Mizuko Ito grew up between the United States and Japan. In Japan, she attended Nishimachi International School and the American School in Japan. She 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." Ito did her graduate work at Stanford University. In 1991, she received a Masters of Arts degree in anthropology; her thesis was "The Holistic Alternative: A Symbolic Analysis of an Emergent Culture." In 1998, she received a Ph.D. from the Department of Education for her dissertation: "Interactive Media for Play: Kids, Computer Games and the Productions of Everyday Life." In 2003, she received a Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology for her dissertation: "Engineering Play: Children’s Software and the Productions of Everyday Life." Ito lives in Southern California with her husband, Scott Fisher, a virtual reality researcher, and their two children. She keeps a Bento Moblog, a visual record of the school lunches she prepares for her kids. Ito's brother is Joi Ito, former director of the MIT Media Lab. With her brother, she hosts Chanpon.org.
Career
Research interest
Ito's main professional interest are connected learning and young people's use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. With Misa Matsuda and Daisuke Okabe, Ito edited Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. She also investigated otaku fan culture with collaborators Daisuke Okabe and Izumi Tsuji, which resulted in the book Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World.
Titles and grants
Ito is currently the Research Director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub, and a Professor in Residence at University of California, Irvine's Department of Anthropology, Department of Education, Department of Informatics, and School of Education. She is also the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning. In 2006, Ito received a MacArthur Foundation grant to "observe children's interactions with digital media to get a sense of how they're really using the technology." This work led to creation of the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub and the publication of two books: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out and Engineering Play: A Cultural History of Children's Software. Ito is CEO of Connected Camps, a benefit corporation that provides online learning programs in coding and the digital arts.
