Resume/CV

Education

Doctoral Research Student, Political Science, University of Iceland – CURRENT

Specializing in the field of Cyber-Politics, Democracy and Political Theory my research is called: “The End of Democracy? – The Impact of Social Media on Nordic Democracy” It develops methodology to systematically evaluate metrics of the influence of Very Large Online Platforms/Search Engines on society and citizens with specific focus on current and future effects on Democracy.

This research is an interdisciplinary project which I will be leading over the next few years.

Research fellow at The Alexander von Humboldt Institute of Internet and Society 2024-2025.
PhD project selected for presentation at the Reset Social Media 2024 Innovation Workshop at Harvard‘s Berkman Center (Reset Social Media initiative).
Member of GIGANET, The Global Internet Governance Academic Network
Specialized in asymmetrical warfare, how technology is used to attack democracies.

MA International Affairs, University of Iceland & University of Copenhagen

Specialization: Politics of the Internet, New Modes of Democracy and Civic Engagement. Special interest in construction of Cyber realities, propaganda, and political campaigns. Electives in marketing, macroeconomics and human-computer interaction. 65 ECTS as Nordplus student at the University of Copenhagen. High first marks at both Universities.

2019 MA Dissertation: Cyberthreats to Democracy, Constructed Dangers to Democratic Functions http://hdl.handle.net/1946/32785

MA Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen

I joined KUA, Hum’s Cognition and Communication program with Human-Computer Interaction as my specialty. The two-year program was set up as one year of courses and a second year of practical research. I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer 3 months into the program and spent the next years fighting for my life, so I did not complete any exams. However, I did the readings and work from my sick-bed and include this academic detour here because of its benefits.

BA Political Science, University of Iceland

2007 BA Dissertation: Currency Restrictions and Political Effects 1930-60. Examination of the effects of currency restrictions and rationing on political culture and government institutions. The thesis demonstrated the effects of economic policy on institutions and public life, including the normalization of corruption and creation of monopolies like Samvinnuhreyfingin (farmers co-op).

Associates Degree, Garðabær College

Associates degree in Media and Communication studies, supplemented with history, economy and debating.

Employment

Gaps in employment have been for education or health reasons. I overcame stage IV cancer against all odds which has left me disabled from regular office work, but I am still equally fit to use my mind and computer, so I live my life as normally as possible while working around my physical limitations.

Columnist

Sporadic columnist for several publications over the past 30 years including Kjarninn.is and PC World Iceland. Specialization matters of the Internet. See my LinkedIn Profile and blogs here on thorlaug.is for interviews and more media content I’ve written/produced throughout the years.

2014 -2018 Board of Directors, Faxaflóahafnir/Faxaflói Harbors.

Member of the board of the Faxaflói Port Authority (capitol region incl. Reykjavík harbor).

2017-2018 Reykjavik City School and Education Board

Representing the Pirate Party. While on the board I managed a working committee on the future of day-care for the youngest citizens which formulated policy that delivered much-needed improvements to the system.

2014 – 2017 Reykjavik City Human rights council

Representative for the Pirate party. The council works on promoting human rights and improving quality of life for Reykjavik’s citizens and being a country-wide leader on the subject.

2013-2018 Pirate Party Webmastry

online communication, project management, webmastry, social media, campaigning. Various elected positions and volunteer work.

2013 – Open data

Appointed by Minister of Finance to a working committee on eGovernment and Open Data for the Ministry of Finance. First project of its kind by the Icelandic government and has served as a template for following projects in transparent governance.

2008 – 2009 Communication specialist, Prime Minister‘s Office

Communication specialist, advisor and strategist in the Crisis communication team at the Prime Minister‘s Office in Iceland. Temporary position due to extreme circumstances; the collapse of the Icelandic financial system and subsequently the government.

My key focus was online communication, new-media communication, and information services to the public through various channels, mostly digital. My teams set up information websites regarding the crisis at island.is (PMO), for residents of Iceland, and iceland.org for the global audience (MoFA).

Projects and responsibilities included: Defining communication needs, strategic planning, setup of communication channels, coordination and implementation with the appropriate government agencies, predominantly the Press Officers at the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Defining problems and solutions, structuring information, project planning and execution. My team set up (temporary?) procedures for crisis communication within the Icelandic government specific to this situation, managed coordination with appropriate government agencies and executed a lot of projects directly.

Large-scale use of digital media in mass crisis communication had never been executed before within the Icelandic government so a lot of technical and practical groundwork needed to be set in place before it became apparent that there was little political action to communicate on. Like most of my countrymen I believe that critical failures in decisive political action let to my nation revolting outside of my workplace as we, the civil servants did our best to fulfil our roles inside. Following the Pots and

Pans Revolution January of ‘09 my work commenced under an interim government led by Jóhanna Sigurðurðardóttir, where amongst other things I maintained and published a real-time updated central log of all of the government’s responses and their progress. Elections were held 100 days later, and a new majority cabinet took seat. I left my role at the ministry when my husband’s job moved him to Copenhagen where I entered MA studies in University of Copenhagen.

2007-2008 Director of Online Business, 365 Miðlar ehf.

Director of Online Business at 365 Miðlar, Iceland‘s largest media company; Iceland‘s largest newspaper (Frettabladid), two television stations (Stod 2, SYN), multiple distribution of foreign network stations, six radio stations (Bylgjan, FM957, Xid and more) and running Visir.is Iceland’s largest news portal.

Strategic structuring and operations of the company’s online businesses, that may be categorized into three main areas:

Online media:, news portal, blog portal, direct e-mailing services, social websites and more, websites/products that created their own revenue.

Online presence: corporate presence, websites for TV and radio stations. These websites where mostly focused towards services to the public/customers and re-enforcing (online) branding.

Online business: Online sales and business development such as online sales of subscriptions, advertisements and other online or offline products that the company provided through various channels and types.

I oversaw the day-to-day operational management of the company’s web & online department, with staff of around 10 people. I represented the company in negotiations, headed coordination with various departments within the company, project management, strategic planning and implementation, logistics, budgeting and forecasting in addition to various operational tasks and projects. Our team won Vefverðlaunin in 2007 for Vísir’s new redesign, surpassing mbl.is in traffic.

2001-2007 Global Web and E-Commerce manager, Össur hf.

Össur is a leading global producer of prosthetics and orthopedic solutions. During my 6 years at Össur I led, managed and executed the company’s online strategy while the company grew from a staff of around 300 to 1250+ through internal growth and acquisitions. I worked predominantly at the Icelandic headquarters, while spending a significant part of the year working with at various Össur offices in USA and Europe.

My responsibilities included:

Strategy & planning for the company’s online presence and eCommerce according to the company’s overall strategy. Translating our agenda into manageable, profitable projects.

Project management. Day-to-day project management for the companies’ websites, software implementation & upgrades (f.x. Web 2.0). Integration of new companies & product lines, regionalization of sites w. shared information etc.

Editing, marketing & branding. Editorial strategy, management and creation of content, marketing and presentation of products and product information. Online corporate identity, including a massive project of total company re-branding, my responsibility being digital and web marketing.

Marketing intelligence & strategy including online ads, sponsorships, blogs etc.

Operations and logistics. Forecasting, budgeting and managing the logistics and financials of running the necessary systems and services for a global company. Communication w. vendors, setup of internal quality, implementation of services and processes, etc.

Under my direction Ossur online services were nominated to several awards and won both the Icelandic Vefverðlaun web awards and Investor Relations Nordic’s award for outstanding Investor Relations, winning the Icelandic category a couple of times and the Nordic category once.

2007 – 2009 Chairman SVEF, Samtök Vefiðnaðarins, Icelandic Web-Industry Org.

I headed the Icelandic web-industry two years in a row where we led pioneering work both domestically and globally working out and exporting solutions of immense value both in monetary terms and in the effect it had on creating good, usable Internet.

2003 – 2005 University of Iceland, Continued Education Program

I co-designed, managed and taught “Practical Web-management” (Hagnýt vefsstjórn) with Sigrun Gudjonsdottir, then CEO of Tæknival. The courses taught “practical web management” from idea to a project plan, execution, and day-to-day management, at a time when such things were still not available as part of further education. We established programs for creditable knowledge in the field of Digital Communication.

1999-2001 General Manager, Account manager, Innn hf Digital Media

1997-1998 Webmaster and Database Manager for Miðlun/Yellow Pages

1996 -1997 University of Iceland, Faculty of Social Science, Webmaster

I was the first webmaster of the Faculty of Social Science, pioneering work in education and communication.

I designed and coded my first website in 1995.

Additional Qualifications

Language skills and copywriting

I have lived in the US and Denmark, speak English and Danish fluently and have worked in an international, multi-lingual corporate and academic environment.

I claim to write good copy in English and better in Icelandic. I write decent copy in Danish. I speak three languages fluently and ‘Nordic’ decently. I eavesdrop in German.

Communication and rhetoric

I debated successfully in college, which led me to learn how to judge rhetoric, which then led me to judge contests and train college debate teams.

I’ve been involved in publishing and mass-communication in various forms of media since I was a kid. I am a long-time student of rhetoric, logical fallacies, and misinformation, both online and off.

I used to be a gymnast and recreational hip-hop dancer. Nowadays I do yoga instead.