[iDC] Yet another introduction

[Tanja Sihvonen]

Hello everyone,

My name is Tanja. I'm sorry for the belated intro, but I've been in the
process of moving - not only house, but countries...

I am interested in virtual work and the questions of labour primarily in
the contexts of online gaming and social interaction, although our (me and
Milla Tiainen’s) paper for the conference actually deals with ASMR as
gendered, affective digital work.

Since I’ve started thinking about virtual work more in depth, I think I
could say that my worldview has changed – especially now that I live in a
very inspiring environment in this respect. I am currently working as
Visiting Research Fellow at the Digital Games Institute, University of
Malta.

Malta is famous for promoting various forms of virtual work, ranging from
call centres to online gambling companies and mobile game start-ups. As
there is very little agriculture or traditional industries, the government
is heavily subsidising these new forms of production. Malta is generally
considered a tax haven, so there is considerable foreign investment in this
area. There is also a lot of independent game development. My earlier work
focused on game modifications and player creativity, and I’m still
interested in looking into this blurring of the boundaries between play,
creativity, production and consumption. When these things happen online,
they get more complex...

In my earlier life I’ve been writing about the cultural history of
technology, social media, social game design, game industries, cyberculture
and film. I am not a gamer, but I’m a nerd.

It's been awesome to read your introductions, thanks! Looking forward to
meeting everyone,
Tanja Sihvonen
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