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Faculties & Departments
Aphra Kerr
Welcome
I joined NUIM as a lecturer in Sociology in September 2005 having previously worked as a research fellow at the Centre for Media Research at the University of Ulster, Coleraine in Northern Ireland and as a post-doctoral researcher at the Society, Technology and Media research centre at Dublin City University in the Republic of Ireland.
I won a two year IRCHSS post-doctorate award in 2001 to work on the project
'From Traditional Visual Media to Contemporary Digital Media: The Emergence of Digital Games.'
My PhD
examined 'Ireland in the Global Information Economy: Innovation and Multimedia Content Industries and was awarded in 2000 by Dublin City University.
In 1996 I spent six months as a postgraduate research fellow at UNU/INTECH, Maastricht, the Netherlands working on an EU funded Human Capital and Mobility project on
'The Evolution of Science and Technology Policies in Ireland, 1963-1995. Issues and Responses'. I completed an MA by research in 1995 which was funded by Telecom Eireann.
This webpage contains details of my publications, teaching, research and postgraduate supervision. If you would like further details on anything on these pages please contact me. You will also find me on 'Linked In', but you won't find me on 'Facebook' or 'Bebo'! .
PUBLICATIONS
My book ''The Business and Culture of Digital Games: gamework/ gameplay" was published in 2006 by Sage publications.
Recent articles include:
with Preston, P., & Cawley, A. (2009). Digital media sector innovation in the knowledge economy: rethinking knowledge inputs and policies. Information, Communication and Society, 12(7), 994 - 1014.
with Riain, S. Ó (2009) 'Knowledge Economy' In Kitchin R, Thrift N (eds) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Volume 1, pp. 31-36.Oxford: Elsevier.
Recent reports:
with Cawley, A. (2009) The Irish Games Industry 2009. Available online.
Forthcoming publications include:
‘Beyond billiard balls: transnational flows, cultural diversity and digital games’ In Trade versus Culture in the Digital Environment. Burri-Nenova, M. and Graber, C. (Eds), Edward Elgar.
Kerr, A, Brereton, P, and Kücklich, J. (forthcoming) ‘New Media: New Pleasures?’ Reprinted in Gunter, B and Machin, D. Media Audiences, SAGE Benchmarks in Communication.Sage Publications: London.
Kerr, A. (forthcoming). The Culture of Gamework. In M. Deuze (Ed.), Managing Media Work. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications.
For other publications see this page. I try to make my publications available as e-prints, an online depository hosted by our university.
TEACHING
Most of my teaching relates to media and technology in society and research methods.
I teach the following modules across the two semesters:
Media and Society, 2nd year
Fieldwork, 2nd year
The Internet and Society, 3rd year
Technology and Culture, 3rd Year
Media and Globalisation, MA.
Knowledge Society, MA.
You will find online materials for these courses when you log into moodle, the online learning system adopted by NUI Maynooth.
RESEARCH
I am working on a number of funded research projects with colleagues in NUIM, other universities around Ireland and leading centres in Europe. These projects focus on social aspects of the production and consumption of media in a global context with a particular focus on new media, including the internet and digital games.
The following are ongoing funded research projects:
1. Future Communciations Networks and Services (2007-2010) Funded by the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions and the HEA in Ireland.
This project focuses on innovative internet users and is part of a larger inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional project on networking technologies and the “Future Internet.” Our strand of this project will focus on design, trust and goverance issues related to internet use.
Project involves Micheal O Foghlu, Waterford IT – Telecommunications Software & Systems Group, Douglas Leith, David Malone - NUI Maynooth – Hamilton Institute, Mikael Fernstrom, Liam Bannon - Interaction Design Centre, University of Limerick. Stefano de Paoli is the postdoctoral researcher on this project. See http://futurecomm.tssg.org/
2. OPALLS - Funded by the European Union Framework Programme - Priority 2 - Information Society Technologies, phase II.
Our workpackage in this project (2007-2009) will study the social and spatial structures of collaboration and knowledge flow that underpin innovation among SMEs in the biotechnology and digital media sectors in Ireland. The larger project is a European network of excellence called OPAALS (Open Philosophies for Associative Autopoietic Digital Ecosystems), whose focus is on developing the science and technology behind Digital Ecosystems.
Project involves Sean O Riain, Chris Van Egeraat, NIRSA, NUIM, Antonella Passani, Lorena Rivera León, T6 Società Cooperativa, Italy , Javier Val, Istituto Tecnologico de Aragon, ITA, Spain. Paolo Dini, London School of Economics, UK. See http://www.opaals.org/
3. Irish broadcasting and the ‘New Ireland’; Mapping and visioning cultural diversity (2007-2009). Funded by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
The aim of this research is to explore the current and possible future development of forms of ‘cultural diversity policy’ in Irish broadcasting at a time of unprecedented socio-cultural change in Ireland. In particular the project will examine current broadcasting production and regulatory policies in this area and pattersn of media use by Polich, Chineses and Nigerian communities in Ireland.
Project involves Dr. Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain (Sociology), Dr. Gavan Titley (Media Studies), all NUIM, and Abel Ugba, University of East London.
4. The production and consumption of Digital Games - Currently conducting The Irish Games industry Census 09 with Anthony Cawley, UL, and ongoing work as content manager of the website www.gamedevelopers.ie. Hosted an industry networking event on game development for the iphone in association with IDA Ireland at the Science Gallery, TCD in May 2009. See pics of the event here.
RESEARCH NETWORKS
AT NUIM I am involved in the Political Economy, Work and
Working Lives and the Globalisation, Identities and Cultural Practices
research clusters within the Department of Sociology. I am a research associate of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) and the Centre for Wider Europe (CSWE) at NUIM.
Nationally I am involved in the Sociology Association of Ireland (SAI). NUIM is also a partner institution of the Irish Social Sciences Platform.
Internationally I am a participant of the
European funded Cost 298 action 'Participation in the Boradband Society'. I am also active in the International Association for Media and Communciations Research (IAMCR), the International Communciations Association (ICA) and the Digital Games Research Association (DIGRA),
POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION
I am currently working with a number of MA, MLitt and PhD students to develop postgraduate projects in the area of new media, esp. social networking sites and virtual worlds. I am also involved as second supervisor on PhD theses related to film policy in Ireland, mobile phones and media tourism.
I am interested in supervising postgraduate students in areas related to my ongoing projects including the production and consumption of media and technology in society, gender and technology, virtual/online studies.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
I am the research postgraduate co-ordinator for Sociology and the Sociology representative on the university's ethics committee.
In spring 2009 I was a judge for the Irish Digital Media awards. In summer 2009 I will co-chair the entertainment and mobility strand of the
International Symposium of Electronic Arts being hosted by the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland and IADT Dublin and I will chair the Games and Industry review panel of the international Digital Games Research Association which will take place in the UK in Sept. '09.
I am part of the committee organising the European 'Women in Games' annual conference. For more see www.womeningames.com
RECENT INVITED TALKS
'Problematising User Centric Design: Lessons from Games' Ethnography, Creativity and Design workshop, NUIM and Intel Innovation Campus, 12th Nov. 2009.
‘Considering Cultural Diversity in Game Development’ Presented at Game Focus Germany, professional games industry conference, Hannover, Germany, 29th-30th January, 2009.
‘Encouraging the Production of Cultural Diversity in Online Games’ Presented at the Governance of Online Worlds and Cultural Diversity workshop, University of Lucerne, Switzerland, 12. Sept. 2008.
'New perspectives on work - the digital media industries' Presented at the “Salzburger Anstöße³ /Impulses from Salzburg, 2007, Center for Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg, Austria, 20-25th May, 2007.
‘Spilling Hot Coffee? Grand Theft Auto as contested cultural product’ Invited speaker at the Women in Games annual conference, Newport, Wales, April 07.
'Researching games in society – adventures in methods and methodology' Invited Speaker at Computer Games: Learning, meaning and method. A Game Studies/Gaming Theory, Seminar, 26th of January, 2007 at the London Knowledge Lab: London.
'From Boston to Berlin' Invited speaker at My Creativity, a convention of international creative industries researchers, Nov 17-18, 2006, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam. For images and podcasts see http://www.networkcultures.org/gallery/MyCreativityDay2?page=4
CONTACT INFO
My office can be found at Room 3.5 Auxilia,
Department of Sociology,
National University of Ireland Maynooth,
Maynooth,
Co. Kildare.
Rep. of Ireland.
Tel: +353.1.708.6140
Fax: +353. 1.708.3528
e-mail: aphra.kerr at nuim.ie or aphra at gamedevelopers. ie
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com