Ph.D. Student, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego

B.A. Anthropology. University of Southern California. May 2005.
Thesis: Rhythm Emotion: An Ethnographic Study of Online Gundam Wing Slash Fans

B.A. Psychology. University of Southern California. May 2005.
Honors thesis: The Relationship Between Maltreatment, Sympathetic Arousal, and Autonomic Dissociation

I became interested in fan communities during my undergraduate education. I was particularly interested in how online fans formed communities, communicated with each other, and how their interpretations and participation in the community were influenced by their peers. I began ethnographic research on this topic under the guidance of Mimi Ito and continued fieldwork with the online anime fan communities as a member of the Digital Youth (http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/) research project.

Noticing that many of the anime fans also enjoyed playing role-playing games (RPGs) and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), I expanded my fieldwork to include gaming communities. In particular, I did in-depth fieldwork with a linkshell in Final Fantasy XI for over a year. My main interests in the gaming communities are the organization, maintenance, and dissolution of linkshells (guilds); how status and reputation are built and distributed; and how the gaming communities operate as communities of practice.

I continue to be interested in online peer-based communities such as fandoms and MMOG communities.