About My Research: 

My research interests lie at the intersection of Philosophy of Information and Library and Information Science. In my writing, I use post-structural and deconstructive theory to challenge foundational assumptions, deepen philosophical roots, and construct ethical scaffolding around questions of information. I am advised by Dr. Marija Dalbello.

My dissertation subjects Luciano Floridi’s information ontology, which is formally labeled as 'Informational Structural Realism’ (ISR) and colloquially discussed as the ‘infosphere,’ to a Derridean construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. In my construction, I build an overview of ISR, unpacking how it underlies notions of informational stewardship, ontic trust, and the interconnectivity of the infosphere, concepts which have been met with varying degrees of criticism and acceptance in LIS scholarship. In my deconstruction, I surface the ontological, epistemological, ethical, and practical consequences of concretizing reality as the totality of information (i.e. the ‘infosphere’) and of concretizing persons as entirely informational (i.e. as ‘inforgs’). Finally, I reconstruct my own theory of Post-Structural Informational Realism (PSIR), placing ISR in conversation with both LIS scholars and post-structural theorists in order to overcome the problems surfaced in my deconstruction. I argue that PSIR is both more philosophically sound and more practically relevant to LIS than ISR insofar as it incorporates LIS research; expounds on the relationship between information and time; and accounts for the singular, a-informational nature of persons, of responsible decision-making, and of justice.    

This dissertation research won the 2025 Litwin Books Award for Ongoing Dissertation Research in Philosophy of Information.