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Jump to: Directors | Staff | Researchers | Research Assistants | Interns
DIRECTORS
 Henry Jenkins IIIPrincipal Investigator Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic ArtsHenry Jenkins joins USC from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was Peter de Florez Professor in the Humanities. He directed MIT's Comparative Media Studies graduate degree program from 1993-2009, setting an innovative research agenda during a time of fundamental change in communication,
journalism and entertainment. As one of the first media scholars to chart the changing role of the audience in an environment of increasingly pervasive digital content, Jenkins has been at the forefront of understanding the effects of participatory media on society, politics and culture. His research gives key insights to the success of social-networking Web sites,
networked computer games, online fan communities and other advocacy organizations, and emerging news media outlets. Jenkins has also played a central role in demonstrating the importance of new media technologies in educational settings. At MIT, he led a consortium of educators and business leaders promoting the educational benefits of computer games, and oversaw a research group working to help teach 21st century literacy skills to high school students through documentary videos. He also has worked closely with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to shape a media literacy program designed to explore the effects of participatory media on young people, and reveal potential new pathways for education through emerging digital media.
 Erin B. ReillyResearch Director
Erin Reilly is a recognized expert in the design and development of thought provoking and engaging educational content powered by virtual learning and new media applications. Erin is the Research Director for Project New Media Literacies established at MIT Comparative Media Studies and now housed at USC's Annenberg School for Communications & Journalism. As Research Director, she leads the development of a series of resources for educators and conducts field research to collect data and help shape the emergent digital media and learning field.
Erin has conducted classes as a Visiting Lecturer at MIT's Comparative Media Studies Department and Harvard University's Project Zero Summer Institute. She is most notably known for co-creating one of the first social media and learning communities, Zoey's Room, a national program for 10-14 year-old girls, that encouraged their creativity through science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Erin is a graduate of Emerson College and has her Master of Fine Arts degree from Rockport College, a subsidiary of the International Film and Television Workshops. She is a board member of NAMLE (National Association for Media Literacy Educators) and serves on advisory boards of Gulf of Maine Research Institute's Vital Signs, Everloop, a new class of social networking that brings the best in online privacy protection, content sharing, collaboration and virtual economy to tweens worldwide, and CASTLE, the nation's only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators.
STAFF
 Vanessa Vartabedian PLAY! (Participatory Learning and You) CoordinatorVanessa plays an integral part of developing, implementing and assessing new models of participatory learning through PLAY! action-research methods. Recent PLAY! projects are: Explore Locally, Excel Digitally after-school program at RFK Community Schools in Los Angeles, the Summer Sandbox/Playing Outside the Box professional development programs with greater LAUSD, and Play On! workshops at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab - each of which bring students and educators together to explore learning through play.
Vanessa comes from a diverse background as a theatre professional, filmmaker and educator. She was a media production teacher in Massachusetts public schools for 8 years before moving to Los Angeles in 2010. She is the producer and director of several award-winning short films and holds a BFA in Theater from NYU. Board positions include the Regional Youth Media Arts Education Consortium (RYMAEC) at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston, Women in Film and Video New England and The Fort Point Theatre Channel.
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
PLAY! (participatory learning and you) Research Assistant Laurel is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism staunchly committed to social change. Her work is informed by her rich background in social policy (B.S., Northwestern University), developmental psychology (M.A., Tufts University), and multimedia curriculum design and instruction (Tighe Publishing Services, PBS Kids Ready to Learn/WGBH, Eliot-Pearson Children's School, Chicago International Children's Film Festival). She is specifically interesting in leveraging social and emotional skills and new media literacies in order to boost life trajectories across sundry domains (e.g., health outcomes, academic & professional achievement, civility, etc). Her research also looks at entertainment-education, gender, obesity, and bullying. Laurel has partnered with such diverse entities as Nickelodeon Kids & Family Research Group, Common Sense Media, the BBC World Service Trust, Hollywood, Health & Society, and most recently, Senegal's African Health Education Network (Reseau Africain d'Education pour la Sante (RAES)). She loves travel, spicy food, and comedy.  Kirsten Carthew is a Research Associate with PLAY! Her background is in film and multimedia for entertainment and education. She recently completed graduate work in Global Media and Communications at both the London School of Economics and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. Her research expertise focus on audience engagement, new media literacies, strategies for on-line persuasion, and transmedia storytelling.
 A doctoral student at USC's Annenberg School of Communication, Ioana Literat 's academic background is in entertainment-education and digital storytelling. She has taught filmmaking and social justice curricula to children in the Dominican Republic, Romania, Uruguay and India, and spent the last year working as the field coordinator of The Modern Story program, a grassroots project aiming to bridge the digital divide by introducing media literacy and filmmaking workshops in government schools in India. At USC, Ioana plans to explore the social impact of media and its potential to stimulate positive change in individuals, communities, and nations, with a special focus on the future of educational media and the new avenues of communication that are enabled by advances in technology and globalization. Perhaps as a result of her extensive international experience, she is particularly interested in the global scalability of NML projects, and the applicability of such educational initiatives in the developing world.
INTERNS
PLAY! (participatory learning and you) InternAkifa graduated in May 2011 from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Communication and Political Science, as well as a minor in Sociology. During her time at USC she was involved in Joint Educational Project (JEP). She tutored at Homeboy Industries and saw the need for a different style of teaching and learning. While taking Henry Jenkins' class at the Annenberg school of Communication she was introduced to participatory learning and the New Media Literacies project. She was adamant about joining New Media Literacies and understanding fully how participatory learning can be implemented in the public educational system. She hopes to pursue career in education policy and public administration.
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