Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, entrepreneur, and an advocate for connected learning—learning that is equity-oriented, centered on youth interest, and socially connected. Her work decodes digital youth culture for parents and educators, offering ways to tap interests and digital media to fuel learning that is engaging, relevant, and social. She is Professor in Residence and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at the University of California, Irvine, where she directs the Connected Learning Lab. The CLL stewards the Connected Learning Alliance, an expanding network of educators, experts and youth-serving organizations mobilizing new technology in the service of equity, access and opportunity for all young people. Mimi is also co-founder of Connected Camps, a non-profit providing online learning experiences for kids in all walks of life. Her publications include: Algorithmic Rights and Protections for Children (forthcoming June 2023 from MIT Press), Social Media and Youth Wellbeing (2020), The Connected Learning Research Network: Reflections on a Decade of Engaged Scholarship (2020), Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning (2018), and From Good Intentions to Real Outcomes: Equity by Design in Learning Technologies (2017). http://www.itofisher.com/mito
Mimi Ito
Publications
Articles
June 1, 2015
Summer of Minecraft and the Magic of Peer Mentorship
One summer day when he was 12 years old, my son declared with delight that his application to join a prominent Minecraft server had been accepted. He had discovered this server through...
Category: Connected LearningApril 20, 2015
What does connected learning look like when it is centered on civic and political interests? A new paper that I co-authored with Lissa Soep, Neta Kliger-Vilenchik, Sangita Shresthova, Liana Gamber-Thompson, and Arely...
Categories: Civic Engagement, Connected LearningJanuary 15, 2013
Connected Learning: Interdisciplinary Researchers Recommend Core Changes
It has been almost a year since the release of the connected learning principles in March 2012 on connectedlearning.tv. For the Connected Learning Research Network, this has been a year of digging...
Category: Connected LearningMarch 7, 2012
Reflections on DML2012 and Visions of Educational Change
A few days back home after DML2012, I've been browsing through the blogosphere and tweet streams and reflecting on the various conversations I had at the event. One unfortunate side-effect of being...
Categories: Connected Learning, EquityMay 17, 2010
Wikimedia and the Future of Public Media
As of this week, I am officially part of Wikimedia's advisory board. I'm super excited to be part of the Wikimedia team and community, and am feeling rosy about the promise of...
Category: Digital LearningOctober 26, 2009
Field Building and Scholarly Publication
As a new media researcher, I've struggled to find appropriate venues for publishing and disseminating my work. In the late nineties, when studies of online communities, cyberculture, and electronic gaming were still...
Category: Digital Learning