Internet Studies
Who we are
Michele Willson (Head of Department)
Associate Professor Michele Willson joined Internet Studies at Curtin University of Technology in 2001, having previously taught in the politics departments at University of Melbourne and Monash University. She has published a number of articles, including a chapter on virtual communities (In Holmes, Virtual Politics ) recently reprinted in The Cybercultures Reader, and was an editor of Arena Magazine for a number of years. Michele's most recent book, Technically Together, examines the implications of using communications technologies for experiences and understandings of community. Staff Website
Sky Croeser
Sky Croeser completed a PhD at the University of Western Australia's Department of Political Science and International Relations in 2010, where she also taught a number of units between 2006 and 2009. Sky has been teaching in Curtin University's Department of Internet Studies since 2009. Her research focuses on how activists use and attempt to shape key technologies, and she has conducted extensive fieldwork in India as well as in other parts of the world. To find out more about Sky's research and publications, visit http://skycroeser.net/
Mike Kent
Dr Mike Kent joined Internet Studies as a lecturer in 2009. Dr Kent had previously taught media studies, cultural studies and e-commerce at universities in Australia and the UK. He has worked at Curtin University and Murdoch University in Perth, taught online units for Open Universities Australia, taught media studies at the University of Brighton in the UK, and ran study abroad programs for The Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University in North America.
Mike’s current research focuses on disability and new media and he is co-authoring a book with Dr Katie Ellis on the subject due for publication in late 2010. His articles have appeared in Fast Capitalism, Nebula, Online Opinion, AQ – Australian Quarterly and M/C Journal (Media Culture). You can find out more about Mike’s current writing and research at http://www.cultware.com/
Tama Leaver
Dr Tama Leaver is a lecturer in the Internet Studies department, with a strong interest in digital culture, from the changing landscapes of commercial media in the face of participatory culture, to the role of social software in education and everyday life. He has a background in cultural studies, film studies, digital media and comparative literature, and gained a PhD in English, Communication & Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia for a thesis entitled "Artificialities: From Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Culture - Subjectivity, Embodiment and Technology in Contemporary Speculative Texts." His research record and other information is available his Curriculum Vitae, and for more detailed information about Tama’s research, click here.
Clare Lloyd
Dr Clare Lloyd recently joined the Department of Internet studies after teaching communication and media studies at the University of Newcastle. She gained a PhD in Communication and Media Arts in 2010, titled ‘I 'heart' mobile phone’: a discursive study of identity processes through mobile phone communication. Her publications include a recently co-authored book chapter on identity practices and mobile phones (in Handbook of Research on Discourse Behaviour and Digital Communication: Language Structures and Social Interaction).
Staff Website
Helen Merrick
Dr Helen Merrick joined Internet Studies in 2001, after working in a number of other Western Australian universities teaching cyberculture, women's studies and history. She has published articles in various anthologies and journals, and was co-editor of the collection Women of Other Worlds: excursions through science fiction and feminism. Helen is currently working on a book based on her PhD research, entitled Feminist/Science/Fictions which examines feminist engagements with cyberpunk, and also examines sf fan communities on- and off-line. Staff Website
