AREA OF INTEREST

Information Technology, Virtual Worlds, Social Movements, Gender Studies, Identity

ADDRESS

1121 Teaberry Lane
State College, PA 16803
484-678-7102
bward[AT]ist[DOT]psu[DOT]edu

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences and Technology Design and Development option, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 05/2005

PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Examining Virtual Organizations through a Socio-Technical Analysis (EVOSTA)
HRCT Scanning as Glue: Sociotechnical Analysis and Support of a Loosely-Coupled Virtual Organization of Emergent Distributed Projects
Dr. Andrea Tapia, Professor IST
Research Assistant
Summer 2009 - Fall 2009

• Researched current literature regarding scientific collaboration, collaboratories, virtual organization, and technological support collaborations.
• Aided in the gathering of data by coordinatng and scheduling interviews and contacts
• Coded and classified collected data for further analysis.
• Helped in the development of a interview guide to narrow and focus the data collected.

• Researched current literature on Information Technology skill sets that are lacking in the business environment.
• Aided in the development of a skills framework meant to classify important skills sets by IT role.
• Helped in the development of a skills survey based on the framework meant to gain feedback from IT managers and practitioners.

• Transcribed previously recorded audio interviews from tape to Word documents for eventual analysis in the next step of the research process.
• Provided feedback to professor on interviews to help refine future interview questions through an end of the semester meeting.

• Analyzed coded interview information to determine trends or interesting outputs found in the data.
• Focused on classifying the 152 research participants into new categories based on researched demographic and coded interview information.

• Researched current help procedures within The PSU Libraries including both digital and face-to-face methods as well as looking at help programs offered by other national and worldwide universities.
• Aided in the testing of a chatter bot program to be run over common instant messaging software by The Libraries that would automatically refer a student to either an appropriate FAQ or scan the card catalogue when asked in a natural language query.
• Worked with group members to document development process as well as construct a possible implementation plan for The Libraries if project receives approval from The Libraries directors.

EMPLOYMENT

Residence Computing (ResCom)
Housing and Food Services
Findlay Commons
University Park, PA 16802
ResCom is a Penn State organization that provides free computer services to all students living in the dorm halls. It handles student internet connections as well as first step security violations and virus outbreaks.
Student Manager
Spring 2004 - Spring 2005

• Met regularly with the other 14 managers and supervisor to discuss problems and delegate further work assignments or actions to be taken.
• Directed the activities of technicians engaged in computer repair
• Trained new so that there was a consistent standard of performance and so procedures remained universal across all ResCom desks.
• Participated in the process of assigning technicians to ResCom desks for the rest of the year through a round robin system.

• Documented all work completed in online ticket database to assure quality and amount of work performed and also to act as a starting point for future help if needed.
• Identified and resolved computer problems in both hardware and software and their causes

• Updated and maintained information on the Centreconnect website including program schedules for CETV and CGTV as well as information on upcoming community events.
• Created a dynamic site in ASP and Access to aid in the scheduling of volunteer work shifts for the recording of programs to be aired.
• Trained incoming intern in programs used for website maintenance as well as common practices and procedures within the office.

• Updated the HEAT based help ticket database to include information on the current inventory of computer and software within the school district to help technicians better understand possible problems.
• Formatted and installed software on laptops for 9 wireless carts to be distributed to the all the libraries of the school district before the next school year.
• Aided current computer technicians in maintenance of the 13,000 computers in the school district including software instillation and repair of both hardware and software problems.
• Worked under the supervision of the Network administrator to prepare user accounts in the Novell suite for a change in the network structure.

PUBLICATIONS

Blodgett, Xu, and Trauth. (2007) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Issues in Virtual Worlds. ACM SIGMIS Database.

Blodgett, B. Sennett, T. (2008). The Shape of Protest Actions in Virtual Worlds. From the Proceedings of the 2008 Playing to Win Conference. University Park, Pennsylvania. April 4 – 6.

Tapia, A. Seif El-Nasr, M. Yucel, I. Blodgett, B. (2008). Gaming for Girls: An Action-Research Intervention. Proceedings of the 2008 Playing to Win Conference. University Park, Pennsylvania. April 4 – 6.

Blodgett, B. (2009). And the Ringleaders Were Banned: An Examination of Protest in Virtual Worlds. From the Proceedings of the 2009 Communities & Technology Conference. University Park, Pennsylvania. June 25-27.

Blodgett, B (Forthcoming). Signing up and Logging In: A Critical Examination of Protest in Virtual Worlds. From the Doctoral Colloquium of the 2009 Conference on Internet Research 10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. October 7 – 11.

PRESENTATIONS

Blodgett, B. (2008). “The Shape of Protest Actions in Virtual Worlds”. The IST Graduate Symposium, Penn State University, January 31st – February 1st.

Tapia, A., Seif, El-Nasr, M; Blodgett, B. and Yucel, I. (2008). “Gaming for Girls. Playing to Win: The Business and Social Frontiers of Videogames,” Penn State University, April 4-5.

Blodgett, B. (2009). “And the Ringleaders Were Banned”. The 2008 IST Graduate Symposium, Penn State University, February 19 - 20.

Blodgett, B. (2009). And the Ringleaders Were Banned: An Examination of Protest in Virtual Worlds. 2009 Communities & Technology Conference. University Park, Pennsylvania. June 25-27.

COMPUTER SKILLS

PHP, ASP, Java, HTML, XML, Macromedia Dreamweaver, MS Office, MS SQL, MySQL, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Flash, HEAT

HONORS AND AWARDS

NETS Scholar, Raytheon Scholar

INTERESTS

web design, video games, politics of technology, philosophy, history, reading, art