Michelle McSweeney

michelleamcsweeney@gmail.com | Brooklyn, NY | (347) 314-0072

I am a researcher, linguist, podcast host, author, professor, GIS specialist, installation artist, marathoner, and very efficient cook. I currently work at Codecademy where I develop curriculum for the Data Science Domain and manage a team of very talented and smart people to build data science courses. I teach Data Visualization at the CUNY Graduate Center, and find a lot of joy in each of these things.

I have two books coming out in 2023:

And am working on one long-term project:
  • Love Tests allows texters to compare their text messages and quantifies how we establish intimacy and trust through writing

Find me in the wild:

Experience

Data Science Domain Manager

Codecademy | New York, NY

Built and managed the data science domain team. Designed the data science content roadmap and pioneered a content restructure to align with industry standards. Improved production efficiency by 75% while instilling a culture of ownership and collaboration. Delivered technical improvements through collaborations with engineering, product, marketing and data science. Planned and executed on experiments to validate hypotheses. Served as SME on statistical, NLP, and Machine Learning courses.

March 2021 - Present

Senior Director of Data Quality

Converseon.AI, Inc | New York, NY

Recruited and led 6-person data science team. Partnered with clients to deliver end-to-end machine learning solutions and leverage natural language processing to extract meaning from unstructured data. Empowered clients to interpret results and understand evaluation metrics. Defined performance and success metrics for 150 client-facing machine learning classifiers and systematized evaluation process. Lead data collection and governance, and NLP research and development.

September 2018 - March 2021

Research Scholar

Center for Spatial Research, Columbia University | New York, NY

Design and lead socio-spatial research projects about language use as related to urban development in New York City. Used Natural Language Processing (Topic Modeling and Sentiment Analysis with Spacy, sci-kit learn and NLTK) to understand argument strategies in politically charged issues. Contributed to lab-based projects using data visualization and mapping.

September 2016 - August 2018

PhD Research

Linguistics, the Graduate Center at CUNY | New York, NY

Collected a corpus of over 45,000 text messages sent and received by bilingual young adults to analyze the relationship between text messaging and literacy. Proposed a taxonomy to understand the communicative effect of emojis, abbreviations, and other textisms.

May 2014 - August 2016

Digital Fellow

Digital Initiatives, CUNY | New York, NY

Advised on digital research projects and data visualization. Designed technical workshop sequence, and taught Python, NLTK, and QGIS. Established a Python Users’ Group with over 50 participants. Led quantitative research project on community impact for President’s address.

September 2014 - August 2016

Linguistics Instructor

City University of New York | New York, NY

Taught Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, Language Acquistion, Internet Linguistics, and African Languages.

August 2011 - May 2016

Language Consultant and Peace Corps Volunteer

Peace Corps Uganda | Kampala, Uganda

Worked with native speakers to write educational grammars for 6 different languages, including uncovering syntactic and semantic relationships within the language. Wrote a grammar and phonics program for Lusoga. Identified languages to make new manuals for. Developed a teacher-training program for language teachers.

Feb 2008 - August 2010

Education Specialist

Taught developmental mathematics courses, and advised and mentored over 250 students on their transition into college.

June 2004 - January 2008

Director, Canvasser, Activist

Lansing Voters Matter | Lansing, MI

Established a 501c3 non-profit to increase voter turnout in the Greater Lansing Area. Showed more than 10% increase in the 3 lowest voter turnout districts in Mid-Michigan.

January 2004 - November 2004

Canvasser, Activist

Clean Water Action | East Lansing, MI

Canvassed on issues regarding water quality in Michigan and helped identify new issues. Lobbied for improved legislation to protect Michigan's waterways.

March 1999 - February 2000, August 2001 - January 2004

Kenshusei / Waitress

Biwako Kisen Company | Otsu, Japan

Work/study/cultural exchange program. Waited tables on a lunch and dinned boat.

February 2000 - August 2001

Education

The Graduate Center at CUNY

PhD, Linguistics
Certificate, Interactive Technology & Pedagogy

Literacies of Bilingual Youth: A Profile of Bilingual Academic, Social, and Txt Literacy Skills

August 2016

Michigan State University

BA, Chemistry & Mathematics
May 2004

Lansing Community College

AA, Mathematics
December 2001

Publications

OK

OK as a word can agree, accept, inspire, and describe the world; as an object, OK and its variants (okay, ok, etc.) tell a story about the ways that technology and globalization change the way we communicate.

In press, Bloomsbury

Data

This book traces the history of the term, data, to the dawn of writing through its maturation with mathematicians and philosophers, into its biblical references and finally into the modern era where the meaning of data has evolved alongside computing power to become a prominent cultural force shaping what we believe to be true.

In review, Oxford University Press

Performing Politeness in Online Dating: How orthographic choices signal relationship status in Digital orality: vernacular writing in online spaces

This chapter in an edited collection explores how politeness is performed within the context of online dating from first message to established relationship.

In press, Palgrave

The Pragmatics of Text Messaging: Making Meaning in Messages

Book

This book explores the ways in which texting features such as ‘lol,’ emojis, abbreviations, and acronyms is systematic and essential. Highlighting the role of creativity in relationship building and identity performance, this volume extends the boundaries of emerging research on language and digital communication.

2018, Routledge

Chatting with the Natives. Harvard Design Magazine.

Article

This article explores the ways in which language is changing in response to near-universal adoption of digital communication devices.

2017, Issue 44

I Text English to Everyone: On Texting and Academic Proficiency. Languages.

Article

This article reports on the relationship between academic proficiency and text messaging.

2017, Issue 2(3)

Portfolio

Love Texts

Natural Language Processing, Data Science, Web Development

This project explores written language between romantic partners. When complete, individuals will be able to upload their text message history to the site and receive a quantitative analysis of communication in their relationship.

Expected late 2023

Subtext

Podcast

Co-hosted with Sarah Ellis, this podcast explores the relationship between text messaging and dating. Each episode dives deep into how digital communication technologies are changing our langugage, and what that means for modern romantic relationships.

2018-present

Can I get a Comma? The role of punctuation and laughter in texting identity

Speech

Winner of the 5 Minute Linguist competition at the Linguistic Society of America's annual conference. Using a network analysis of textism adoption across a community of speakers, I found that texters adopt each others' emojis and acronyms, but are resistant to changing their punctuation and laughter.

2018, Salt Lake City

Languages Above the NYC Subway

Interactive Infographic

This project tracts language neighborhoods along the New York City Subway System by visualizing the percent of speakers at each stop.

2014

Selected Presentations

Urban Language Topographies: Cities as sites of language maintenance. Michigan State University Global Digital Humanities Conference. East Lansing, MI. March 23,2018.

Pragmatics of Digital Communication. Digital Media and Learning Department at New York University. New York, NY. December 17, 2017.

I’m trying to show you who I am: Identity performance in text messaging. Pop Culture Association National Conference. San Diego, CA, April 12, 2017.

“‘Excuse me, please, wya!’ The Construction of Politeness on Cell Phones”. Northeast Modern Languages Association Annual Conference. Baltimore, MD, March 23, 2017.

Yelling at Robots: The End of Language As We Know It?. Panel at Social Media Week, New York. New York, NY, March 3, 2017.

lol i didn’t mean it! Lol as a Marker of Illocutionary Force . Linguistic Society of America annual conference. Austin, TX, January 6, 2017.

The Birth of a Language: The emergence of Txt as an independent language form. Dressler Linguistics Colloquium, Columbia University, New York, NY. October 14, 2016.

Did You Get My Message: The communicative cost of texting in a second language. Second Language Research Forum, Columbia University. New York, NY, September 24, 2016.

Using twitter to define bilingual literacy in a networked world. Panel at the Digital Media and Learning Conference. Boston, MA, March 6, 2014.

Selected Teaching

Pratt Institute

Data Analysis. 2019-present. School of Information ScienceProject-based lab/seminar on research methods, statistics, and data analysis usin R for Information Science and Data Visualization students.

Columbia University

Mapping for Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities. Fall 2017. Graduate School of Architecture, Urbanism, and PlanningProject-based seminar on using spatial tools for humanities and social science reseach.

Conflict Urbanism: Language Justice. Spring 2017. Graduate School of Architecture, Urbanism, and PlanningProject-based seminar on how languages in contact shape urban spaces.

The City University of New York

Fundamentals of Data Visualization. 2018-present. The Graduate Center at CUNY. Hybrid seminar-studio-lab on data management, effective visualization techniques, and design process. Course culminates in 3 projects and a Final Review/End-of-semester show.

Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching. 2014-2015. Hunter College, School of Education. Hybrid (online/face-to-face). Research seminar on the role that first and second language acquisition processes have in a K-12 classroom.

Teaching Linguistics Across CUNY Campuses. 2013-2015. The Graduate Center at CUNY. Seminar on college pedagogy and course development, now required for all first year graduate students in Linguistics.

Internet Linguistics. 2014. Lehman College, Languages and Literatures. Seminar on the role of digital communication technologies changing language practices.

African Languages. 2013-2014. Lehman College, Languages and Literatures. Project-based course investigating linguistic features of and contemporary issues surrounding African languages.

Pragmatics, Syntax, and Semantics. 2011-2013. Lehman College, Languages and Literatures. .

Lansing Community College

Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra. 2005-2007.

Media Coverage

Laugh and the World Laughs With You. Type ‘Ha,’ Not So Much.

New York Times

Interview about digital laughter.

2017, July 8

The Internet Tilde Perfectly Conveys Something We Don’t Have the Words to Explain

New York Magazine

Interview about digital punctuation.

2017, July 5

Things that come out of your mouth

Tell Me Something I Don't Know

Analysis of 'lol', winner of game show style contest about interesting facts.

2016, November 28

Doctor of Lols

Feeling Some Type of Way

Interview about 'lol'.

2016, November 17

Minor Infractions: Languages above the Subway

CUNY TV

Interview about "Languages above the NYC Subway".

2014, October 1

Infographic tracks Languages above the Subways

Metro New York

Coverage of "Languages above the NYC Subway".

2014, August 4

Skills

Technical Skills


Functional Skills

Awards