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Aleks Krotoski

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Aleks Krotoski
Krotoski in 2010
Born
Aleksandra Krystyna Krotoski

(1974-10-22) October 22, 1974 (age 50)
NationalityAmerican
EducationPhD in social psychology[1]
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • Broadcaster
  • Podcaster
EmployerThe Guardian
Notable workThe Virtual Revolution
PartnerBen Hammersley[2]
Websitealekskrotoski.com

Aleksandra Krystyna Theresa Krotoski (born October 22, 1974) is a broadcaster, journalist and social psychologist based in the United States who writes and broadcasts about social aspects of technology and interactivity.[3][4][5][6][7][8] She currently presents the BBC Radio 4 series The Digital Human.

Early life

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Krotoski was born a U.S. citizen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but spent her early years in New Orleans, Louisiana.[9] Her parents, Wojciech Antoni "Al" Krotoski (1937–2016) and his then-wife Danuta (née Gwozdziowski), were Polish-American scientists who played a key role in revealing hypnozoites as the true mechanism of malarial relapse.[9][10]

Education

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Krotoski graduated with a BA in psychology from Oberlin College in Ohio in 1996.[11][12] After moving to the UK and becoming a television presenter, she returned to university to study social psychology at the University of Surrey, where she completed an MSc in 2004[13] and a PhD in 2009.[1] Her PhD thesis on social influence in Second Life[1] examined "how information spreads around the social networks of the World Wide Web."[14]

Career

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From 1999 to 2001 she co-presented Channel 4's late evening video gaming review show, Bits with Emily Booth and Emily Newton Dunn,[15] and from 2001 to 2002 co-presented video game review programme Thumb Bandits alongside Iain Lee.[16]

In 2006, she contributed to the United Kingdom's Department for Education and Skills and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) collaboration, "Unlimited Learning: The role of computer and video games in curriculum-based education".[17] In 2004, she wrote ELSPA's "Chicks and Joysticks: An exploration of women and gaming".[18]

Krotoski in 2011

In September 2006 she was named one of the games industry's 100 most influential women by NextGen.biz[19] and in November 2006 she was named one of the "Top Ten Girl Geeks" by CNET, two spots behind fictional character Lisa Simpson.[20]

In February 2010, she presented The Virtual Revolution for BBC Two. This TV documentary series was described by the BBC as charting "two decades of profound change since the invention of the World Wide Web, weighing up the huge benefits and the unforeseen downsides."[21] She also presented an accompanying four-part podcast series on the BBC World Service.

As of November 2010, she was Researcher in Residence at the British Library and curator of the Growing Knowledge digital exhibition at the library,[22] and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.[23]

She presented the Guardian podcast Tech Weekly and contributes to guardian.co.uk. She formerly contributed occasional stories to The Guardian's now defunct Online print section (which was later renamed Technology), and was one of the core contributor's to the Guardian's original Gamesblog.

Since 2011, she has presented the BBC Radio 4 series Digital Human, which examines the relationship between human behavior and the use of the World Wide Web.[24]

On July 4, 2013, her book Untangling the Web[25] was published. It was based on "thirteen years of research"[26] concurrently with her previous activities. It received reviews in the journal Nature[27] and The Observer.[28]

Personal life

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Krotoski married Ben Hammersley in April 2014;[29] their daughter was born in September 2014.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Krotoski, Aleksandra Krystyna (2009). Social influence in second life : social network and social psychological processes in the diffusion of belief and behaviour on the Web (PhD thesis). University of Surrey.
  2. ^ "Ben Hammersley on Twitter: "Holy shit, I just married @aleksk #obviouslyiwillwakeuptomorrowandallthiswillbeadream #bestdreamever"". Twitter.com. April 16, 2014. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  3. ^ "Dr Aleks Krotoski's keynote speech Big Breaks in the Digital Age". White Hat Media blog. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  4. ^ "Aleks Krotoski Profile". Guardian.co.uk. London. October 1, 2007. Archived from the original on April 23, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  5. ^ Aleks Krotoski's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  6. ^ Krotoski, A. (2011). "Wikileaks and the New, Transparent World Order". The Political Quarterly. 82 (4): 526–530. doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.2011.02250.x.
  7. ^ Hunsinger, J.; Krotoski, A. (2010). "Learning and researching in virtual worlds". Learning, Media and Technology. 35 (2): 93–97. doi:10.1080/17439884.2010.496169. S2CID 62610147.
  8. ^ Krotoski, A. (2010). "Serious fun with computer games". Nature. 466 (7307): 695. Bibcode:2010Natur.466..695K. doi:10.1038/466695a. S2CID 4390746.
  9. ^ a b "Wojciech Antoni "Al" Krotoski M.D (1937–2016)". legacy.com. New Orleans Advocate. January 4, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  10. ^ Cogswell, FB (April 20, 2015). "The hypnozoite and relapse in primate malaria". Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 5 (1): 26–35. doi:10.1128/CMR.5.1.26. PMC 358221. PMID 1735093.
  11. ^ Fearn, Hannah (July 8, 2010). "Research intelligence: A grounding in gadgets". Times Higher Education.
  12. ^ "One on one with Aleks Krotoski". The Psychologist. 28. British Psychological Society: 76. January 2015.
  13. ^ Aleks, Krotoski (September 20, 2004). "[MSc] Online games, offline selves". alekskrotoski.com. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  14. ^ "Aleks Krotoski". The Virtual Revolution. BBC. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  15. ^ "Bits TV Series". IMDb.com. June 4, 1999. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  16. ^ Martin, Simon (March 2, 2012). "4's Thumb Bandits gets mixed response". GamesPaper (archived). Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  17. ^ Unlimited Learning: The role of computer and video games in curriculum-based education (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 20, 2009.
  18. ^ Chicks and Joysticks: An exploration of women and gaming (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2007.
  19. ^ "Games Industry's 100 Most Influential Women – Page 6". Archived from the original on June 25, 2011.
  20. ^ "Top ten girl geeks". Crave.cnet.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  21. ^ "Episode Guide". The Virtual Revolution. BBC. Archived from the original on January 27, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  22. ^ "Growing Knowledge". Growingknowledge.bl.uk. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  23. ^ "LSE Visiting Fellowship". Aleks Krotoski. January 12, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  24. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Digital Human, Series 1". Bbc.co.uk. June 11, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  25. ^ Krotoski, Aleks (2013). Untangling the Web. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-30366-3.
  26. ^ Aleks, Krotoski. "quote from the book's Acknowledgements". Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  27. ^ Kiser, B. (2013). "Books in brief". Nature. 498 (7455): 431. Bibcode:2013Natur.498..431K. doi:10.1038/498431a.
  28. ^ Naugton, John (July 21, 2013). "Rewire by Ethan Zuckerman; Untangling the Web by Aleks Krotoski – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  29. ^ "Ben Hammersley Tweets about his marriage to Aleks Krotoski". Twitter.com. April 15, 2014. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  30. ^ "Ben Hammersley Tweets about his child". Twitter.com. September 7, 2014. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
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