I am a writer, a speaker and an academic, interested in how the Internet has been changing our notions of the public, the private and the pornographic in contemporary society. My books include Camgirls: Celebrity & Community in the Age of Social Networks and The Routledge Handbook of Social Media (co-editor.) Some time ago, co-authored History of the Internet: A Chronology, 1843-Present and edited a special issue of Women & Performance devoted to the theme “sexuality & cyberspace.”

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the social effects of digitally mediated voyeurism, exhibitionism, and celebrity. I’m currently guest editing (with Nancy Baym of Microsoft Research) as well as special selection on “selfies” for the International Journal of Communication. Here’s the call, if you’d like to contribute. When that is done, I’ll get back to working on my newest book, tentatively titled: Famous to Fifteen: Towards a Theory of Micro-celebrity Culture. If you’re interested, you can see most of my prior publications, above.

Public intellectual life matters to me. I’ll go pretty much anywhere to give a talk, especially if students are involved. I’ve been quoted in a newspapers, been a guest on radio and television programs, and once, I even got to be part of a great documentary. I’ve published in The New York Times and other venues, and I was recently invited to speak at a TED Salon event, held in London. If you want to know more about talks or press, it’s all above.

Most importantly (at least to me), I teach full-time in NYU’s Global Liberal Studies Program. My colleagues are great, my students are a joy, and the interdisciplinary structure of the place makes me feel like I’m on Final Jeopardy nearly every day. My idea of the perfect job. I tried to put as many teaching materials online as I could, but more arrive each day. Stay tuned. Prior to this, I was a Senior Lecturer at the University of East London (U.K.) and an Assistant Professor at the University of the Virgin Islands (U.S.)

So, enough about me. Who are you? Are you a reader, a teacher, a student, a reporter, or someone who clicked the wrong link?

Should we be talking? If so, please drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

If so, please drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

Oh, I almost forgot:

Years ago, I ran a webcam 24/7 from my house. Now I only turn it on occasionally, but when I do, you can watch, below.