Kathryn della Bitta
Education
2004-present Ph.D. candidate, Department of History, University of Toronto. Major fields: Cultural history, American history, and modern Japanese history.
1997-2002 M.P.S., Interactive Telecommunications Program (Masters in Media Arts), New York University. Concentrations: Videography and game design.
1988-1992 B.A. (Hons), Department of History, University of Toronto.
Current Research
Research Interests
Eighteenth century through twenty-first century aural, visual, and audio-visual culture; media studies; history of journalism; history of technology; globalization; and the history of cosmopolitanism.
Dissertation Title
“Miniature Modernity: Portable Consumer Electronics in American Culture, 1954-1971″(Advisor: Ronald Pruessen).
Refereed Publications
“The Interplay of Information and Mind in Decision-Making”. Knowing Your Friends. London: Frank Cass, 1998: 109-131.
“Intelligence and the Decision to Collect It”. Intelligence and National Security 10, no. 3 (July 1995): 449-467.
Invited Talks and Conference Papers
“The Cosmopolitan Cyborg: American Images of an Automated World, 1952-1965″, Centre for the Study of the United States Speaker Series, University of Toronto, March 26, 2009 [invited].
“Bearing Through the Poisoned City: Tsai Ming-Liang’s Cosmopolitan Vision”, December 2008, “Landscapes of Global Urbanism” ICA-RC21 Conference, Tokyo, Japan.
“Imagining Wartime Resettlement: Photographic Portraits of Japanese-American Engineers”. Canadian Association of American Studies 2005 Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
“Multiple Meanings and Interpretation: Capturing Discourses in the Humanities Using XML Topic Maps”, September 2003, The Digital Resources in the Humanities Conference (DRH 2003), University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, U.K.
“Tribes: An On-line, Graphic, Immersive, Real-time Community”, January 1999, Microsoft Virtual Worlds Group Conference (Redmond, Washington).
“Churchill’s Golden Eggs”, January 1997, Intelligence Study Group (London, U.K.).
“Secret Intelligence and Roosevelt’s Policy toward Indochina, 1944-45”, February 1996, Yale University Intelligence and International Security Conference (New Haven, CT).
Teaching Experience
September 2005- May 2006, University of Toronto. Teaching Assistant for a modern European history course.
September 2004 – August 2005, University of Toronto. Teaching Assistant for two American history survey courses.
June 2001 – May 2004, Columbia University. Producer of educational Web sites for use in undergraduate and continuing education courses.
September 1997 – May 1999, New York University. Instructor and Writing Center Consultant. Co-designed curriculum of and taught class called, “The Artist in American Culture” at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.
Selected Scholarships
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) (January 2009-December 2009).
Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) (September 2005-December 2008).
Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Scholarship (1997-1998) (declined).
Other Professional Experience
May 2004 – September 2005, Consultant, Aluka/Ithaka Harbors/JSTOR, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (http://www.aluka.org). Created metadata model, usability studies and business analysis for Aluka, a Mellon Foundation African studies archive, now merged with JSTOR and affiliated with ARTstor.
October 2003 – May 2004 , Educational Technologist, Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, Columbia University Libraries (http://www.ccntml.columbia.edu). In partnership with Columbia faculty and external scholars, responsible for aiding in the design of online modules for Columbia University undergraduate courses.
May 2002 – September 2003 Project Director of Information Strategy, Columbia University Digital Knowledge Ventures, Columbia University (http://www.caho.columbia.edu). Designed a knowledge management system using XML topic maps. Created a framework to enable academics to create their own topic maps to express and share complex concepts, encourage and store discussion in the humanities, supplement teaching materials, and foster learning and collaboration. Created and edited an American history topic map used to index all primary and secondary sources in the Columbia American History Online (CAHO) portal. Created a taxonomy to aid end users in browsing the map’s content. Indexed topics to high-school educational standards to make it possible for 9-12 teachers to quickly discover and use CAHO materials in their classrooms.
June 2001 – May 2002 Project Manager, Columbia University Digital Knowledge Ventures, Columbia University (http://ci.columbia.edu/ci). Managed the production of multimedia-rich educational sites (e-seminars). Collaborated with professors to turn original editorial content and archived film, images, sound clips, and source texts, into online content. Coordinated editorial and video production. Wrote and edited e-seminar text.
February 2001-May 2001 Interactive and Broadband Producer, PBS Thirteen/WNET New York. Produced sites for PBS Thirteen/WNET. Thirteen’s wNetSchool (renamed “Thirteen ed online”: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline). Wrote episodes for PBS’ on-line version of Ric Burns’ “New York: A Documentary” (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/index.html). (This writing migrated to http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory). Served as information architect for WNET/Thirteen’s “Learning Modules.”
November 2000-February 2001 Information Design Consultant, Citadel Bank & Trust, Inc. Created new online branding strategy. Provided design strategy, editorial and coding assistance throughout the production process.
Sept. 1999-Dec. 2000 Project Manager, News Digital Media. Produced special projects, including new sections, features, and breaking news supplements.
June 1999-September 1999 Freelance Web Developer, New York Times Electronic Media. Coded wire browser content in HTML.