A co-founder of Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (publiclab.org), Shannon is based in New Orleans as President of the organization. Public Lab is a recipient of an Honorable Mention in the 2013 Buckminster Fuller Institute Challenge, a runner-up for the Ars Electronica Digital Communities prize and a two time Knight Foundation, Knight New Challenge winner.

With a background in community organizing, environmental education and anthropology, Shannon held positions with Louisiana State University as a Community Researcher and Ethnographer on a study about the social impacts of the BP oil spill in Louisiana and was Oil Spill Response Director at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, conducting the first on-the-ground health and economic impact study in Louisiana post-spill. 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 fourteen years. She is a 2013 Environmental Leadership Program Fellow and current Senior Fellow, a 2012 Loyola University Institute for Environmental Communications Fellow, on the advisory board of Global Community Monitor, a current member of the Public Participation in Scientific Research web and communications steering committee, a member of the Louisiana Bar Association technology committee and a consultant for the New Orleans Food and Farm Network.