Aleksandra Krystyna Theresa Krotoski (born October 22, 1974) is a broadcaster, journalist and social psychologist based in the United States who writes and broadcasts about technology and interactivity. She currently presents the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

series ''The Digital Human''.

Early life

Krotoski was born a U.S. citizen in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Malaysia, but spent her early years in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. Her parents, Wojciech Antoni "Al" Krotoski (1937–2016) and his then-wife Danuta (née Gwozdziowski), were Polish-American scientists who played a key role in revealing

hypnozoite ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a verteb ...

s as the true mechanism of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

l relapse.

Education

Krotoski graduated with a BA in psychology from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

in Ohio in 1996. After moving to the UK and becoming a television presenter, she returned to university to study

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...

at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institu ...

, where she completed an MSc in 2004 and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

in 2009. Her PhD thesis on social influence in ''

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fr ...

'' examined "how information spreads around the

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods fo ...

s of the World Wide Web."

Career

From 1999 to 2001 she co-presented

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's late evening video gaming review show, '' Bits'' with

Emily Booth Emily Katherine Booth (born 26 April 1976), also known by her stage name Emily "Bouff" Bouffante, is an English actress and television presenter. Early life Booth was born 26 April 1976 in Chester, Cheshire, growing up in Hastings, East Susse ...

and

Emily Newton Dunn Emily Newton Dunn (born 1972) is an English television presenter and video game designer and producer. Career She co-presented the Channel 4 TV programme ''Bits'' with Aleks Krotoski and Emily Booth. Since leaving television presenting, she beg ...

, and from 2001 to 2002 co-presented video game review programme ''

Thumb Bandits ''Thumb Bandits'' was a British entertainment television series that aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2002 and was presented by Aleks Krotoski and Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and f ...

'' alongside

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career bega ...

. In 2006, she contributed to the United Kingdom's Department for Education and Skills and the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA) collaboration, "Unlimited Learning: The role of computer and video games in curriculum-based education". In 2004, she wrote ELSPA's "Chicks and Joysticks: An exploration of women and gaming". Aleks Krotoski 2011

In September 2006 she was named one of the games industry's 100 most influential women by NextGen.biz and in November 2006 she was named one of the "Top Ten Girl Geeks" by

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

, two spots behind fictional character

Lisa Simpson Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. She is the middle child and most accomplished of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa was born as a character in '' The Tracey Ullman ...

. In February 2010, she presented '' The Virtual Revolution'' for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. This TV documentary series was described by the BBC as charting "two decades of profound change since the invention of the World Wide Web, weighing up the huge benefits and the unforeseen downsides." She also presented an accompanying four-part podcast series on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

. As of November 2010, she was Researcher in Residence at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

and curator of the Growing Knowledge digital exhibition at the library, and a visiting fellow at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

. She presented the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' podcast Tech Weekly and contributes to

guardian.co.uk TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

. She formerly contributed occasional stories to ''The Guardian'''s now defunct Online print section (which was later renamed Technology), and was one of the core contributor's to the ''Guardian'''s original Gamesblog. Since 2011, she has presented the

series ''Digital Human'', which examines the relationship between human behavior and the use of the World Wide Web. On July 4, 2013, her book ''Untangling the Web'' was published. It was based on "thirteen years of research" concurrently with her previous activities. It received reviews in the journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'' and

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

Personal life

Krotoski married Ben Hammersley in April 2014; their daughter was born in September 2014.

References

External links