silvia lindtner

Silvia M. Lindtner

I am a techno-cultural ethnographer researching, writing, and teaching on the production and use of information technology, with a particular focus on DIY maker and open hardware communities and IT development in China. My research explores themes of creativity and open innovation, digital media as sites of expression of selfhood and collectivity, and global processes of work and labor.

Over the last six years, I have conducted in-depth ethnographic research in the areas of 1) digital media practices among youths and young IT professionals in China’s international cities and 2) technological, economic and cultural productions coming out of China’s nascent DIY and open source scene, comprised of geeks, bloggers, software and hardware engineers, electronic and new media artists, and tech entrepreneurs. I have also worked on user-centered research and design of digital media sharing systems and networked publics.

My work is located at the intersection of digital media and communication studies, information studies, science and technology studies, cultural anthropology, and China studies.During my research, I work highly collaborative and bring together methods from the anthropology tradition, from design and human-computer interaction, and theory on digital media and technology production.

Currently, I am a post-doctoral fellow at the ISTC (Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing) at the University of California, Irvine and at the CISL (Cooperative Information and Systems Laboratory) at Fudan University, Shanghai. At UCI, I can usually be found here: LUCI, the laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing at UC Irvine. In Shanghai, you can often find me here: xinchejian or here: CISL (Cooperative Information and Systems Laboratory).
Or you can contact me at: lindtner[at]ics.uci.edu

Updates:
I am happy to report that David Li and my article entitled "Created in China: The Makings of China's Hackerspace Community" has just been published with the ACM Interactions Journal's culture and community series. Many thanks to Christopher Le Dantec's wonderful feedback and guidance throughout the write-up.

On December 8, I will present a paper about my research on China's DIY Maker and Hackerspace community at the conference on "New Media and Cultural Transformation" organized and sponsored by School of Film-TV, Shanghai University and New York University, Shanghai. Excited to see some of you there!

In September 2012, I received my PhD in Information and Comptuer Sciences from the University of California, Irvine, under the guidance of Paul Dourish as my advisor and Mizuko Ito, Tom Boellstorff, Melissa Mazmanian and Jeffrey Wassterstrom as my dissertation committee. My dissertation entitled "Cultivating Creative China: Making and Remaking Cities, Citizens, Work and Innovation" focuses on the culture and politics of creativity, and open source technology production in China. It examines in ethnographic detail how various social groups, ranging from open source makers to Communist politicians, imagine, design and use digital technologies to position themselves in relation to China's "remake" as a creative socity and knowledge-based economy. If you are interested in reading more, please email me for a digital copy of the dissertation.

		\| about me \| research \| teaching \| publications \| CV
		Silvia M. Lindtner I am a techno-cultural ethnographer researching, writing, and teaching on the production and use of information technology, with a particular focus on DIY maker and open hardware communities and IT development in China. My research explores themes of creativity and open innovation, digital media as sites of expression of selfhood and collectivity, and global processes of work and labor. Over the last six years, I have conducted in-depth ethnographic research in the areas of 1) digital media practices among youths and young IT professionals in China’s international cities and 2) technological, economic and cultural productions coming out of China’s nascent DIY and open source scene, comprised of geeks, bloggers, software and hardware engineers, electronic and new media artists, and tech entrepreneurs. I have also worked on user-centered research and design of digital media sharing systems and networked publics. My work is located at the intersection of digital media and communication studies, information studies, science and technology studies, cultural anthropology, and China studies.During my research, I work highly collaborative and bring together methods from the anthropology tradition, from design and human-computer interaction, and theory on digital media and technology production. Currently, I am a post-doctoral fellow at the ISTC (Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing) at the University of California, Irvine and at the CISL (Cooperative Information and Systems Laboratory) at Fudan University, Shanghai. At UCI, I can usually be found here: LUCI, the laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing at UC Irvine. In Shanghai, you can often find me here: xinchejian or here: CISL (Cooperative Information and Systems Laboratory). Or you can contact me at: lindtner[at]ics.uci.edu
		Updates: I am happy to report that David Li and my article entitled "Created in China: The Makings of China's Hackerspace Community" has just been published with the ACM Interactions Journal's culture and community series. Many thanks to Christopher Le Dantec's wonderful feedback and guidance throughout the write-up. On December 8, I will present a paper about my research on China's DIY Maker and Hackerspace community at the conference on "New Media and Cultural Transformation" organized and sponsored by School of Film-TV, Shanghai University and New York University, Shanghai. Excited to see some of you there! In September 2012, I received my PhD in Information and Comptuer Sciences from the University of California, Irvine, under the guidance of Paul Dourish as my advisor and Mizuko Ito, Tom Boellstorff, Melissa Mazmanian and Jeffrey Wassterstrom as my dissertation committee. My dissertation entitled "Cultivating Creative China: Making and Remaking Cities, Citizens, Work and Innovation" focuses on the culture and politics of creativity, and open source technology production in China. It examines in ethnographic detail how various social groups, ranging from open source makers to Communist politicians, imagine, design and use digital technologies to position themselves in relation to China's "remake" as a creative socity and knowledge-based economy. If you are interested in reading more, please email me for a digital copy of the dissertation.