaces and community. She was subsequently part of the team behind Library Test Kitchen, a course in which students at Harvard GSD and Simmons School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) prototyped design interventions to confront library challenges.
In 2019, Jessica worked with PIL on the Algorithm Study and, in 2018, TheReading List for Life, which explored how open syllabus data might support lifelong learning in libraries. Jessica is particularly interested in exploring how visual communication strategies can make complex and intimidating subjects (like algorithms) more inviting and accessible.
Senior Researcher in Information Design
Contributing Writer, PIL Provocation Series
Assistant Teaching Professor/Designer in Residence, Northeastern University, Art + Design
Contributing Editor, Provocation Series (2021 – present)
PIL Scholar-in-Residence
Professor Emerita, Gustavus Adolphus College
Senior Researcher
Associate Editor, Provocation Series
Professor Emerita, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta
Research Analyst
Contributing staff, PIL Provocation Series
First-Year Experience Librarian, The University of Washington Tacoma
Research Analyst
Contributing writer, PIL Provocation Series
Instruction and Outreach Faculty, Central Oregon Community College
Senior Fellow in Information Literacy
Contributing staff, PIL Provocation Series
Associate Professor, Digital Scholarship Liaison, Instruction Librarian,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign