Amanda is the proud member of a generation that has grown up digital, a cyborgean technophile whose relationship with text has always been influenced by a computer of some kind. She recognized at an early age that her connections with digital characters (fictional or otherwise) were at least as strong as with those who inhabit more traditional media and has since devoted her personal and professional energies to exploring the communicative potentials of so-called "new media."

As a graduate student, Amanda focuses her work on video games and gaming culture. Her position in a literature department offers a grounding in narrative and cultural theory, while the UCSB English Department in particular affords her the flexibility to define "literature" in a number of ways. Most recently, she has been looking at spatial storytelling and queer identity in virtual worlds and digital texts.

This quarter, Amanda is serving as the RA for the Literature.Culture.Media Center. Her contributions to the Internet can be seen on the HASTAC Scholars blog and in the archives of Gameology.