OLIVER L.
HAIMSON,
Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Trans experiences and social technologies

Social computing technologies, such as social media sites, often privilege people who fit within expected and unchanging categories. Thus, designing technology and social media that meaningfully embraces transgender and non-binary identities is a particular challenge. This line of research seeks to understand challenges and opportunities related to trans experiences with social technologies. Examining the relationships between topics including disclosure, self-presentation, emotional wellbeing, and social support for trans and/or non-binary users via social technologies is fundamentally important on its own accord. This research also informs technology design that will benefit people navigating a wide range of marginalized identities and major identity changes online.

Selected Publications


Disproportionate Removals and Differing Content Moderation Experiences for Conservative, Transgender, and Black Social Media Users: Marginalization and Moderation Gray Areas
Oliver L. Haimson, Daniel Delmonaco, Peipei Nie, Andrea Wegner
Proceedings of the ACM Human Computer Interaction (PACM HCI), 5(CSCW2), Article 466, October 2021, 35 pages (to be presented at CSCW 2021)
[open-access link] [PDF] [video] [blog]

Censorship of Marginalized Communities on Instagram
a community report by the Salty Algorithmic Bias Collective: Shakira L. Smith, Oliver L. Haimson, Claire Fitzsimmons, Nikki Echarte Brown
Salty, September 2021
[link]

Transgender identity management across social media platforms
Justin Buss, Hayden Le, Oliver L. Haimson
Media, Culture & Society, June 2021, 44, 1, 22-38
[link] [PDF]

Online Transgender Health Information Seeking: Facilitators, Barriers, and Future Directions
Taika Augustaitis, Leland A. Merrill, Kristi E. Gamarel, Oliver L. Haimson
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2021, Article 205, 14 pages
[acceptance rate: 26%]
[open-access link] [PDF] [video]

Trans Time: Safety, Privacy, and Content Warnings on a Transgender-Specific Social Media Site
Oliver L. Haimson, Justin Buss, Zu Weinger, Denny L. Starks, Dykee Gorrell, Briar Sweetbriar Baron
Proceedings of the ACM Human Computer Interaction (PACM HCI), 4(CSCW2), Article 124, October 2020, 27 pages (presented at CSCW 2020)
[link] [PDF] [video]

Designing Trans Technology: Defining Challenges and Envisioning Community-Centered Solutions
Oliver L. Haimson, Dykee Gorrell, Denny L. Starks, Zu Weinger
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 2020, 13 pages
[acceptance rate: 24%] [Best Paper Award]
[link] [PDF] [blog] [video] [video] [images]

Coming Out to Doctors, Coming Out to 'Everyone': Understanding the Average Sequence of Transgender Identity Disclosures Using Social Media Data
Oliver L. Haimson, Tiffany C. Veinot
Transgender Health, 5(3), September 2020 (first published online April 2020), p. 158-165
[open-access link] [PDF]

Challenging "Getting Better" Social Media Narratives With Intersectional Transgender Lived Experiences
Oliver L. Haimson
Social Media + Society, 6(1), March 2020
[open-access link] [PDF]

Tumblr was a Trans Technology: The Meaning, Importance, History, and Future of Trans Technologies
Oliver L. Haimson, Avery Dame-Griff, Elias Capello, Zahari Richter
Feminist Media Studies, 21(3), 2021 (first published online October 2019), p. 345-361
[open-access link] [PDF] [blog]

Mapping Gender Transition Sentiment Patterns via Social Media Data: Toward Decreasing Transgender Mental Health Disparities
Oliver L. Haimson
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) (special issue on Health Informatics and Health Equity: Improving Our Reach and Impact), 26(8-9), August/September 2019 (first published online May 2019), p. 749-758
[open-access link] [PDF] [blog]

Social Media as Social Transition Machinery
Oliver L. Haimson
Proceedings of the ACM Human Computer Interaction (PACM HCI), 2(CSCW), Article 63, November 2018, 26 pages (presented at CSCW 2018)
[acceptance rate: 26%] [Best Paper Honorable Mention Award]
[link] [PDF] [blog]

The Social Complexities of Transgender Identity Disclosure on Social Media
Oliver L. Haimson
Doctoral dissertation
University of California, Irvine, 2018
[link]

Trans Identity and Digital Spaces (part of "A conversation: Queer digital media resources and research")
Oliver L. Haimson
First Monday (special issue on Queer Internet Studies), 23(7), July 2018
[open-access link]

Digital and Physical Barriers to Changing Identities
Oliver L. Haimson
XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, Winter 2017
[link] [PDF]

Changes in Social Media Affect, Disclosure, and Sociality for a Sample of Transgender Americans in 2016’s Political Climate
Oliver L. Haimson, Gillian R. Hayes
ICWSM Conference on Web and Social Media, May 2017
[acceptance rate: 14%]
[link] [PDF] [blog]

Digital Footprints and Changing Networks During Online Identity Transitions
Oliver L. Haimson, Jed R. Brubaker, Lynn Dombrowski, Gillian R. Hayes
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2016
[acceptance rate: 23%] [Best Paper Honorable Mention Award]
[link] [PDF]

Online Inspiration and Exploration for Identity Reinvention
Oliver L. Haimson, Anne E. Bowser, Edward F. Melcer, Elizabeth F. Churchill
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, May 2015
[acceptance rate: 23%]
[link] [PDF]

User Response to Facebook’s Custom Gender Options
Oliver L. Haimson, Jed R. Brubaker, Courtney Loder, Lynn Dombrowski, Gillian R. Hayes iConference, March 2015
[PDF]

Disclosure, Stress, and Support During Gender Transition on Facebook
Oliver L. Haimson, Jed R. Brubaker, Lynn Dombrowski, Gillian R. Hayes
ACM CSCW Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, March 2015
[acceptance rate: 28%] [Best Paper Honorable Mention Award]
[link] [PDF]