I am an ethnographer of gaming cultures. I am assistant professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. I research gaming's boundary work as structuring categories in post-Fordism, as achievement systems in player communities, and as moral calculations in the new economy. In my other work, I use media archaeology to study the biopolitics of EEG wearables and critical discourse analysis to study digital minimalism in social media. I received my PhD in Communication and Culture from Indiana University in 2017 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies in 2018. My work has been supported by training from the School of Criticism and Theory, funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and an internship at Microsoft Research New England.

Meetings

• ​​Panel on "Playing with Platforms: Game-Making Practices and Labour under Platform Governance," Paper on "Every Bit in its Place: The Politics of Decluttering in Digital Minimalism," and co-organising "Early Career Scholars Workshop." Association of Internet Researchers Conference. 2-5 October 2019 in Brisbane, Australia.   

• Panel on "Production beyond the Studio: From Playbour to Gamework" and Paper on "Procedural and Promotional Rhetoric in Digital Gaming." Digital Games Research Association Conference. 6-10 August 2019 in Kyoto, Japan. 

​

• Presentation on "Inscriptive and Incitive Media in Consciousness Hacking." 14th Organization Studies Workshop. 23-25 May 2019 in Mykonos, Greece.

Updates

• Blog Post on New Faculty, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University - 07/09/19

• Blog Post on joining faculty at Simon Fraser University, Centre of Excellence for Game Culture Studies - 06/08/19

• ​​​​Article "The Moral Calculus of Vocational Passion in Digital Gaming" published in Television & New Media - 23/05/19

​

• Article "Virtual Lucidity: A Media Archeology of Dream Hacking Wearables" published in communication+1 - 24/03/2019

aleena_chia (at) sfu.ca
aleenachia (at) gmail.com

---

Find me on twitter

@aleenachia