Jenna Burrell

Assistant Professor, School of Information, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA * USA * 2007 - present

London School of Economics, London * UK * 2003 - 2007
MPhil/PhD in Sociology
Research Interests: Sociology of Technology, Technology and Socio-Economic Development, Transnationalism and Diaspora Studies, Qualitative Research Methods

Thesis Title: "Producing the Internet and Development: an ethnography of Internet cafe use in Accra, Ghana"

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY * USA * 1997 - 2001
B.A. in Computer Science
Areas of Concentration: Psychology, Organizational Behavior

• J. Burrell. (forthcoming) "Problematic Empowerment: West African Internet Scams as Strategic Misrepresentation." Information Technology and International Development.



• J. Burrell. (forthcoming) "The Fieldsite as a Network: a strategy for locating ethnographic research." Field Methods.



• J. Burrell and K. Anderson. (2008) "'I have great desires to look beyond my world:' trajectories of information and communication technology use among Ghanaians living abroad." New Media and Society, 10(2):203-224.



• J. Burrell, T. Brooke, and R. Beckwith. (2004) "Vineyard Computing: sensor networks in agricultural production." IEEE Pervasive Computing 3(1): 38-45.
  
  
• J. Burrell and G.K. Gay. (2002) "E-graffiti: evaluating real-world use of a context-aware system." Interacting with Computers (Special Issue on Universal Usability) 14(4): 301-312.
  
  

January 2007 - April 2007. Graduate Intern, Domestic Designs and Technologies Research, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Initiated a study on the videography of social events and in Accra, Ghana. This work involved a three week period of intensive ethnographic fieldwork including eleven interviews, eight home tours in middle to middle-upper income households, and participation in several social events.

July 2005 - September 2005. Graduate Intern, People and Practices Research, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Participated in a three-person team doing ethnographic research in Belo Horizonte, Brazil examining the technology practices of young women across multiple socio-economic strata.

July 2004 - September 2004. Graduate Intern, People and Practices Research, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Initiated and organized a two-person team studying 'transnationalism' through the experiences of Ghanaians living in London, UK and in Portland, OR USA using a multi-sited ethnographic approach.

July 2001 - September 2003. Application Concept Developer, People and Practices Research, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Worked within a group of social science researchers studying technology use in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Led an ethnographic study of factory technician work process in Intel's manufacturing environment conducting observations and one-on-one interviews with technicians, engineers, and managers. The study involved two fieldwork sites in the U.S. and one in Ireland. Participated in an ethnographic study of grape growing in vineyards involving participant observation and interviews. Both studies culminated in the development of technology demos based on research findings and were widely disseminated throughout the corporation.

October 1999 - May 2001. Research Assistant, Human-Computer Interaction Group, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Initiated a two-year research project developing location-aware tour guides. Managed a development team of three members. This project also involved an extended period of user evaluation. Published three conference papers and one journal paper all with first authorship over the course of 2 years as a part-time research assistant while pursuing my undergraduate degree. Currently on the board of directors for a small business called Spotlight Mobile that has successfully commercialized some of this research.

June 2000 - August 2000. Undergraduate Intern - People and Practices Research, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Conducted an ethnographic study of college students, mobility, and technology that involved in-home interviews as well as a final report and presentation.

June 1999 - August 1999. Undergraduate Intern - Manufacturing Automation, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR

Initiated an ethnographic study of factory technicians working in the clean room to gain insights into how automation systems could be improved to better support technician work practices.

• upcoming, Persuading a Foreign Audience: Internet Scamming Strategies in Ghana and the West Africa Region, Conference on African and Afro-Caribbean Performance, Sep. 2008



• upcoming, panel organizer, On The Ground Accounts of the Mobile Phone "Revolution" in Africa, Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, August 2008



• J. Burrell (2007), Subversive Youth and Self-Determination at Internet Cafes in Accra, Ghana. Panel: Sex in the Media and the Market in Accra, Ghana, at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting 2007.



• J. Burrell (2007), invited panel participant, Session: New Social Spaces, Mobility and Technology in Africa. European Conference on African Studies 2007.



• J. Burrell (2006), invited panel participant, Session: Technology in Transnational Social Worlds. American Anthropological Association Conference 2006.



• J. Burrell (2005), Telling Stories of Internet Fraud: how word-of-mouth shapes Internet use in Accra, Ghana. Association of Internet Researchers conference 2005.



• J. Sherry, S. Mainwaring, J. Burrell, R. Beckwith, and T. Salvador. (2004) 'This all together hon?' Ubicomp in non-office work environments. Proceedings of the Conference on Ubiquitous Computing. Nottingham, UK. 2004.
  
  
• J. Burrell, G.K. Gay, K. Kubo, and N. Farina. (2002) Context-Aware Computing: a test case. Proceedings of the Conference on Ubiquitous Computing. Gothenburg, Sweden. 2002.
  
  

• May 2008, "West African Internet Scams as Grassroots Media Production," African Studies Center Seminar, UC Berkeley.



• October 2007, Invited Talk, "Emerging Technology Cultures in the Developing World" UC Berkeley, Berkeley Institute of Design (BiD) weekly lunch seminar.



• March 2007, Invited Talk, "Cultures of ICT4D: how Internet cafe users in Accra, Ghana define the link between technology and development" UC Berkeley, School of Information.



• November 2006, Invited Talk, "Mental Models, Migration, and Microsoft: how Internet cafe users in Accra, Ghana define the link between technology and development." Intel Research Berkeley.



• November 2006, Invited Lecture, "Technology Access Outside of Development Initiatives: the case of Internet cafes in Accra, Ghana." Undergraduate course: Basic Concepts of New Media, Department of Communication, University of Washington.



• September 2006, Workshop Organizer, Designing for "Success" in the Developing World, Proceedings of the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference 2006.



• Summer 2006, Invited Talk, "Telling Stories of Internet Fraud: how youth in Accra, Ghana appropriate the Internet through performance and speech." London School of Economics, Africa Seminar Series



• Spring 2006, Invited Lecture, "Technology Access Outside of Development Initiatives: the case of Internet cafes in Accra, Ghana." London School of Economics, Masters Level Course, IS475: Information Technology and Development



• Winter 2006, Invited Talk, "Internet fraud and problems of connectivity and power in marginalized societies." Presented at Workshop on 'Researching Ghanaian Networks', 10-11 February, 2006, hosted by the London School of Economics Anthropology department

• Fall 2008 - Lecturer - School of Information, UC Berkeley, Undergraduate Course, Info 190: Technology and Poverty



• Spring 2008 - Lecturer - School of Information, UC Berkeley, Masters Level Course, Info 272: Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems and Management



• Spring 2006 - Lecturer and Workshop Organizer - London School of Economics, Masters Level Course, SO444: Qualitative Research Methods for Social Science



• Spring 2006 - Syllabus Development, Section Teacher - London School of Economics, Undergraduate Course, SO304: Sociology of Information and Communication Technologies

• 2008 Regents' Junior Faculty Fellowship ($5000), UC Berkeley
• COR 2008 - Research Assistantship in the Humanities Award ($2000), UC Berkeley
• COR 2007-2008 - Junior Faculty Research Grant ($4000)), UC Berkeley

Postgraduate Awards
• 2008 Nicholas C. Mullins Award granted by the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) for a paper entitled, "Problematic Empowerment: West African Internet Scams as Grassroots Media Production"
• Overseas Research Student Award, 2004-2007
  (10 selected from a pool of 140 LSE PhD students)
• Fulbright U.S. Student Program, 2004-2005, alternate for research in Ghana
• University of London, Central Research Grant of £1000 for fieldwork in Ghana, 2004

• Reviewer, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) conference - 2008
• Reviewer, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication - 2007
• Reviewer, Information Technology and International Development Journal - 2004, 2005
• Reviewer, Ethnographic Praxis in Industry conference - 2005, 2006, 2007
• Reviewer, IEEE Intelligent Systems - pre-2004

• Advanced web design, web programming, and web application development (ASP, PHP, HTML, Javascript, SQL, MySQL, Monorail, C#)
• Photography: completed three courses at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR
• Videotaping and digital video editing using Final Cut Pro
• English, native-speaker
• French, intermediate (level 3 proficiency certification, London School of Economics, 2006)
• Twi, basic (10 week University of Ghana at Legon Twi language course)