About Me
I’m a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan School of Information. I study the building of bridges, wikis in organizations, and interventions with newly hired employees in order to understand how distributed work gets done and how social computing technologies are engaged in that work. My research focuses on studying socio-technical systems using grounded theory and actor-network theory methods with an eye towards improving our theories of distributed work and social computing. While I am interested in the design implications my findings may have for socio-technical systems, such implications are not my primary focus. I aim to contribute new ways of thinking about distributed work and the roles of social computing in its accomplishment.
I’m currently working on my dissertation, tentatively titled Building Bridges: A study of agency, innovation, and collaboration in a bridge construction. My dissertation research focuses tells the story of how various professionals worked together to build a bridge that contains a novel building material.
This year, I’m also the Graduate Student Mentor (GSM) for other GSIs teaching in the Master’s curriculum. When I’m not working on my dissertation or talking to GSIs, I’m probably cooking, trying to fix my Mac, or hanging out in the cave (our wonderful basement with lots of video games, movies, HD, etc.).
I earned my undergrad degree at the University of Chicago, and I stay involved as an Alumni Schools Committee co-chair. My time in Hyde Park was wonderful, and I miss the City of Chicago very much. My few years there renewed my interests in baseball and live music. I also loved being able to watch independent films almost any time of day (in a comfy theatre) and visiting my favorite art museum for free.
Ann Arbor has been my home for a few years now, and it’s starting to grow on me. That said, I admit I often describe A2 as overrated. Ann Arbor’s indy theatres have incredibly uncomfortable seating, but their live music venues are quite good - e.g. The Ark, Michigan Theatre. I guess I’m willing to sit in uncomfortable seats for great music like Madeleine Peyroux but not for good movies like The Squid and the Whale.
You can find out more about me by seeing how I use social software applications (see “me on the web” in the sidebar). I’m also a frequent contributor to the SI Wiki and occasionally Arbor Wiki.
Trackback URL