Kids, Culture, and New Media
It’s true, I wrote this book. Yeah, I don’t quite believe it either.
I studied sociology from 1999-2007 at Harvard University, ultimately earning an A.M. and a Ph.D. in the subject. Along the way I served as a research assistant, a teaching fellow (head teaching fellow, thank you very much), a non-resident and resident tutor (senior resident tutor, thank you very much), and a senior thesis advisor. After I defended my dissertation in January 2007, I joined the Harvard faculty for a semester, teaching two courses in sociology. I currently teach sociology at Rasmussen College, and in fall 2012 I’m teaching in the Media and Cultural Studies program at Macalester College. (See below.)
My peer-reviewed research publications in sociology include the book Reconstructing the University (with David John Frank, Stanford University Press, 2006) and papers in Sociology of Education (also with David John Frank) and Poetics (with Jason Kaufman). When I had an active research agenda I attended multiple conferences, including the Harvard-Oxford-Stockholm Graduate Student Conference at the University of Oxford and the annual conference of the International Toy Research Association (seriously) at the University of London.
In fall 2012, I taught a new undergraduate course called “New Media and the Written Word” at Macalester College. In spring 2013, I’ll be teaching another new course: “Kids, Culture, and New Media.” You can follow my students’ weekly responses on our class Tumblr.
From the syllabus, here’s the course description:
The rapidly increasing pervasiveness of online digital media has opened a new chapter in the long-running debate about the role of media in children’s lives. What does it mean, for children and for society, that kids can now be creators as well as consumers? How is the Internet changing ideas about the nature of childhood? This course examines topics related to children and new media in a multidisciplinary social-historical context, with an emphasis on linking debates on children and new media to larger issues regarding technology and society. Through readings, discussions, and activities, students will learn to think critically about kids’ increasingly connected lives.