David Nemer

David Nemer (born November 29, as David Baião Nemer) is a Brazilian scholar, activist, writer and currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Science at University of Kentucky. He is the editor and founder of the Social Informatics Blog, an academic blog oriented towards the analysis of digital technology in nowadays society, and in 2014 was a researcher at Microsoft Research, India. In 2013 Nemer published his first book Favela Digital - The other side of technology / O outro lado da tecnologia, a bilingual book, English and Portuguese, about his experience researching the use of technology in the favelas, urban slums, of Vitória, Brazil.
Personal Life
David Nemer was born and raised in Vitória, Brazil.
During his undergraduate studies, Nemer began to advocate for digital literacy programs and providing technology access to socioeconomic marginalized communities in Vitória, Brazil. He helped develop, and taught, in two digital inclusion programs aimed at marginalized communities at Monte Belo and Regência. After graduating from UFES and FAESA, Nemer moved to Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 2007 to continue his education in Computer Science and do his M.Sc. at the Kaiserslautern University of Technology (German Technische Universität Kaiserslautern). His original plan was to graduate from TU Kaiserslautern, but after he failed his last exam in Formal Verification and Specification Techniques, a mandatory course for the master's program, he decided to not take the exam again and transfer to Saarland University (German Universität des Saarlandes) in Saarbrücken, where he successfully obtained his M.Sc. in Computer Science in 2010. During his time at Saarland University, Nemer kept living in Kaiserslautern where he was a researcher assistant at Fraunhofer - Institut für Experimentelles Software Engineering. Nemer claimed that Computer Science was not a good fit for him since he was not able to make a difference in society just by focusing on technology, thus his decision to do a Ph.D. in Informatics with the specialization in Social Informatics. In 2010 he started his doctoral program in the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University. Through his Ph.D. program Nemer saw an opportunity to go back to his main field of interests: activism and the digital divide. For his Ph.D. dissertation, Nemer performed an eight-month ethnography in the favelas, urban slums, of Vitória, Brazil. In order to collect his ethnographic data, Nemer used the Google Glass, becoming the first Brazilian to use one. Through his work, Nemer was able to propose several changes in local policies in order to promote digital literacy and access among poor communities. In 2014 Nemer became part of the group Technology for Emerging Market at Microsoft Research in Bangalore, India, where he researched the experience of Indian students in online education platforms (MOOCs), such as Edx and Coursera. Nemer joined the School of Information Science at University of Kentucky in 2015 as an Assistant Professor and was considered one of the most valuable citizens of Vitória working abroad. During his youth in Brazil, Nemer played volleyball for Clube de Natação e Regatas Álvares Cabral, Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, the Espírito Santo State Team where he played the National U-17 National Championship, Richmond High School, and the Indiana All State Team. In 2008, the column Zig Zag from A Gazeta newspaper claimed that Nemer dated the Australian pop singer Natalie Imbruglia.
Nemer holds a PhD in Informatics from Indiana University and is currently an assistant professor in the School of Information Science, University of Kentucky.
Publications
In 2013, David Nemer published his first book entitled "Favela Digital - The other Side of Technology / O outro lado da tecnologia", which was a spin off of his ethnographic research in the favelas of Vitória, ES. According to the Favela Digital's website, the books the following philosophy: 1) the book is aimed to create awareness by showing how favela residents appropriate technology in innovative and meaningful ways; 2) the book is a channel to bring different networks into the same conversation. Such networks are policymakers and favela residents, and the “conversation” is about the issues that favela residents face with regards to accessing digital technology; and 3) capacity building: most of the photos in the book were taken by the photographers who were residents of the favelas. They worked for the NGO Varal Communication Agency, which was just starting their initiatives. Thus, “Favela Digital” served as a way for them to enhance their skills as photographers. In order to maintain the copyright of the book and ensure that the money from selling the book copies would go to the photographers from Varal Communication Agency, Favela Digital counted with the sponsorship from several local companies and universities. The book has been reviewed by London School of Economics and Political Science and the Journal of Community Informatics. According to the reviewer, Custódio, "Favela Digital is a book to be celebrated for the way it reaches audiences in new and exciting ways. The book is an excellent example of how researchers, activists and local populations can build partnerships that benefit all those involved with new knowledge and ideas about ways of critically engaging with digital media on everyday life."
Bibliography
* Nemer, D. (2013). Favela Digital - The other side of technology. Vitoria, Brazil: Editora GSA, ISBN 978-85-8173-059-2
* Nemer, D. (2015). Online Favela: The Use of Social Media by the Marginalized in Brazil. Information Technology for Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2015.1011598
* Nemer, D. (2015). From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion and Beyond. The Journal of Community Informatics, 11(1). http://ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1030/1131
* Nemer, D. & Zhang, G. (2015). Empowering the Marginalized: Rethinking Selfies in the Slums of Brazil. International Journal of Communication. 9(2015). 1832-1847. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3155/1403
* Nemer, D. & Zhang, G. (2015). Cross Platform Impression Management: A Cultural Study of Brazilians and Indians on Facebook and Orkut. Journal of Technologies and Human Usability, 10(2). 1-15.
* Parra, C., Nemer, D., Hakken, D., D’Andrea, V. (2015). Deep Trust in the future of Community Informatics. The Journal of Community Informatics. 11(2) http://ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1203
* Halabi, A., Sabiescu, A. G., Salomão, D., Vannini, S. & Nemer, D. (2015). From Learning to Designing Action: Aligning Intentionality in Community-Based Research and Design. Manuscript submitted for publication at The Journal of Community Informatics.
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