My dissertation research focuses on the phenomenon of identity theft, examining how people and institutions respond to the threats it presents and the ways it affects the lives of individual victims. I ask how technologies and practices of personal information security are transforming and what they reveal about conceptions of privacy and personhood. More broadly, I am curious about media and technological change, particularly in regard to the intertwinement of digital information systems and economic financialization.

I have related interests concerning media literacy and technological innovation that grow out of work I did in UC Berkeley’s folklore program where I earned an M.A. and wrote a thesis on the influence of sound recording technology on mid-twentieth century notions of cultural authenticity as applied to music.

I am also an associate editor for The Platypus, the blog of the Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing.