[iDC] Introduction

[Jonathan Bach]

Dear Colleagues,

To join the New School chorus I should introduce myself as well, as I've
been lurking far too long on this list (sorry Trebor!). My name is Jonathan
Bach, and I teach in the Graduate Program in International Affairs here at
the New School, and am also chairing the start of an undergraduate program
in global studies. My main work in the field of the list's interest was a
little while back, working with the sociologist David Stark at Columbia on
the co-evolution of interactive technology and organizations, specifically
in NGOs. (See our articles ³Link, Search, Interact: the Co-Evolution of NGOs
and Interactive Technology² in _Theory, Culture & Society_, vol. 21, no. 3,
2004, and ³Innovative Ambiguities: NGOs¹ use of Interactive Technology in
Eastern Europe² in _Studies in Comparative and International Development_,
vol. 37, no. 2, summer 2002.) I have also written a piece on the
(re-)appearance of former East Germany in the World Wide Web. Some of my
current work continues to concern the legacies of socialism in (East)
Germany and in China, where I am working on a piece on the how old villages
now located deep inside the city produce and efface the "urban" in Shenzhen.
Also perhaps of interest to the list I recently wrote a small essay on
paranoia, secrecy, and power, focusing on Elias Canetti and technologies of
governance, which will come out soon in _Cultural Politics_.

I am very happy to see this conference happen here at the New School, and
look forward to the continued discussions.

Best,
Jonathan


-- 

Jonathan Bach
Associate Professor
Graduate Program in International Affairs
The New School
66 W.12th St., 6th floor
New York, NY 10011 USA
Phone: (212) 206-3524 x2431
Fax: (212) 924-1292
Email: bachj at newschool.edu