Lisa Ann Parks is Distinguished Professor of Film and Media Studies and Director of the Global Media Technologies & Cultures (GMTaC) Lab at the

University of California at Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. She was formerly Professor of Comparative Media Studies and Science, Technology and Society at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where she founded the GMTaC Lab. She won a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship in 2018 for "exploring the global reach of information technology infrastructures".

Contributions

Parks's research examines the effects of technologies such as satellites,

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...

, and drones on society. Her 2005 book ''Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual'' showed how the rise of satellites in television, warfare, and astronomy led to a more globalized understanding of the world among viewers, but also provided new opportunities to filter what people could see. ''Choice'' praised ''Cultures in Orbit'' as a "fascinating study of satellite information gathering" but also noted that "the book's academic, jargon-filled style puts this interesting discussion beyond the reach of inexperienced readers." In 2018 she published the book ''Rethinking Media Coverage: Vertical Mediation and the War on Terror'', which explores how TV news, airport checkpoints, satellite imagery, and drone media generate forms of "'coverage' that make vertical space intelligible to global publics in new ways and powerfully reveals what is at stake in controlling it." Parks also co-edited the books ''Life in the Age of Drone Warfare'' with

Caren Kaplan Caren Kaplan is a professor of American Studies at University of California at Davis, and a prominent figure in the academic discipline of women's studies. Together with Inderpal Grewal, Kaplan is best known for her work as a founder of the fiel ...

and ''Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures'' with Nicole Starosielski. Parks explores "how greater understanding of media systems can inform and assist citizens, scholars and policymakers in the US and abroad to advance campaigns for technological literacy, creative expression, social justice, and human rights."

Education and career

Parks grew up in Missoula, Montana and earned a bachelor of arts in Political Science and History at the University of Montana. She earned her Ph.D. from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

in 1998. She worked at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

from 1998 to 2016, moved to

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 2016, and returned to UCSB in 2020.

Works

* (Co-editor, with Shanti Kumar) ''Planet TV: A Global Television Reader'' (New York University Press, 2003) * ''Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual'' (Duke University Press, 2005) * (Co-editor, with James Schwoch) ''Down to Earth: Satellite Technologies, Industries, and Cultures'' (Rutgers University Press, 2012) * (Co-editor, with Nicole Starosielski) ''Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures'' (University of Illinois Press, 2015) * (Co-editor, with

) ''Life in the Age of Drone Warfare'' (Duke University Press, 2017) * ''Rethinking Media Coverage: Vertical Mediation and the War on Terror'' (Routledge, 2018) * Also se
Lisa Parks Academia.edu website
h1>

References

External links

Lisa Parks websiteLisa Parks Academia.edu websiteGlobal Media Technologies and Cultures LabUCSB Film and Media Studies DepartmentMIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Lisa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American mass media scholars University of Montana alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty MacArthur Fellows