[iDC] Introduction: The Internet as Playground and Factory

[Brittany Chozinski]

Hello -

Trebor asked me to send out a brief introduction.  I apologize for being a little late to the game, but, ironically enough for someone who works on digital media, I'm currently internet-less at home.  Right now I'm finishing up my PhD in sociology at The New School for Social Research, where I also completely my MA in sociology.  I also work as a multimedia specialist for a not-for-profit adoption agency in NYC, a position that allows me to experience and explore the ways in which organizations utilize new media, particularly social media, in client engagement.  And on top of all that, I am an adjunct professor of sociology at Marymount Manhattan College and am working as a research assistant for Dr. Jaeho Kang in his work on propaganda, communications studies and the Frankfurt school.  My academic work revolves around media and subjectivity, with particular interest in the digital screen, alterity and mimesis, and the body and subject in highly mediated digital environments.  Though labor has not been a key focus of my work, it is a reoccurring theme, whether this be intentional or not.  I have done previous work exploring televisual labor and how this changes through battles of convergence with the internet and mobile digital media.  I have a strong background in cinema studies and the Frankfurt school and seek to apply a critical theoretical analysis to science and technology studies within sociology.  Of particular interest to me in this conference is the question, How does this invisible interaction labor affect our bodies? What were key steps in the history of interaction design that managed to mobilize and structure the social participation of bodies and psyches in order to capture value?  Trebor has asked me to work on organizing a student panel.  I hope to produce a mixed gender panel of 3 to 4 students, both graduate and undergraduate.  If you feel like you have any students who would be interested in working with me on this endeavor, please, by all means, put them in touch with me.  I look forward to meeting and working with you all.

Brittany Chozinski
The New School for Social Research
chozib08 at newschool.edu
(917) 628-3677