Research Hub Staff
Directors
David Theo Goldberg
David Theo Goldberg, Ph.D., is the Director of the University of California Humanities Research Institute, the University of California system-wide research facility for the human sciences and theoretical research in the arts. He also holds faculty appointments as Professor of Comparative Literature and Criminology, Law and Society at UC Irvine, and is a Fellow of the UCI Critical Theory Institute. Professor Goldberg's work ranges over issues of political theory, race and racism, ethics, law and society, critical theory, cultural studies and, increasingly, digital humanities.
Mimi Ito
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist, studying youth new media practices in the US and Japan. She oversees research activities of the Digital Media and Learning Hub and is developing a research area focused on interest-driven learning. She is a Professor in Residence at the UC Humanities Research Institute, and has appointments at the Department of Informatics and the Department of Anthropology, and is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at UC Irvine. http://www.itofisher.com/mito
Research Staff
Claudia Caro Sullivan
Claudia Caro Sullivan is a developmental psychologist and educator specializing in creating innovative multidisciplinary initiatives for children, teachers, and parents. She holds an Ed.M in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from University of California, Irvine. As Assistant Director, Claudia is in charge of development, execution, and evaluation of project activities and events for the Digital Media & Learning Research Hub.
Heather A. Horst
Heather is a sociocultural anthropologist who studies the relationship between place, space and new media. Her previous ethnographic work, based in Jamaica and the United States, focused upon material culture and transnational migration, mobile communication and the developing world and the role of digital media in shaping domestic space. She is a chief editor for the Material World Blog and an Associate Project Scientist for the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub at the University of California Humanities Research Institute.
Amanda Wortman
Amanda joins the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub as the Data Manager. Building on her experiences as a statistician at the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (UC Irvine) and a program coordinator at a local education nonprofit, Amanda serves as the data and research coordinator for the Hub¹s research projects. She holds a Masters degree in Demographic and Social Analysis from UC Irvine.
Kiley Larson
Kiley joins the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Broadly, her research examines the ways in which people attach meanings to the use of technologies and how those meanings are connected to their socio-historical contexts. Most recently, Kiley has studied the communicative practices of young adults in a university setting as they negotiated the use of new technologies in forming and maintaining romantic and/or sexual relationships. She has also examined how rural Kansans developed understandings of internet use in their everyday lives and how those understandings related to larger (sub)urban/rural inequalities in internet-based technology use.
Alexandra Moffett-Bateau
Alexandra is a doctoral student in the Political Science department at the University of Chicago. Originally from Detroit, MI, she received her B.A. in Political Science and African-American studies from the University of Michigan. She joins the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub as Nonresident Student Fellow for the Learning Ecologies, Networks and Pathways research project. Currently, her research interests more broadly are around race and gender in American politics, and more specifically, she is interested in mass behavior and public opinion as shaped by intersectional identities. Her dissertation conducts a case study of a public housing development in the City of Chicago. Her study examines how public housing policy shapes the political identity formation of residents.
Rafael Santana
Rafael is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of Chicago. He joins the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub as Nonresident Student Fellow for the Learning Ecologies, Networks and Pathways research project. Prior to conducting research for his dissertation, Rafael worked at the Data Research and Development Center at NORC/University of Chicago, where he studied the ecological, school-level effects of race and ethnicity on the affective schooling outcomes of Latino high school students across the US. His dissertation conducts a case study of Mexican immigrants residing in the Chicago area, and examines the conditions and factors that contribute to the emergence, survival, and disbandment of immigrant hometown associations.
Christo Sims
Christo is a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley's School of Information and a nonresident fellow for the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub at the University of California Humanities Research Institute. He studies the relationship between youth cultures, digital media practices, and the production of social inequalities. He’s currently working on his dissertation, an ethnography centered on the students who attend an innovative New York City public middle school that promotes digital media production and game-like learning. Previously, he was a graduate researcher for the Digital Youth Project, a three-year ethnographic study of how U.S. youth use new media in their everyday lives.
Yong Ming Kow
Yong Ming Kow is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. He is examining learning and peer production ecology of the real-time strategy (RTS) game Starcraft II (2010). He had previously examined work practices of online communities developing end-user modifications for the online game World of Warcraft (2005). Yong Ming is generally interested in media production cultures of online communities of global localities. http://kowym.com
Chin-Hsi Lin
Chin-Hsi Lin is a Ph.D. candidate in Language, Literacy, and Technology in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine. He joins the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub as Graduate Student Researcher assisting with the DML Conference, Research Associates Summer Institute, symposia and other events. His research interests include language learning through social media and emerging technologies, and his dissertation includes a mixed-methods case study of a language learning social network site.
Matt Raffalow
Matt is in the Sociology Ph.D. program at University of California, Irvine. He joins the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub as a researcher for the Connected Learning Research Network. Before his work at Irvine he completed a Master’s in education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Matt’s research interests are broadly related to education, youth, technology/new media and social inequality. http://mrafalow.wordpress.com/
Communication, Advocacy, and Outreach
Jeff Brazil
Jeff is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, writer, and editor with expertise in digital media and strategic communications. A former enterprise writer and editor for the Los Angeles Times, he directs website creation, media production, editorial content, and communications strategy for the Digital Media & Learning Research Hub at the University of California Humanities Research Institute. He is editor and curator of DMLcentral.net and Spigot.org; oversees programming and content for ConnectedLearning.tv; and supervises social media and community engagement programs.
Jon Barilone
Jon is a social media specialist with a professional background in digital marketing, content writing/editing, and public relations. As Community Manager, he leverages social media to initiate and maintain dialogue about the Digital Media & Learning Research Hub and its mission. Jon holds a Bachelor's degree in Literature/English from Claremont McKenna College.
Whitney Burke
Whitney serves as the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub’s editorial and communications assistant. Having joined the hub with a background in mainstream media, she assists the staff with all communication efforts including the editorial and content production process for both digital and print publications. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in print and digital journalism from the University of Southern California and a web development and design certification from California State University Dominguez Hills. To contact Whitney, email wburke@hri.uci.edu.
Marc Princely Bernaldez Bacarro
Marc Princely Bernaldez Bacarro is a second year Biological Sciences major at UC Irvine. Marc's interests are imprinted with his creative and reflective spirit, including video and audio editing, and playing Amy (his guitar) as well as the piano. He joined the DML Research Hub as a student media lab assistant in December 2010.
Kimberly Lim
Kimberly Lim is a second year at UC Irvine and is majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Public Health Policy. She works as a student media lab assistant at the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.
Technology Team
Alexander Halavais
Alex is an associate professor of interactive communication at Quinnipiac University and researches the effect of networked individualism on institutional and social change. As technical director, he helps to create collaborative infrastructure, research scaffolding, and common ground. He blogs at a thaumaturgical compendium, and infrequently tweets @halavais.
Research Operations
Mariko Oda
Mariko Oda is an administrative professional with many years of experience in corporate and educational entities. She assists Mimi Ito and her digital media and learning team on administrative matters and project management.
Courtney Santos
Courtney Santos, M.F.A., assists the Hub team with a variety of administrative concerns, including event coordination (i.e., the Digital Media and Learning Conference and Connected Learning Research Network meetings) and relations with Working Groups and Workshops awardees.
UC Humanities Research Institute Operations
Jennifer Langdon
Jennifer E. Langdon, Ph.D., has over a decade of experience in marketing communications, event planning and nonprofit management as well as significant experience in academic research and higher education administration. Contact Jennifer for development efforts, grant management, and external relations at UCHRI and the UC Humanities Network.
Arielle Read
Arielle has been manager of the University of California Humanities Research Institute since November 2008. Before moving to UCHRI, she served for 14 years as the graduate program administrator for the MFA Programs in Writing and the Ph.D. Program in Comparative Literature at UC Irvine.
Sheila Earls
Sheila serves as a communications and project coordinator for the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI). Using her background in higher education communications, she assists with strategic communication planning and implementation for UCHRI and the UC Humanities Network. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of California, Irvine.
Consultants
Jason Schultz
Jason advises on the legal dimensions of Digital Media and Learning Research Hub online sites, data sharing and intellectual property, and is conducting research on the policy implications of data sharing in the Digital Media and Learning initiative. He is Director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley.