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I am a PhD candidate in Stanford's Department of Communication, advised by Professor Fred Turner. My dissertation work examines the technological dreams that are part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's "XO" laptop, particularly the hopes of OLPC developers and realities of students, teachers, and parents in the deployment of 9000 laptops in Paraguay.

In collaboration with Nokia Research Center Palo Alto, I have also explored the socioeconomic divides in family practices and parent attitudes around communication and media technologies including computers, video games, mobile phones, and video conferencing in the United States.

I earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from UC Berkeley in spring 2004 and a Master's degree in information science from UC Berkeley in spring 2006, and have completed the requirements for a PhD minor in anthropology at Stanford.

I began my research career in human-computer interaction as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, where I became fascinated with the deeper social questions concerning technology that I encountered while working on ambient display research with Professors Jennifer Mankoff and Anind Dey (now at CMU). For my master's degree, I worked with Professor Nancy Van House and Yahoo! Research exploring the social meanings of new photographic technologies, particularly cameraphones and online photo-sharing. Other past research projects include technology and the city (with Intel Research), methods of technology evaluation (at the University of Washington), and the implications of technology in economic development discourse. I am also interested in other topics in science and technology studies, new media, gender studies, human-computer interaction, and design.

My research is at the crossroads of science and technology studies, anthropology, and human-computer interaction. I draw on a diverse skill-set in my research, from an understanding of computer science systems and theory to a sociological perspective on everyday life. My recent investigations particularly utilize ethnographic research methods, bringing a deep qualitative and critical perspective to human-computer interaction debates about the ways in which we make sense of the technologies in our everyday lives.

Current projects:
The Social Meanings of OLPC
  • Constructionism, hacker values, and technological utopianism
  • Use of XOs in and out of the classroom
  • Social and learning impacts of OLPC
  • OLPC's legacy in development discourses
    Technology and Youth
  • college iPhone practices, multitasking, and techno-resistance
  • social class, family values, and technology
  • video-calling in the home
    Upcoming plans:
    11.2013 Fieldwork in Paraguay
    10.2013 4S in San Diego
    06.2013 Finish PhD
    05.2013 Public PhD defense
    05.2013 AERA in San Francisco
    05.2013 Stanford STS conference
    04.2013 Talk at BiD
    04.2013 Berkeley STS conference
    03.2013 DML in Chicago
    02.2013 CSCW in San Antonio
    02.2013 iConference in Ft. Worth
    01.2013 MSR SCS in New York
    Utah Quicksilver, Park City and Salt Lake City's best transportation service