Mizuko Ito

Mizuko Ito

Ito at her home desk
Born (1968-07-22) July 22, 1968
Kyōto, Japan
Residence Southern California
Nationality Japanese
Education Ph.D.
Alma mater Harvard University (undergraduate)
Stanford University (graduate)
Occupation anthropologist
Spouse(s) Scott Fisher
Children 2
Relatives Joi Ito (brother)

Mizuko Itō or Mizuko Ito a.k.a. Mimi Ito (伊藤瑞子 Itō Mizuko, born 22 July 1968, in Kyōto, Japan) is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is a Professor in Residence at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Her main professional interest is young people's use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities.

Early life

Mizuko Ito grew up between the United States and Japan. In Japan, she attended Nishimachi International School and the American School in Japan. She did her undergraduate work at Harvard University, graduating in 1990 with a degree in East Asian studies: her thesis was "Zen and Tea Ritual: A Comparative Analysis."[1]

Ito did her graduate work at Stanford University. In 1991, she received a Masters of Arts degree in anthropology; her thesis was "The Holistic Alternative: A Symbolic Analysis of an Emergent Culture." In 1998, she received a Ph.D. from the Department of Education for her dissertation: "Interactive Media for Play: Kids, Computer Games and the Productions of Everyday Life." In 2003, she received a Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology for her dissertation: "Engineering Play: Children’s Software and the Productions of Everyday Life."[2]

Ito lives in Southern California with her husband, Scott Fisher, a virtual reality researcher, and their two children. She keeps a Bento Moblog, a visual record of the school lunches she prepares for her kids. Ito's brother is Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab. With her brother, she hosts Chanpon.org.[3]

Career

Research interest

Ito's main professional interest are connected learning and young people's use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. With Misa Matsuda and Daisuke Okabe, Ito edited Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life (MIT Press, 2005).[4] She also investigated otaku fan culture with collaborators Daisuke Okabe and Izumi Tsuji, which resulted in the book Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World.[5]

Titles and grants

Ito is currently the Research Director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub, and a Professor in Residence at University of California, Irvine's Department of Anthropology, Department of Education, Department of Informatics, and School of Education. She is also the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning.

In 2006, Ito received a MacArthur Foundation grant to "observe children's interactions with digital media to get a sense of how they're really using the technology."[6] This work led to creation of the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub (housed in the University of California Humanities Research Institute) and the publication of two books: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out and Engineering Play: A Cultural History of Children's Software.

Ito is co-founder of Connected Camps, a benefit corporation that provides online learning programs in coding and the digital arts.

Bibliography

In January 2013, Ito and her collaborators, who include Kris Gutierrez, Sonia Livingstone, Bill Penuel, Jean Rhodes, Katie Salen, Juliet Schor, Julian Sefton-Green, and S. Craig Watkins, released Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design, a synthesis report of the Connected Learning Research Network.

Mizuko Ito wrote or contributed to several books:[7]

See also

References

External links

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