Tomás Dodds

About Tomás Dodds

Tomás Dodds is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research examines the evolving relationship between journalism and technology, focusing on how media organizations develop open-source tools and artificial intelligence systems that serve the public interest. His book,\"Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination,\" co-authored with Seth Lewis and Rodrigo Zamith, is forthcoming from Polity in 2026.Tomás is the founding Director of the Public Tech Media Lab. With over 60 members from industry and academia, the Lab serves as a collaborative sandbox for journalists, technologists, and interdisciplinary scholars to collectively explore, address, and anticipate the ethical implications of emerging technologies.His work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including AI & Society, Journalism Studies, Journalism, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism Practice, and Digital Journalism, where he also serves on the board. He has also edited special issues on media hype, artificial intelligence, open-source investigations, and public interest technologies.At UW-Madison, Tomás is affiliated with the Center for Journalism Ethics and the Holtz Center for Science & Technology. He also serves as a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and the AI, Media & Democracy Lab at the University of Amsterdam, as well as a DigiPol Fellow at the University of Liverpool.Tomás teaches both practical and theoretical courses, including J676 “Innovations in Journalism,” J203 “Information for Communication,” and J880 “AI, Platforms and News,” a graduate seminar on the integration of AI systems in journalism. In 2021, he received the BKO (Basiskwalificatie Onderwijs), the Dutch University Teaching Qualification.Before joining UW-Madison, Tomás taught at Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam. As a journalist, he was a foreign correspondent for EFE, the world’s fourth-largest news agency, with his work appearing in English, Spanish, and Portuguese-language outlets. Early in his career, he worked at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Santiago de Chile and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C.Tomás earned his doctorate in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology from Leiden University.

Experience

1. Faculty Associate

   Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

   Sep 2022 — Present · Boston, MA, US

Education

• The George Washington University

  Exchange Program, Spring Semester, Communication

  2013 — 2013

• Universidad de Chile

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Journalism and Social Communication

  2009 — 2014

• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

  Master of Arts (M.A.), Sociology

  2014 — 2016

• Leiden University

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology

  2016 — 2021