A: I finished my Ph.D. program at Indiana University in the spring of 2012. From 2010-2012, I spent a year and a half as a researcher at the Institute for Scientific and Technological Research in Italy.
A: 100 years of solitude, G. G. Márquez
A: Sushi
A: Internet
A: Professor Susan C. Herring
A: An intensive Serbian course taught by Professor Sergejus Temcinas, who showed that it is possible to learn a language in 8 weeks.
A: Media literacy and ethics issues call for a deeper reflection regarding the ubiquitous presence of media, which has a strong impact on our everyday lives reaching beyond mere media use. In particular, I believe that social media opens up a discussion not only related to marketing issues but also ethical points of view, which become further relevant not only in a classroom, but also in the future working realm for many of the students who will become media professionals.
A: Social media topics particularly intrigue me. Given that we live in the period where social media is becoming mainstream, it gives me a possibility to explore the relevance of topic through the eyes of my students who are potentially influencing the future of social media.
A: I am very invested in my teaching; however, my perception of the true success of a student is based on a reciprocal determination and reflection that should go beyond the grade.
A: The passion of being able to have a freedom of thought, which allows one to analyze and challenge mainstream conceptions.
A: Given that my research intertwines between various disciplines, I hope to contribute to an interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration with my colleagues. With regards to social media teaching, I hope to be able to bring up the issues related to social media that would go beyond the classroom and provide reflective grounding for the future careers of students as well as their everyday lives and the choices they make with regards to media.
Asta Zelenkauskaite earned her PhD in Mass Communication from Indiana University, Bloomington with two minor specializations in Information Science and Linguistics. Her research focuses on the ways in which communication occurs through computer network environments as well as mobile telephony. She is interested in the changes that social media bring to mass media landscape by studying these phenomena from a multi-method approach to analyze changing understanding of content, audiences and media companies. Most of her work bridges disciplinary boundaries methodologically and conceptually through her collaborative work with computer scientists and information science scholars.
