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Professor Thomas teaches in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. You can reach him via email at douglast(at)usc.edu (replace the at with @) |
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Professor Thomas has presented throughout the world on topics of culture and technology. His research interests range from the culture of computer hacking to online games. His recent work on the "Gamer Disposition" was selected as a Breakthrough Idea of 2008 by Harvard Business Review and he frequently gives talks on the topic of the relevance of games to education and business.
He has recently spoken at:
- Aspen Ideas Festival (July 2008) on the topic of "Games for Good" along with Eric Brown and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
- Supernova (June 2008) on the Gamer Disposition with Raph Koster and Dave Elving
- Keynote Address for the World Games Culture Conference, Daegu, Korea (November 2007) on the topic of "Virtual Worlds as tools for 21st Century Learning"
- State of Play V, Singapore (August, 2007) on "Education, Kids, and Teens in Virtual Worlds"
Please email
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to inquiry about rates and availability. |
 Douglas Thomas is Associate Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at
the University of Southern California and a fellow at the USC Annenberg Center. He
received his Ph. D. from the University of Minnesota in Communication in 1992 and
specializes in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies of Technology. His current research,
supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the Lounsbery Foundation, and the Annenberg
Center at USC, focuses on the uses of virtual worlds for education and global civic
engagement.
He is founding editor of Games & Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media, a quarterly
international journal that aims to publish innovative theoretical and empirical research
about games and culture within the context of interactive media. His books include:
Hacking Culture (University of Minnesota Press, 2002), a study of the cultural, social, and
political dimensions of computer hacking, Reading Nietzsche Rhetorically (Guilford Press,
1998), an examination of the role of representation in the philosophy of Friedrich
Nietzsche, Technological Visions: The Hopes and Fears that Shape New Technologies (with
Marita Sturken and Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Temple UP, 2004) and Cybercrime: Law
Enforcement, Security and Surveillance in the Information Age (with Brian D. Loader;
Routledge, 2000).
His current book projects include Power, Play and Performance: Studying Virtual Worlds and
Play and Politics: Games, Civic Engagement, and Social Activism. Professor Thomas is a
founding member of the Critical and Cultural Studies division of the National
Communication Association and has served as Chair of the division, serves on the
advisory board for the Research Center for Cyberculture Studies at the University of
Washington and is currently Vice-President of the Digital Games Research Association
(DiGRA) and Program Chair for the ACM/SIGGRAPH Video Game Symposium. He has
testified before the U.S. Congress on issues of computer hacking, cyberterrorism, and
critical infrastructure protection |
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