Mimi Ito - Weblog

M.A. Anthropology, Ph.D. Education, Ph.D. Anthropology, Stanford University

Research Scientist
School of Cinematic Arts,
University of Southern California
Institute for Multimedia Literacy
746 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90089-7727

Visiting Associate Professor
Keio University, Graduate School of Media and Governance
5322 Endoh Fujisawa, Kanagawa JAPAN 252-8520

Director
Chanpon.org

I am a cultural anthropologist who studies new media use, particularly among young people in Japan and the US. My research group at Keio University studies mobile phone use, and I am working with Peter Lyman and Michael Carter on a multi-year project on digital kids and informal learning, with support from the MacArthur Foundation. As part of this, I'm doing case studies of anime fandoms in Japan and the English-speaking online world. I recently edited a book for MIT Press with Daisuke Okabe and Misa Matsuda entitled, Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life.

Professional credentials: a doctorate in Anthropology and a doctorate in Education, both from Stanford. Past workplaces: the Institute for Research on Learning, Xerox PARC, Tokyo University, the National Institute for Educational Research in Japan, and Apple Computer.