Dr. Valerie Steeves

University of Ottawa - Department of Criminology

Valerie Steeves is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Her main area of research focuses on the impact of new technologies on human rights. As the lead researcher for MediaSmart’s Young Canadians in a Wired World research project, she has been tracking young people’s use of new media since 1999. She also co-leads the eQuality Project (with Jane Bailey), a partnership of researchers, educators, advocates, civil society groups, and policymakers who are interested in examining the impact of online commercial profiling on children’s identities and social relationships. Professor Steeves has appeared as an expert witness before a number of Parliamentary Committees regarding privacy legislation, and is a member of the Canadian Standards Association’s Technical Committee on Privacy. She has also worked with a number of government departments to develop privacy education curriculum and materials. Her Web-based educational game Sense and NonSense won the first annual Excellence in Race Relations Education award from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation in 1998 and her game Privacy Playground was awarded the Bronze Medal at the 2006 Summit Creative Awards Competition, an international competition involving thousands of entries from 26 countries.