Rate My Professor Warren Sack

Warren Sack is Professor of the Software Arts in the Film and Digital Media Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he joined as assistant professor in 2002, was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and full professor in 2012, and served as department chair from 2017 to 2020. Prior to UCSC, he was assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley from 2000 to 2002 and a research scientist at the MIT Media Laboratory. Sack holds a B.A. in Computer Science and Psychology, cum laude, from Yale University (1985), an S.M. in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory (1994), and a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory (2000). His affiliations at UCSC include the Computational Media Department (since 2015), History of Consciousness Department (since 2017), and Digital Arts & New Media Program (principal faculty since 2015). He has held visiting professorships at Sciences Po, Télécom ParisTech, and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris, France.

Sack specializes in media theory, software studies, history and philosophy of science and technology, science and technology studies, and software design for online public space and public discussion. He authored the book The Software Arts (MIT Press, 2019), offering an alternative history of computing that centers the arts. Key publications include "Conversation Map: A Content-based Usenet Newsgroup Browser" (2000), "Navigating Very Large-Scale Conversations" (2000), and papers on open source software design, information visualization, and digital aesthetics. His artwork has been exhibited at the ZKM Center for Art and Media (Karlsruhe, Germany), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Honors include fellowships at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study (2015 and 2016), American Council of Learned Societies Digital Innovation Fellowship (2012–2013), and principal investigator on National Science Foundation grants such as "Interface and Search Engine for Deliberation" (2004–2010, $299,937) and "Peer Review for Scientific Testimony" (2009–2011, $387,400). Sack has supervised 23 MFA theses and 8 PhD dissertations as primary advisor, with alumni in faculty positions at Wesleyan University, The New School, and researcher roles at Google.