Dr. Gwen Shaffer

Gwen Shaffer is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations and Director of Research for the College of Liberal Arts. Her research focuses on telecommunications policy. She is the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded project—a collaboration with the City of Long Beach and Carnegie Mellon University researchers—developing a mobile privacy assistant aimed at making it easier for Long Beach residents to opt out of data collection by City-deployed technologies such as automated license plate readers, parking apps and shared electric scooters.

Shaffer served on the City of Long Beach’s Technology and Innovation Commission from January 2015 until December 2022 (chairing during the last four years of her term). In this role, Shaffer contributed to policies involving digital inclusion; the City’s use of surveillance technologies; and Long Beach’s Smart City initiative.

Shaffer designed and teaches JOUR 360/Culture and Politics of the Internet. In this course, students consider the economic, legal and networking aspects of prominent telecommunications policy issues. They engage in critical debate about how to regulate technologies integral to their daily lives.

The International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction; Surveillance and Society; the Journal of Information Policy; Media, Culture & Society; First Monday; ACM’s Transactions on Internet Technology; and Communication +1 are among the journals to publish Shaffer’s research. In addition to the National Science Foundation, the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation; the Media, Inequality & Change Center; and METRANS Transportation Center have funded her research.

Shaffer earned her Ph.D. in mass media and communication from Temple University in Philadelphia. Before joining the faculty at CSULB, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the computer science department at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to attending graduate school, Shaffer worked as a reporter for more than a dozen years.
 

Office Location: LA4-206C
Phone: 562-985-5433
Email: gwen.shaffer@csulb.edu