About - Mimi Ito (original) (raw)
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist and learning scientist who has studied young people’s engagement with digital technology for thirty years in the United States and Japan. She is Director of the Connected Learning Lab and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at the University of California, Irvine. She has two PhDs from Stanford University, in Education and Anthropology, and an undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.
Her work centers on how to tap student interests and digital media to fuel learning that is engaging, relevant, inclusive, and socially connected. Her studies include research on the emergence of children’s edutainment software, the growth of mobile media culture and otaku culture in Japan, social media and network and games in the US, and the worldwide adoption of networked Japanese children’s media such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh. More recently, her work has focused on how educators, technologists, and parents can honor young people’s diverse interests and identities, tapping their interests and digital engagements to power learning, support wellbeing, and civic engagement.
For over a decade, she directed research for the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative and led the development of the “connected learning” research and design framework with an international network of scholars, educators, and designers. The connected learning framework offers a youth-centered and equity-oriented approach towards understanding and supporting learning, development, and wellbeing in a digitally connected era. Ito established the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine, and an affiliated nonprofit, the Connected Learning Alliance, to continue research, innovation, and social impact projects in technology and learning. She is also co-founder with Katie Salen Tekinbaş, of Connected Camps, an organization that offers social, project-based online learning experience in popular platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox.
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Two-Sentence Bio
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist and learning scientist, who has studied digital youth culture and interest-driven, socially connected learning in Japan and the U.S for over thirty years. She directs the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine and is co-founder of Connected Camps, a non-profit offering social, project-based learning experiences in platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox. https://mimiito.com/
One Paragraph General Audience Bio
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, and an advocate for connected learning—learning that is joyful, interest-driven, and connected to culture and community. For over thirty years, she has studied digital youth culture and connected learning in Japan and the U.S. She directs the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine and is co-founder of Connected Camps, a non-profit offering social, project-based learning experiences in platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox. She is a leading expert in advising parents, educators, and technology developers on how emerging technology can support learning and wellbeing, and has been featured in a wide range of media outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. Recent publications include: Algorithmic Rights and Protections for Children (2023) and Social Media and Youth Wellbeing (2020). Her web site is at https://mimiito.com/.
One Paragraph Academic Bio
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, and an advocate for connected learning—learning that is joyful, interest-driven, and connected to culture and community. For over thirty years, she has studied digital youth culture and connected learning in Japan and the U.S. She is Professor in Residence and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at the University of California, Irvine, where she directs the Connected Learning Lab. Mimi is also co-founder of Connected Camps, a non-profit offering social, project-based learning experiences in platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox. She has authored and edited eight books, published by MIT, New York University, and Yale University Presses. Recent publications include: Algorithmic Rights and Protections for Children (2023) and Social Media and Youth Wellbeing (2020). Her web site is at https://mimiito.com/.
One Paragraph Personal Bio
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, Director of the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine, and co-founder of Connected Camps, a nonprofit that offers social, project-based learning experiences in Minecraft and Roblox. For over thirty years, she has researched digital youth culture and socially connected learning in Japan and the U.S. She has also embraced connected learning with her own two children, including making bento, and learning how to play Minecraft, mod Nerf guns, surf, and make pizza together. Both her daughter and son are software engineers, and help keep their parents up to date on the latest in tech and digital culture.
Full Biography
Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a leading researcher of technology and learning who has studied young people’s engagement with digital technology for over thirty years in the United States and Japan. She is Director of the Connected Learning Lab and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at the University of California, Irvine. She has two PhDs from Stanford University, in Education and Anthropology, and an undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. She had research appointments at Keio University and the University of Southern California before joining UC Irvine.
Her work centers on how to tap youth interests and digital media to fuel learning that is engaging, relevant, inclusive, and socially connected. She is bicultural, and has conducted research in both Japan and the U.S. on digital youth culture, fandom, and neurodiversity. For over a decade, she directed research for the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative, which invested $200 million in research and innovation. She then went on to establish the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine, and affiliated nonprofits, Connected Camps and the Connected Learning Alliance, to continue research, innovation, and social impact projects in technology and learning.
In addition to the MacArthur Foundation, she has been awarded grants by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Google, Intel Research, Microsoft Research, the Abe Fellowship Program, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. She is the recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies from the American Educational Research Association.
She has authored and edited eight books, published by MIT, New York University, and Yale University Presses, as well as numerous articles and reports. Her co-authored book, Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Youth Living and Learning with New Media is widely recognized as a foundational book in the field, and a tenth anniversary edition was released by MIT Press in 2019. Recent publications include: Algorithmic Rights and Protections for Children (2023) and Social Media and Youth Wellbeing (2020). She is a leading expert in advising parents, educators, and technology developers on how emerging technology can support learning and wellbeing, and has been featured in a wide range of media outlets including New York Times, Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. Her web site is at https://mimiito.com/.
Headshots
Book Covers
Algorithmic Rights and Protections for Children
Participatory Culture in a Networked Era
Affinity Online
Fandom Unbound
Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media
Engineering Play
