I have been conducting research related to cross-border migration and humanitarian migrant-aid work in the US-Mexico borderlands since 2010. This page provides organized access to the results of that line of research (updated Nov. 2024).

Academic Publications

Sara Vannini, Ricardo Gomez, and Bryce Clayton Newell, “Drawing a Map in the Sand: Locating an Ethics of Care in the ICT-Related Migration Practices of Older Volunteers in the US Southwest.” In Proceedings of the 18th IFIP WG 9.4 International Conference (ICT4D 2024), Part II, edited by Wallace Chigona, Salah Kabanda, and Lisa F. Seymour, 205–220 (Cham: Springer) (2024) [PDF]

Farah Azhar, Sara Vannini, Bryce Clayton Newell, and Ricardo Gomez. 2021. “Navigating Borders/Navigating Networks: Migration, Technology and Social Capital.” In Research Handbook on International Migration and Digital Technology, edited by Marie McAuliffe, pp. 92–106. Edward Elgar Publishing. [PDF]

Newell, Bryce Clayton, Sara Vannini, and Ricardo Gomez. 2020. “The Information Practices and Politics of Migrant-Aid Work in the US-Mexico Borderlands.” The Information Society 36 (4): 199–213. [link, PDF]

Vannini, Sara, Ricardo Gomez, and Bryce Clayton Newell. 2020. “‘Mind the Five’: Guidelines for Data Privacy and Security in Humanitarian Work with Undocumented Migrants and Other Vulnerable Populations.” Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 71 (8): 927–938. [PDF; link]

Ricardo Gomez, Bryce Clayton Newell, and Sara Vannini. 2020. “Mind the Five Card Game: Participatory Games to Strengthen Information Practices and Privacy Protections of Migrants.” The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI) 4 (2): 116–122. [PDF]

Ricardo Gomez, Bryce Clayton Newell, and Sara Vannini. 2020. “Empathic Humanitarianism: Understanding the Motivations Behind Humanitarian Work with Migrants at the US-Mexico Border.” Journal on Migration and Human Security 8 (1): 1–13. [PDF; link]

Sara Vannini, Ricardo Gomez, and Bryce Clayton Newell, “Documenting the Undocumented: Privacy and Security Guidelines for Humanitarian Work with Irregular Migrants.” In Proceedings of iConference 2019 (Information in Contemporary Society, edited by Natalie Greene Taylor, Caitlin Christian-Lamb, Michelle H. Martin, and Bonnie Nardi, 236–244 (Springer: Lecture Notes in Computer Science) (2019). [PDF]

Sara Vannini, Ricardo Gomez, and Bryce Clayton Newell, “Privacy and Security Guidelines for Humanitarian Work with Irregular Migrants.” In Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD X), Article No. 24 (2019). [PDF; link]

Newell, Bryce Clayton, Sara Vannini, Ricardo Gomez, and David Nemer, “Exacerbating the Vulnerabilities of Undocumented Migrants: The Risks Involved in the Humanitarian Information Activities of Migrant-Aid Organizations.” In Proceedings of iConference 2018 (2018). [PDF]

Newell, Bryce Clayton, Ricardo Gomez, and Verónica E. Guajardo. 2017. “Sensors, Cameras, and the New ‘Normal’ in Clandestine Migration: How Undocumented Migrants Experience Surveillance at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” Surveillance & Society 15 (1): 21–41. [link (open access)]

Newell, Bryce Clayton, Ricardo Gomez, and Verónica E. Guajardo. 2016. “Information Seeking, Technology Use, and Vulnerability among Migrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” The Information Society 32 (3): 176–191. [link (open access)]

Newell, Bryce C., and Ricardo Gomez, “Informal Networks, Phones and Facebook: Information Seeking and Technology Use by Undocumented Migrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” In Proceedings of iConference 2015 (2015). [PDF]

Katya Yefimova, Moriah Neils, Bryce Clayton Newell, and Ricardo Gomez, “Fotohistorias: Participatory Photography as a Methodology to Elicit the Life Experiences of Migrants.” In Proceedings of the 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), 3672–3681 (2015). [PDF]

Documentary Film

The Tinaja Trail

Director, Producer, Editor, and Cinematographer. Feature-length documentary film about humanitarian and artistic response to migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Watch the trailer:

Watch the full film:


The Tinaja Trail (film festival version).