A founder of Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science, Shannon is based in New Orleans as President of the organization. With a background in community organizing, prior to working with Public Lab, Shannon held a position with the Anthropology and Geography Department at Louisiana State University as a Community Researcher and Ethnographer on a study about the social impacts of the BP oil spill in coastal Louisiana communities.

She was also the Oil Spill Response Director at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, conducting projects such as the first on-the-ground health and economic impact surveying in Louisiana post-spill and organizing community crisis mapping of the disaster. Shannon is specifically interested in infusing traditional organizing methods of the environmental sector with new media technologies and tools. Shannon has an MS in Anthropology and Nonprofit Management and has worked with nonprofits for over thirteen years.