Charles Berret, PhD

Columbia University, New York, NY (2011-18). MA, MPhil, PhD in Communication Studies. Dissertation: The Cultural Contradictions of Cryptography.

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (2009-10). MS in Editorial Journalism.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2003-07). AB in Philosophy, High Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa.

Senior Content Manager, Enigma, New York (2025-26). Built the content and communications function from zero for a business-identity data company.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Critical Data Visualization, Linkoping University, Sweden (2022-24). Dual appointment in Media & Information Technologies and Gender Studies.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Information Visualization, University of British Columbia, Computer Science (2020-22).

Visiting Assistant Professor of Journalism, Writing, and Media, University of British Columbia (2018-20).

Digital Security Lead, Global Reporting Center, Vancouver (2019-22).

Data Editor, Institute for Investigative Journalism, Montreal (2018-21).

Writer, Google Fonts and Google Design, New York (2017-18).

Research Fellow, Brown Institute for Media Innovation, Columbia University (2016-18).

Research Fellow, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University (2015-16).

Writer-in-Residence, Yeshiva University, Department of English and Media Studies (2018).

Book Review Editor, TriQuarterly Literary Journal, Chicago (2010-11).

Assistant Editor and Copy Chief, Egypt Today Magazine, Cairo (2007-08).

Cryptographic Amnesia: Code, Power, and the Algorithmic Mediation of Everyday Life. Forthcoming from MIT Press.

The Drawbridge Model of Cryptographic Communication, keynote address at the WASP forum on AI and Cybersecurity, 2024.

Feminist Technoscience, guest lecture for MA students in Gender Studies, Linkoping University, 2024.

Scholarly Research in Plaintext, workshop for the Linkoping University Data Lab, 2023.

If Communication is a Bridge, Cryptography is a Drawbridge, International Communication Association, 2022.

Newsroom Sensemaking, Computation+Journalism Symposium, 2021.

Information, Entropy, and Play, What Is Information? Conference, University of Oregon, 2020.

Two Varieties of Digital Utopianism, What Is Technology? Conference, University of Oregon, 2019.

Collecting Randomness for the Vernam System, Society for the History of Technology, 2017.

Teaching Data and Computational Journalism, AEJMC, 2016.

Understanding SecureDrop, Society for Social Studies of Science, 2015.

The Techniques and Aesthetics of Phototypesetting, Society for the History of Technology, 2012.

Data Journalism Award, Canadian Association of Journalists, 2020, for the Tainted Water series.

Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program funding.

Tow Center for Digital Journalism research grant, 2015-16.

Brown Institute for Media Innovation research grant, 2014-15.

Doctoral Fellowship, Columbia University.

Medill Scholarship, Northwestern University.

James B. Angell Scholarship, University of Michigan.

International Communication Association, Association of Internet Researchers, European Communication Research Association, Society for the History of Technology, Society for Social Studies of Science, National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.

Code: Python, Bash, R, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Processing; general familiarity with Java, C, and C++.

Markup: LaTeX, Markdown, Pandoc, XHTML, CSS.

Dev: Git, Docker, Vagrant.

Admin: Linux/Unix, Apache, Nginx, Ansible, SaltStack.

Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB.

CMS: WordPress, Omeka, Jekyll, Automad.

Hardware: physical computing, Arduino, sensors, basic circuit design.

English: native.

German: advanced written and spoken.

Swedish, French, Tibetan, Arabic: basic.