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Education

Research Interests

Online social networking, cyberanthropology, virtual ethnography, computer-mediated communication, evolution of media, "digital natives," neotribalism, subcultural theory, youth subcultures, global trance music and culture, intentional communities, the green movement, participatory media, net neutrality, identity performance, semiotics, discursive analysis, phenomenology, poetics, science fiction, New Age folklores.

Research Experience

  • June 2008-Present - Research Assistant, Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet and Society
    Mentor: danah boyd
    Project: Digital Natives
    Responsibilities: Conduct an extensive review of interdisciplinary literature pertaining to the subject of deliberate self-harm and the internet, including popular discourses, quantitative and qualitative studies, legal and grassroots initiatives.
  • Fall 2006 - Ethnographer, Wesleyan University
    Mentor: Michael Roy
    Project: Ethnoproject on student study spaces
    Responsibilities: Assemble and conduct interviews with student focus groups; multimodal inquiry into desired future study spaces on campus.

Teaching Experience

  • Fall 2007 - Teaching Assistant, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
    Assisted Professor Gina Ulysse for Anthropology 201: Contemporary Anthropological Theory
  • Fall 2006 - Course Assistant, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
    Assisted Mike Roy for his Continuing Education course on social media, including demonstrations of social networking, blogging, and Second Life.
  • Summer 2005 - One-on-One Aide, Special Education, New Hartford BOCES, NY
    One-on-one assistant to an 18-year old mentally retarded girl enrolled in the BOCES summer school program.
  • Spring 2005 - Teaching Assistant, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
    Assisted Professor Henry Danso for Psychology 105: Foundations of Contemporary Psychology
  • 1998-2002 - English Language Tutor, Utica Refugee Center, Utica, NY <
    Tutored local immigrants in English one afternoon a week.

(Un)Publications

  • In preparation. "Weaving the underground web: Neotribalism and psytrance on Tribe.net," in Graham St. John (ed.), Psytrance: Local Scenes and Global Culture.
  • May 2008. "The Virtual Campfire: An Ethnography of Online Social Networking," Master's thesis, published online at http://www.thevirtualcampfire.org.

Talks

  • April 24, 2008. New Media& the Internet Panel, Wesleyan University.
    Speakers: Jenny Ryan and Sam Han.

Web-Related Experience

  • Jan 2008-June 2008 - Blogger, iggli.com
    Regular blogger for an online youth community about music and social networking trends.
  • June 2006-Dec 2007 - Website Reviewer, EONs.com
    Reviewing websites for a startup online community geared toward tthe baby boomer generation
  • Sep 2005-June 2006 - Webtech, Social Psychology Network
    Daily site maintenance, data accumulation, and various web-based tasks.
  • June 2004-June 2007 - WebTech, Wesleyan University
    Training and experience working for professors: Website design, HTML, CSS, Photoshop, MS Office, Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator.

Miscellaneous Skills and Experiences

  • WebTech training at Wesleyan University: Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, Final Cut Pro.
  • Proficient with SPSS.
  • TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate awarded July 2008 from ITTO (International Teacher Training Organization).
  • Fluency in Danish, conversational in Spanish, literate in French, familiarity with Swahili.

Organizations

  • Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR)
  • Moving Anthropology Students Network (MASN)