Hi, I'm Jiwon!

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My research draws on transnational & feminist STS, East Asian technocultures, and AI ethics to examine how historical legacies of colonialism, capitalism, and liberal humanism shape contemporary technological imaginaries and digital infrastructures in South Korea. I am particularly interested in the cultural and political life of AI, and how discourses of innovation, intimacy, and governance are entangled in the production of so-called "relational AI."

My current projects explore technomasculinity and nationalism in South Korea; the governance of gendered and algorithmic harm on digital platforms; and community-based data infrastructures that mobilize alternative care-based data practices as resistance to dominant logics of extraction. I am also a Research Assistant at the Community Data Clinic, where I work on a community-driven digital equity project. 

I hold an M.A. in Communication from Seoul National University, and a B.S. in Media, Culture, and Communication from New York University. In my spare time, I like to travel, and geek out over K-pop and musical theatre. I also love spending time outdoors -- on picnics, hikes, beaches! I was born and raised in Seoul, but have also spent a good chunk of my life in New Jersey, Manhattan, and Orlando.