Dr. Katrina Jungnickel
Katrina Jungnickel is Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Law and Social Sciences at the University of East London. She was awarded a PhD in Sociology at Goldsmiths in 2009 for Making WiFi: A Sociological Study of Backyard Technologists in Suburban Australia in which she explored the Do-It-Together (DIT) culture of individuals who collectively customise and adapt discarded, freely available and cheaply purchased materials, re-inscribing them in the context of their backyards with new meanings and re-imagined possibilities of use. She describes how the resulting objects fuse together seemingly incommensurate mundane materials and methods with sophisticated technological skills and outcomes, resulting in unique local 'home-brew high-tech' interpretations that extend artefacts beyond the intentions of their original designers.
Further to exploring the cultures of 'backyard technologists' her work also considers objects made by the researcher in ethnographic analysis; the way blogs, websites, photographs, film, sketches and exhibitions are key components in the making of sociological arguments. Her multi-dimensional and hands-on practice draws on a BA in Communications (University of Newcastle, Australia), an MA in Visual Culture (University of Westminster, UK) and over ten years experience as an accounts director and researcher in interdisciplinary commercial and creative industries in the US, UK and Australia. Her research interests lie at the intersection of DIY technologies, grassroots community practices and messy methods.