He formerly directed a masters program in informatics at the University at Buffalo, and was Research Director for the New Media Research Lab at the University of Washington. He has also worked in marketing for a large financial services firm, designed simulations for NASA, a public school teacher in Japan, and in city government as a budget analyst and planner. Alex has published articles and book chapters on how social media relates to social change, as well as a book introducing the social role of search engines. He is vice president of the Association of Internet Researchers and serve as the Technical Director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub based at the University of California Humanities Research Institute.