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Florence M. Chee, PhD

Associate Professor; Director of Center for Digital Ethics and Policy; Director of SIMLab

Dr. Florence Chee is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Program Director of the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy (CDEP) at Loyola University Chicago. She is also Founding Director of the Social & Interactive Media Lab Chicago (SIMLab), devoted to the in-depth study of social phenomena at the intersection of society and technology.

Her research examines the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of emergent digital lifestyles with a particular focus on the examination of artificial intelligence, games, social media, mobile platforms, and translating insights about their lived contexts across industrial, governmental, and academic sectors.

She serves as an External Consultee to the Freedom Online Coalition's (FOC) Taskforce on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights (T-FAIR) and is a Key Constituent of the United Nations 3C Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence.

She has designed and taught graduate/undergraduate courses in Digital Media including Game Studies, where students engage with debates surrounding diversity, intersectionality and media production through social justice frameworks.

Follow her on Twitter @cheeflo

CV: Chee, Florence CV

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Communication, 2012, Simon Fraser University
Dissertation: "Online Games as a Medium of Cultural Communication: An Ethnographic Study of Sociotechnical Transformation"

Master of Arts in Communication, 2006, Simon Fraser University
Thesis: "An Ethnography of Korean Online Game Communities"

Honors Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Anthropology, with Co-operative Education, Simon Fraser University
Thesis: "Addiction as Community in Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest"

Research Interests

  • Changing global labor dynamics across industrial, governmental, and academic sectors
  • Design and development of games on various social networking sites and mobile platforms
  • Digital lifestyles, “Big Data,” privacy, and surveillance
  • Gender/Race/Class dynamics in access to communication technologies; experience and engagement
  • Research ethics, informed consent
  • Sociocultural issues in a globally networked society
  • Technology and social transformation

Professional/Community Affiliations

  • Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Ethics Committee
  • Canadian Communication Association (CCA)
  • Canadian Games Studies Association (CGSA)
  • Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA)
  • International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)
  • International Communication Association (ICA)

Courses Taught

  • Communication and New Media/Games/Social Media
  • Communication History – Big Thinkers, Big Impact
  • Communication Research Methods
  • Critical Approaches to Communication Design and Development
  • Social Issues in a Networked Society
  • Technology, Society, Culture – Master Class in Applied Ethnography

Publications/Research Listings

REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES
Available online: http://luc.academia.edu/socflorencechee

  • Jin, Dal Yong, Chee, Florence, & Kim, Seah. (2013). “Transformative Mobile Game Culture: A sociocultural analysis of Korean mobile gaming in the era of smartphones.” International Journal of Cultural Studies. Sage Publications.
  • Chee, Florence, Taylor, Nicholas, & de Castell, Suzanne. (2012). “Re-Mediating Research Ethics: End-User License Agreements (EULAs) in Online Games.” Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. Sage Publications, 32(6), pp. 497-506.
  • Hira, Anil, Morfopolous, James, & Chee, Florence. (2012). “Evolution of the South Korean wireless industry: from state guidance to global competition.” International Journal of Technology and Globalisation. Inderscience Enterprises Limited, 6(1-2), pp. 65-86.
  • Jin, Dal Yong, & Chee, Florence. (2008). “Age of New Media Empires: a critical interpretation of the Korean online game industry.” Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media. Sage Publications, 3(1), pp. 38-58.
  • Chee, Florence. (2006). “The games we play online and offline: making Wang-tta in Korea.” Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., 4(3), pp. 225-239.
  • Chee, Florence. (2002). “Different Strokes – Moving to the beat of just one drummer: The Acoustic Dimensions of the Sport of Dragonboating.” Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology, 3(2), pp. 10-14.

SELECT BOOK CHAPTERS
Available online: http://luc.academia.edu/socflorencechee

  • Chee, Florence. (2012). “Cultural Affordances and Changing Social Dynamics in Asian and European Contexts.” In Yearbook of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society (IAS-STS), 2012, Graz, Austria.
  • Jin, Dal Yong, & Chee, Florence. (2009). “The Politics of Online Gaming.” In L. Hjorth & D. Chan (Eds.), Gaming Cultures in the Asia-Pacific Region. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 19-38.
  • Chee, Florence, & Smith, Richard. (2007). “Online gamers and the ambiguity of community: Korean definitions of togetherness for a new generation.” In M. Consalvo & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), AOIR Internet Annual, Volume 4, Peter Lang Publishers, pp. 165-184.
  • Chee, F., Vieta, M., & Smith, R. (2006). “Online gaming and the interactional self: Identity interplay in situated practice.” In J. P. Williams, S. Q. Hendricks & W. K. Winkler (Eds.), Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity, and Experience in Fantasy Games. McFarland Publishing, pp. 154-174.
  • Chee, Florence. (2005). “Understanding Korean experiences of online game hype and identity and the menace of the 'Wang-tta.'” In Selected Papers of Changing Views: Worlds at Play, Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), pp. 111-122.
  • Chee, F., & Smith, R. (2005). “Is electronic community an addictive substance? An ethnographic offering from the EverQuest community.” In S. Schaffer & M. Price (Eds.), Interactive Convergence in Multimedia – Probing the Boundaries, Volume 10, The Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 137-156.

BOOKS

  • Chee, Florence (Ed.). (2011). Media and Audiences: Custom Courseware for CMNS 221. Burnaby: Simon Fraser University.
  • Chee, Florence (Ed.). (2007). Location-Based Awareness: Research on Local Systems of Innovation in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology, Simon Fraser University.

OTHER WORKS
Available online: http://luc.academia.edu/socflorencechee

  • Chee, Florence. (Forthcoming). “Games and Digital Ethnography.” International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication & Society. Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Chee, Florence, de Castell, Suzanne, & Taylor, Nick. (2011). “Public Virtual World Gaming in Asia: Preparatory Fieldwork for Site Selection, Protocol Testing, and Research Instrument Development.” Technical Report. Multimodal Analysis of Real/Virtual Environments Laboratory (MARVEL) at Simon Fraser University, and Play in Computer Environments Studio (Play) at York University, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University.
  • Holbrook, J. A. D., Wixted, B., Chee, F., Klingbeil, M., & Shaw-Garlock, G. (2009). “Measuring the Return on Investment in Research in Universities: The Value of the Human Capital Produced by these Programs.” CPROST Report. The Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology (CPROST), Simon Fraser University.
  • Chee, Florence. (2008). “Online Games and Korea as Figure and Ground: An Application of Canadian Communication Theory to the Sociotechnical Transformation in Korea.” In Printed Proceedings of the Fourth World Congress of Korean Studies. The Academy of Korean Studies, pp. 1453-1465.
  • Chee, Florence. (2007). “What Innovation Is Not.” In The Banff Consensus: Integrating the Creative Capabilities of Western Canada into the Global Innovation System. The Centre for Innovation Studies, Calgary, Canada, p. 12.
  • Chee, Florence. (2005). “Embracing the Jungian Archetype in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.” The Digest: Innovations in New Media, 4(2), 3.
  • Chee, Florence. (2003). “The Ology of Anthros in Tech.” The Digest: Innovations in New Media, 2(1), 5.

Awards

  • IDRC Research Award Recipient 2013, Advisory Committee on Research Ethics, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada              
  • Ernst-Mach Stipendien (Ernst-Mach Grant Worldwide), awarded by the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH), Centre for International Cooperation & Mobility (ICM), financed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research (BMWF)          
  • Research Fellowship Award, Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology, and Society (IAS-STS), Graz, Austria
  • Erasmus Mundus Visiting Scholar Award, Economics and Management of Network Industries (EMIN) Consortium, European Commission Erasmus Mundus Programme     
  • President’s PhD Research Stipend, Simon Fraser University        
  • Graduate Research Fellowship (PhD), Faculty of Applied Sciences, Simon Fraser University
  • Korean Government Research Scholarship, National Institute for International Education Development (NIIED) Korea/Foreign Government Award, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) Canada        
  • Graduate International Scholarship, Simon Fraser University      
  • Faculty of Applied Sciences Dean’s Fund Graduate Fellowship (PhD), Simon Fraser University    
  • COGECO Graduate Scholarship in Communication           
  • PhD Research Fellowship, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Simon Fraser University
  • Graduate Research Fellowship (PhD), Faculty of Applied Sciences, Simon Fraser University
  • Graduate Fellowship (PhD), Dean of Graduate Studies, Simon Fraser University