Professor Ben Light

Biography

I joined QUT as Professor of Digital Media Studies in 2013. I was previously Associate Dean – Research and Innovation for the College of Arts and Social Sciences and Professor of Digital Media, in the University of Salford’s School of Arts and Media in the UK. Prior to Salford, I worked at the University of Manchester, UK. Before working in higher education, I undertook several administrative roles within the UK’s National Health Service and also spent some time as a Health Promotion worker with MESMAC, a sexual health organisation. I’m interested in how people get different kinds of digital media to work for them on an everyday basis. My latest book, Disconnecting with Social Networking Sites, was published with Palgrave Macmillan in 2014. In 2011, (with Garry Crawford and Victoria Gosling) Online Gaming in Context: The Social and Cultural Significance of Online Games, was published by Routledge. I have also published work in journals such as New Media and Society, Cultural Sociology, Information Technology and People and Continuum: the Journal of Media and Cultural Studies. I am a Senior Editor of the Journal of Information Technology, an Associate Editor for New Media and Society, Social Media and Society and the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds. In 2012 I was the Organizing Chair for the Association of Internet Researchers Annual Conference, and part of the organising team for a co-produced BBC Games Academy event. Since 2008 I have co-organised a series of events around digital culture – see www.digcult.org My personal website can be found at www.benlight.me