Alexandra Samuel

Current

CEO at Social Signal

Past

Independent consultant at Alexandra Samuel (Self-employed)
Session Lecturer (Dept. of Political Science) at University of British Columbia
Research Director at Digital 4Sight

Special Assistant at Government of Ontario

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Education

Harvard University
Oberlin College

Recommended

3 people have recommended Alexandra

Connections

327 connections

Industry

Online Media

Websites

Alexandra Samuel’s Summary

Alexandra Samuel is the CEO of Social Signal, a Vancouver-based social media agency. Alex has guided the online strategy for some of the web's most ambitious social media projects and online communities, including BC Hydro's Facebook Green Gifts, Vancity's Change Everything and CompuMentor's NetSquared. Social Signal brings online communities to life by creating compelling community concepts, technical blueprints and engagement plans and by building online communities on platforms including Drupal, WordPress and Facebook.

In 2004, Alex received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. Her dissertation examined the phenomenon of hacktivism -- politically motivated computer hacking -- as a window on online participation. As the Research Director for Digital 4Sight’s Governance in the Digital Economy, Alexandra created and guided an investigation into the future of government and democracy for a consortium of twenty governments and businesses from around the world. Previously, she researched online social capital for Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, and co-founded one of Canada's first online political forums. Alex's writing on technology issues has appeared in media outlets like the Toronto Star, CBC Radio, Business 2.0, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Alexandra holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and a B.A. in Politics from Oberlin College. She can be reached by email at alex[at]socialsignal[dot]com.

Alexandra Samuel’s Specialties:

social media, online community, web strategy, engagement planning, online collaboration, Drupal, blogging, online consultation, web 2.0, tagging

Alexandra Samuel’s Experience

CEO

Social Signal

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)

August 2005 — Present (4 years)

As the CEO of Social Signal, Alex works with non-profits, government agencies and businesses to build online communities that engage employees, members, and the general public.
Independent consultant
Alexandra Samuel (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Public Relations and Communications industry)

September 2001 — December 2004 (3 years 4 months)

While completing my Ph.D. I also worked as an independent consultant, writer and researcher specializing in e-democracy and online engagement. I help governments, non-profits and companies use the Internet and other digital technologies as a way of mobilizing stakeholders, members, employees or the general public; as a tool for internal and inter-organizational collaboration; and as a way of engaging these groups in community decision-making.
Session Lecturer (Dept. of Political Science)

University of British Columbia

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)

January 2002 — April 2002 (4 months)
Research Director

Digital 4Sight

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

1998 — 2001 (3 years)
Special Assistant

Government of Ontario

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

1992 — 1995 (3 years)

Alexandra Samuel’s Education

Harvard University

Ph.D. , Political Science , September 1995 — September 2004
Oberlin College

B.A. , Politics, Women's Studies , September 1988 — May 1992

Activities and Societies:

WOBC, Tank Co-op, Hillel