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Jonathan Zong

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2018–2024
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Minor in Science, Technology, and Society
Advisor: Arvind Satyanarayan
2018–2020
S.M. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Princeton University

2014–2018
B.S.E. Computer Science
Advisor: J. Nathan Matias
Certificate in Visual Arts
Advisor: David Reinfurt

University of Oxford

Spring 2017
Visiting Student

Employment

University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Information Science

Fall 2025–
Assistant Professor

Harvard University, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society

2024–2025
Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Visualization Group

2024–2025
Postdoctoral Associate
2018–2024
Graduate Researcher

Cornell University, Citizens and Technology Lab

Summer 2020
Graduate Research Fellow

Google, AI UX Team

Summer 2018
UX Engineering Intern

Google, Material UX Team

Summer 2017
UX Engineering Intern

Linked by Air

Summer 2016
Software and Design Intern

Square

Summer 2015
Software Engineering Intern

Coursera

Summer 2014
Software Engineering Intern (KPCB Engineering Fellow)

Awards & Honors

2023

Forbes 30 Under 30 (Science)

2022

MIT Morningside Academy for Design Fellowship

MIT Prize for Open Data Honorable Mention

Fast Company Innovation By Design Awards Finalist

2020

Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts, MIT

2019

Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Hertz Foundation Fellowship Finalist

2018

Lucas Award in Visual Arts, Princeton University

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention

2017

Santos-Dumont Prize for Innovation, Princeton University

Tau Beta Pi Scholarship

Students All to Chaumont 3rd Place, Centre National du Graphisme

Peter B. Lewis Summer Fund for the Arts

2016

Facebook Global Hackathon Finals Honorable Mention

2015

Greylock Partners Hackfest, 1st Place

2014

HackRice, 1st Place, Rice University

KPCB Engineering Fellowship

MIT THINK Scholars

Interact Fellowship

2012

Eagle Scout

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

2025. Tactile Vega-Lite: Rapidly Prototyping Tactile Charts with Smart Defaults. Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Arvind Satyanarayan, Jonathan Zong. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM CHI) (Forthcoming).
2024. Umwelt: Accessible Structured Editing of Multi-Modal Data Representations. Jonathan Zong, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Mengzhu (Katie) Chen, Daniel Hajas, Arvind Satyanarayan. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM CHI).
2024. “Customization is Key”: Reconfigurable Textual Tokens for Accessible Data Visualizations. Shuli Jones, Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Daniel Hajas, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM CHI).
2024. Beyond Dark Patterns: A Concept-Based Framework for Ethical Software Design. Evan Caragay, Katherine Xiong, Jonathan Zong, Daniel Jackson. ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM CHI).
2024. Data Refusal From Below: A Framework for Understanding, Evaluating, and Envisioning Refusal as Design. Jonathan Zong, J. Nathan Matias. ACM Journal on Responsible Computing.
2023. Animated Vega-Lite: Unifying Animation with a Grammar of Interactive Graphics. Jonathan Zong*, Josh Pollock*, Dylan Wootton, Arvind Satyanarayan. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS).
2022. Rich Screen Reader Experiences for Accessible Data Visualization. Jonathan Zong*, Crystal Lee*, Alan Lundgard*, JiWoong Jang, Daniel Hajas, Arvind Satyanarayan. Computer Graphics Forum (EuroVis). Best Paper Honorable Mention
2022. Bartleby: Procedural and Substantive Ethics in the Design of Research Ethics Systems. Jonathan Zong, J. Nathan Matias. Social Media + Society.
2021. Lyra 2: Designing Interactive Visualizations by Demonstration. Jonathan Zong, Dhiraj Barnwal, Rupayan Neogy, Arvind Satyanarayan. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS).
2020. Representing Real-Time Multi-User Collaboration in Visualizations. Rupayan Neogy, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan. IEEE Visualization Conference (VIS).
2019. Unruly Cyborgs: The Relational Set Designs of Isamu Noguchi. Jonathan Zong. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies.

Edited Publications

2023. Pointing, Mutual Intelligibility, and the Seeing Subject in HCI. Jonathan Zong. Interface Critique.
2020. From Individual Consent to Collective Refusal. Jonathan Zong. ACM XRDS (Crossroads).

Workshops, Conferences, Posters, and Demos

2022. Olli: An Extensible Visualization Library for Screen Reader Accessibility. Matt Blanco, Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan. IEEE VIS Posters.
2021. Design Spaces of Domain-Specific Languages: Comparing and Contrasting Approaches in PL and HCI. Jonathan Zong*, Josh Pollock*, Dylan Wootton, Arvind Satyanarayan. PLATEAU Workshop on the Intersection of HCI and PL.
2021. Pointing, Mutual Intelligibility, and the Seeing Subject in HCI. Jonathan Zong. Computer Mouse Conference.
2020. The (Minimal) Persuasive Advantage of Political Video over Text. Chloe Wittenberg, Adam Berinsky, Jonathan Zong, David Rand. International Conference on Computational Social Science.
2020. Lyra: An Interface for Designing Interactive Visualizations. Jonathan Zong, Dhiraj Barnwal, Rupayan Neogy, Arvind Satyanarayan. Computation + Journalism Symposium.
2020. Collective Refusal and the Limits of Informed Consent for Data Protection. Jonathan Zong, J. Nathan Matias. Data & Society Contested Data Workshop.
2018. Automated Debriefing: Interface for Large-Scale Research Ethics. Jonathan Zong, J. Nathan Matias. Companion of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. Best Demo Award

Theses

2024. Designing for Participation and Power in Data Collection and Analysis. Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2018. Empirically Studying Research Ethics with Interface Designs for Debriefing Online Field Experiments. B.S.E. Thesis, Princeton University.

Talks & Presentations

Invited Talks

Data Refusal in Conversation with List Projects 31: Kite
2025. MIT List Visual Arts Center
Accessible Data Representations for Screen Reader Users
2024. Fathom Information Design
2024. Quantitative and Digital Humanities Speaker Series, Emory University
Participation and Power in Data Collection and Analysis
2024. Computer Science Seminar, Brandeis University
2024. Information Science Seminar, University of Colorado Boulder
2024. Ethical Tech Working Group, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society
2023. Penn HCI Group, University of Pennsylvania
Accessible Data Visualization for Blind and Low Vision Users
2023. MIT Morningside Academy for Design
Designing Data Representations for Embodiment and Refusal
2022. Information Science Seminar, Cornell University
Rich Screen Reader Experiences for Accessible Data Visualization
2022. HackNY Fellowship Speaker Series
2022. Design for Assistive Technology, MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute
2022. DiverseAbilities Employee Resource Group, New York Department of Transportation
Designing Research Ethics Systems
2022. Accountable Algorithms Reading Group, Northeastern University
Art, Concepts, Visualizations
2022. Interact Fellowship Symposium
Designing Systems to Theorize Collective Power
2020. Digital Theory Lab, NYU Media, Culture, and Communication
Layered Abstractions for Interactive Visualization Design
2020. Digital Structures Group, MIT Department of Architecture
“The Most Liberal of Arts”
2019. Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University
Public Accountability in Research Ethics
2018. CivilServant Research Summit, MIT Media Lab

Conference Talks and Panels

Olli: Accessible Data Representations for Screen Reader Users
2023. Information+ Conference
Data Refusal From Below: A Framework for Understanding, Evaluating, and Envisioning Refusal as Design
2023. Panel: Resistance · AoIR 2023
Consent: A Research and Design Lens for Human-Computer Interaction (Panel)
2022. CSCW 2022
Public Display and Biometric Sans: Embodied Writing in the Age of Data
2020. Before and Beyond Typography, Stanford University Department of History
In Our Own Image: The Autonomy of Artificial Bodies in Synthetic Porn
2019. Panel: Internet Connection · Theorizing the Web

Invited Seminar Participation

What You Hear is What You See? Integrating Sonification and Visualization
2025. Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz Center for Informatics

Public Scholarship

Op-Eds

2019. The Struggle to Democratize MIT. Rodrigo Ochigame, Alan Lundgard, Alonso Espinosa Dominguez, Jonathan Zong, Gabrielle Ballard, Sally Haslanger, Edmund Bertschinger, Mani Mengiste, Ruth Perry. The Tech (MIT).
2019. Consent Is Not an Ethical Rubber Stamp. Crystal Lee*, Jonathan Zong*. Slate.
2018. Researching the Researchers: Ethics and Privacy in Institutional Research. Jonathan Zong. Nassau Weekly.

Conversations

2022. CAPSULE No. 1. Cammie Lee, Megan Pai.
2021. Form, Content, Data, Bodies: Jonathan Zong and Beth Semel on Biometric Sans. Jonathan Zong, Beth Semel. Somatosphere.
2021. Holly Herndon in conversation with Tabea Nixdorff and Jonathan Zong. Version Space.
2018. w-t-f: a conversation with Eric Li and Jonathan Zong. Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University.

Data Journalism

2021. The Data Visualizations Behind COVID-19 Skepticism. Crystal Lee, Jonathan Zong, Anna Arpaci-Dusseau, Katherine Huang, Mateo Monterde, Ethan Nevidomsky, Tanya Yang, Anna Meurer, Soomin Chun, Arvind Satyanarayan. MIT Visualization Group.

Policy Engagement

2024. Respecting blind/low-vision user agency when generating AI descriptions. Jonathan Zong, Arvind Satyanarayan. Public comment to U.S. Access Board.

Exhibitions

2023
Surveillance: From Vision to Data. Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University.
2020
WRECKED ALPHABET. Marcel Broodthaers Society of America.
BODY TEXT. Wiesner Gallery, MIT.
2018
w-t-f. Lucas Gallery, Princeton University.
Internet Yami-Ichi. Rhizome, New Art Dealers Alliance.
2017
*a graphic design exhibition*. Princeton University and IN-FO.CO, Los Angeles.
Faire Signe. Biennale de design graphique, Chaumont, France.

Collections

2018

Van Alan Clark, Jr. Library, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University

Everyone Should
2016

Graphic Arts Collection, Firestone Library, Princeton University

Nap Poems

Art Book Fairs

2019

Tiny Tech Zines, Navel LA

with Free Radicals
2019

Press Play, Pioneer Works

with Tech Zine Fair
2018

Odds and Ends, Yale University

Zine Soup 3.0: Makers Market, Chinatown Soup

NY Tech Zine Fair, School for Poetic Computation

Boston Art Book Fair, Boston Center for the Arts

Teaching

Instructor

2020. AI, Justice, Imagination: Technology and Speculative Fiction. Tufts University Experimental College
Visiting Lecturer (Adjunct) (co-instructor with Janet Zong York)

Guest Lecturer / Speaker

2023. Crowd Sourced City: Data Activism Edition. MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
2023. Transversal Design for Social Impact. MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology

Guest Critic

2022. i-n-t-e-r-f-a-c-e. Princeton University

Student Mentorship

M.Eng. Students

2023–24
Isabella Pedraza Pineros, Katie Chen
Summer 2023
Evan Caragay (Charles & Jennifer Johnson MEng Thesis Award), Katherine Xiong
2022–23
Shuli Jones (David Adler MEng Thesis Award)
2020–21
EJ Sefah, Katie Bacher
2019–20
Rupayan Neogy

Undergraduate Students

Spring 2023
Isabella Pedraza Pineros
Fall 2022
Mufaro Makiwa
Spring/Summer 2022
Matt Blanco (Northeastern)
Summer 2021
JiWoong Jang (CMU)
Fall 2020
Anna Arpaci-Dusseau, Katherine Huang, Mateo Monterde, Ethan Nevidomsky, Tanya Yang, Anna Meurer, Soomin Chun

Service

Peer Reviewing

2025
ACM CHI, Eurovis
2024
ACM CHI, Research Ethics (SAGE Journal), ACM DIS, Data by Design (community review for MIT Press book), Journal of Visualization and Interaction, Assistive Technology (T&F Journal)
2023
ACM CHI, IEEE VIS, IEEE TVCG, ACM SIGGRAPH, PacificVis Visual Data Storytelling Contest
2022
ACM CHI (Special Recognition for Outstanding Review), IEEE VIS, Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics
2021
IEEE VIS

Other Academic Service

2024
Selection Committee, MIT Student Art Awards

Event Organizing

2022
Princeton University Workshop on Ethics of Field Experiments

Community Building & Activism

2020–2022
MIT Graduate Student Union, Organizer
2020–2021
MIT Human-Computer Interaction, Social Committee
2019–20
MIT Students Against War

Selected Press

Featured

2024. Military Eye Injuries With Risk of Cataracts and Umwelt Software For Accessible Charts. WYPL-FM 89.3 Eye on Vision.
2024. New software enables blind and low-vision users to create interactive, accessible charts. MIT News.
2024. Q&A: How refusal can be an act of design. MIT News.
2023. Improving accessibility of online graphics for blind users. MIT News.
2023. Student Spotlight: Jonathan Zong. MIT CSAIL.
2023. MIT MAD Fellow Improves Accessibility of Online Graphics for Blind Users. MIT Morningside Academy for Design.
2023. These tools help visually impaired scientists read data and journals. Nature Technology Features.
2022. Developing community around design. MIT News.
2022. Making data visualization more accessible for blind and low-vision individuals. MIT News.
2022. 3 Questions: Designing software for research ethics. MIT News.
2021. Helping data journalists create interactive graphics. MIT CSAIL News.
2020. Forty artists elide, dismantle, and politicize the alphabet. Art & Education.
2020. Students Plumb Barriers of Sound, Space, and Sight at MIT. Arts at MIT.
2020. Bezos, Bodies, and Backprop. The Tech (MIT).
2018. PolitEcho: A Mirror for the “Daily Me”. Frontier Magazine.
2017. Challenge everything you think — democracy depends on it. The Guardian.
2017. How to Escape Your Political Bubble for a Clearer View. The New York Times.
2016. This browser extension shows how biased your social media feed is. A.V. Club.
2016. Find out just how biased your Facebook feed is with this Chrome extension. Mashable.
2016. A Browser Extension That Shows You Your Filter Bubble. New York Magazine.
2016. Transformations: Students find creativity at intersection of art and engineering. Princeton University News.
2013. Houston’s Hackers Gather to Help City Solve Problems. Xconomy.

Quoted

2023. Making chemistry accessible to all. Dell Technologies Perspectives.
2022. MIT grad students vote to form labor union. Boston Business Journal.
2022. After weeks of wrangling, MIT's grad student union will come to a vote this week. WBUR.
2021. Digital exclusions: mental health and digital life. Our Sick Society Podcast.
2020. Facial Recognition Software: Masks, Ethics & The Future. Forbes.
2019. The Dark Implications of Facial Swap Filter Technology. Paper Magazine.