Draft:Dana Cramer

Dana Cramer is a Canadian leader in digital policy and Internet governance.

Early life and education

Cramer is from Calgary, Alberta.

Cramer completed her MA Communication and Media Studies, BA (Hons, First Class) Communication and Media Studies, Certificate in University Teaching and Learning, and Certificate in Sustainability Studies at the University of Calgary. In 2020, Dana Cramer became the youngest-ever winner--at the time--of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Prize for Excellence in Policy Research in the master's category. The article stemmed from her undergraduate Honours thesis focusing on pubic libraries as anchor points in provincial broadband development. Her master's thesis focused on the political economy and geopolitics of China's submission for a New Internet Protocol in 2019/2020. A piece stemming from this was presented in Washington, D.C. at the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC). Cramer revised the piece and later presented it at ICANN's San Juan, Puerto Rico meeting in March 2024 as part of her participation in the NextGen@ICANN program.

Cramer moved to Toronto, Ontario to pursue a PhD in the Communication and Culture program jointly offered by Toronto Metropolitan University and York University. Her PhD focuses on researching the intersection of Internet governance and broadband.

Career

In 2023, Dana Cramer became the President of the Youth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Canada, a youth not-for-profit focused on raising young Canadians' voices and presence in Internet governance spaces, both at the national and international levels. Dana Cramer resurrected the Youth IGF Canada after the organization had been dormant from 2020-2023, following its inception in late-2018. Dana Cramer is the fifth Canadian to be inaugurated as a Youth Ambassador with the Internet Society, a highly competitive program identifying the top young Internet leaders in the world and increasing their professional networks and skillsets as Internet leaders. Dana Cramer also sits on the All-Hands Committee of the Canadian Internet Governance Forum (CIGF).

In 2024, Dana Cramer became a CIGI Digital Policy Hub Fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). CIGI's Digital Policy Hub was created in 2023 to support interdisciplinary, emerging leaders as they studied topics on digital policy.

Dana Cramer held a fellowship (ARIN52) with the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and is a NextGen@ICANN Participant with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers (ICANN).

Dana Cramer has published in the areas of municipal broadband infrastructure, provincial broadband policy opportunities, emerging digital policies in the face of platform algorithms, and teaching and learning topics.

University engagement and advocacy

Dana Cramer led the Canadian Communication Association's (CCA) Graduate Student Caucus from 2022-2024. In her tenure, she developed the CCA Graduate Caucus Research Skills Building Webinar Series. The Webinar Series was meant to connect Canadian graduate students who studied communications, and enhance their research and professional skillset. This series was a byproduct of a similar student initiative Dana Cramer created at the University of Calgary's Department of Communication, Media and Film from 2020-2021 during her master's degree. Dana Cramer's student engagement advocacy was a direct output over her concern for what she felt were plateaued research skills among her peers, limited digital literacy in research software programs within the Canadian communication studies field, and a general sense of loneliness amongst graduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath with work-from-home culture.

The Webinar Series at both the University of Calgary and the CCA held a social element in additional to learning outcomes, thereby networking students and building community. Much of these workshops' style and structure were inspired by the University of Calgary's Graduate College, which Dana Cramer was a College Scholar in during her master's degree at the institution.