Anna van Someren

Anna’s background combines community work, youth work, education and new media production. Working with Henry Jenkins, Provost Professor at the University of Southern California and former Principal Investigator at the Center for Future Civic Media, Anna will conduct research on the ways in which participatory culture environments support the kinds of social deliberation, debate, and advocacy practices that allow entry into a shared public discourse.

Most recently, Anna worked as Creative Manager for project New Media Literacies (NML) at MIT's Comparative Media Studies (CMS). She led the production and development of innovative educational materials informed by a deep understanding of the ways youth interact with and produce media.

Prior to working at MIT, Anna developed new media curriculum and taught multimedia production at after school programs and at the college level. An independent video artist, Anna has shown her experimental shorts in festivals internationally. She received her B.A. magna cum laude in Art & Art History from Colgate University, and her MFA in Film & Video from Massachusetts College of Art.