Tuesday, December 04, 2007

SIVACRACY.NET


Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian and media scholar. He's an associate professor in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Texas.

His most recent book is the edited (with Carolyn de la Pena) collection, Rewiring the Nation: The Place of Technology in American Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). Our own David Nye is featured in this collection with his article, "Technology and the Production of Difference."

I started reading his blog when I found it through the Institute for the Future of the Book while researching for my current project on the American virtual public sphere. I look at Vaidhyanathan’s career both academically and professionally as a model for where and how I may proceed beyond my Masters in American Studies. When I consider future research, I’m often thinking about the cultural histories and intellectual traditions that inform contemporary postmodern political movements. My Masters thesis, an intellectual history of Al Gore, relates to half of this equation.

I also wanted to share his blog with you in hopes of encouraging you to think about joining our group blog project at the Atlantic Community. This is the, “if Siva Vaidhyanathan is doing it so should you” argument. It's also just a great blog, and appears here in our blog role.

Finally, this was the original reason for writing this post; an article posted in his blog about professors on Facebook. Not to worry, I don’t have any virtual expectations.