Research

I am investigating the cultural impact of the emergence of the e-book, with a project called 'The impact of the virtual book on readers, reading and the book'. How do they change how we use and view books, do they retain their sense of value for us, do we have the same sense of pleasure (or otherwise) when we read? Also, the e book offers up lots of opportunities, from seamless revisions and speed of distributions, to the options provided by open source formats like epub. What economic or political issues are raised by the use of proprietary systems and consolidation in the publishing industry.

My other research interests are in video gaming and web enabled media. In 2009, I investigated the development of downloadable video games and the impact this change is having on the sense of professional value of the developers involved. This formed the basis of my MA disertation, 'Where does the disc go? What is the impact of the end of the videogame as a physical object'.