14 Facts About Mizuko Ito

Mizuko Ito, sometimes known as Mimi Ito, is a Japanese cultural anthropologist and learning scientist.

Mizuko Ito is Professor in Residence and John D and Catherine T MacArthur Chair in Digital Media and Learning, and Director of the Connected Learning Lab in the Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine.

Mizuko Ito has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities.

Mizuko Ito's work has been featured in Wired, CNN, NPR, The Hill, The New York Times, EdSurge, LitHub, the Atlantic, Fast Company, LifeWire, Gizmodo, and USA Today.

Mizuko Ito grew up between the United States and Japan.

Mizuko Ito did her undergraduate work at Harvard University, graduating in 1990 with a degree in East Asian studies: Her thesis was "Zen and Tea Ritual: A Comparative Analysis".

Mizuko Ito has led and participated in collaborative projects and research networks that have developed frameworks for research and design such as connected learning and youth participatory politics.

In 2006, Mizuko Ito received a MacArthur Foundation grant together with Peter Lyman and Michael Carter to conduct the largest ethnographic study of its kind, the Digital Youth Project, on how young people will learning differently through their adoption of digital games, social media, and mobile media.

Mizuko Ito co-led with David Theo Golberg, the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, a communications and capacity-building center for the initiative, which was housed in the University of California Humanities Research Institute.

In 2017 Mizuko Ito launched the Connected Learning Lab at UC Irvine, serving as its Director.

In 2019, Mizuko Ito began a collaboration with Candice Odgers, Stephen Scheuller, and Katie Salen Tekinbas to investigate the relationship between diverse forms of teen engagement with digital technology and wellbeing.

Mizuko Ito helped lead the Connected Wellbeing Initiative, which supported innovators developing youth-driven solutions for healthy and empowered relationships with technology.

Mizuko Ito co-founded, with Katie Salen Tekinbas and Tara Tiger Brown, Connected Camps, a nonprofit that provides online learning programs in coding and the digital arts through popular platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox.

Mizuko Ito's brother is Joi Mizuko Ito, President of Chiba Institute of Technology, and former director of the MIT Media Lab.