Publications & Presentations
A Note on Name Variants
(click to expand)Preferred name: Do Own (Donna) KimPreferred abbreviation*: D. O. Kim*both D. O. should be used as my first nameMy preferred professional name is Do Own (Donna) Kim. "Do Own" (not Do!) is my full legal first name, and I go by "Donna". When native Korean speakers call me by my Korean name Do Own (doe-on; 도온), they tend to add an "ah (아)" sound at the end of my name, which sounds similar to "Donna" (doe-ohn-ah or donah; 도온아).
My name has appeared in various combinations of "Do Own", "Donna", and "Do-own": Do Own (Donna) Kim (preferred), Do Own Donna Kim, Do Own Kim, Do-own Kim, Donna Do-own Kim, etc. Unfortunately, because some systems do not recognize two-words first name and/or parentheses, and partially due to my own confusion, my name has been abbreviated in all sorts of ways: D. O. Kim (preferred), D. O. D. Kim, D. Kim, D. D. Kim, etc. They are all fine, as long as both "Do Own" are understood as my first name (I am never "Do"!).
Work in Progress
(Book-length monograph in development) Kim, D. O. Virtually Real: Humanlike Virtual Influencers and Politics of Artificial Technologies.
For inquiries regarding Virtually Real, or for a full list of articles in revision, under review, or in preparation, please contact me at doownkim[at]uic[dot]edu.
Refereed Journal Articles and Conference Proceedings (*equal contribution; **editorial board-reviewed; ^graduate student co-author)
Kim, D. O. (forthcoming) "Meta-authenticity and Fake but Real Virtual Influencers: A Framework for Artificial Sociality Analysis and Ethics." New Media & Society. [pdf - accepted version]
Maksimova, M.(^) & Kim, D. O. (2024) “Video Games as Participatory Playgrounds for Civic Imaginations on War: The Case of Laika: Aged Through Blood”. The Abstract Proceedings of the DiGRA 2024. https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/2314
Kim, D. O., Shresthova, S. & Lanz, P. (2024) “Introduction – Feeding the Civic Imagination.” Lateral, 13.1. https://doi.org/10.25158/L13.1.9
Lead Forum guest editor (co-editors: Shresthova, S. & Lanz, P.), 7-article Forum.
Included in: Resources in ICD (Intercultural Dialogue), Center for Intercultural Dialogue (CID), Council of Communication Associations, Washington, DC, USA. https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/2024/09/11/feeding-the-civic-imagination/
Liu, M., Choi, S., Kim, D. O. & Williams, D. (2024) “Connecting In-Game Performance, Need Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being for Video Game Players across the Lifespan.” New Media & Society, 26(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211062545
Kim, D. O. (2023). Real But Fake, Real Because Fake: Technologically Augmented K-pop Idols and Meta-authenticity. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2023i0.13437
Kim, D. O. (2023) “Pay for your choices”: Deconstructing neoliberal choice through free-to-play mobile interactive fiction games. New Media & Society, 25(5). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211018177
Xu, Y., Wang, Y., Kim, S., Kim, D. O., Sun, Y. & McLaughlin, M. (2023) "Safe at Home: Acceptance of Surveillance Technology among Caregivers for Persons with Dementia." Health Informatics Journal, 29(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14604582231152188
Jenkins, H., Brichta, M., Kim, D. O., Lanz, P., Lee, A., Proudfoot, S., Shresthova, S., DeLano, I., Frizzell, M., Hegde, A., Madebo, A., Mischie, I., Persaud, C., Pham, B., Randazzo, M., Reed, K., Reid, D., Sørenssen, I. K., Steel, J., Nair, M., Wilson, E. (2022) "What Super Bowl Advertisements Can Teach Us About the Civic Imagination"(**). The Journal of Media Literacy, Returning to Normalcy: Exchanges and Interchanges International Media Literacy Research Symposium '22 Issue. Available at: https://ic4ml.org/journal-article/what-super-bowl-advertisements-can-teach-us-about-the-civic-imagination/
Delano, I., Glenhaber, M., Kim, D. O.(*), Lanz, P., Mischie, I., Quick, T., Peterson-Reed, K., Persaud, C. J., Pham, B., Reddy, R., Rivera, J., Wilson, E., Jenkins, H. & Shresthova, S. (2022) “Flying Cars and Bigots: Projecting Post-COVID-19 Worlds Through the Atlas of the Civic Imagination as Refuge for Hope.” Continuum: Journal of Media & Communication Studies, 36(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2021.2003303
Morstatter, F., Kim, D. O., Jonckheere, N., Liu, C., Seth, M. & Williams, D. (2021) “I'll Play on My Other Account: The Network and Behavioral Differences of Sybils.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human Computer Interaction, 5(CHI PLAY), 1-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3474704
Sun, Y., Kim, H. M., Xu, Y., Wang, Y., Kwong, J., Kim, S., Kim, D. O. & Mclaughlin, M. (2021) GPS Tracking in Dementia Caregiving: Social Norm, Perceived Usefulness, and Behavioral Intent to Use Technology. In Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (p. 3804-3817). Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/71077
Kim, D. O. D., Curran, N. M., Kim, H. T. C. (2020) Digital Feminism and Affective Splintering: South Korean Twitter Discourse on 500 Yemeni Refugees. International Journal of Communication, 14, 19. Available at: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/14322
Alarcon, A., Baik, J., Kim, D. O.(*) (2019) ““Everyone deserves a Smartphone?”: Understanding the media’s legitimation of mobile technology use by Syrian refugees.” Mass Communication and Society, 22(6), 779-803. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2019.1666993
Book Chapters
Kim, D. O. (Under Contract) “Playing with AI in Video Games: A Critical Review of Non-Playable Characters (NPCs).” In Papacharissi, Z. (Ed.), Connective AI: Technology, Play, and Democracy. Routledge. (Book chapter in preparation; Expected early 2026)
Kim, D. D. (2020) Mirroring the Misogynistic Wor(l)d: Civic Imagination and Speech Mirroring Strategy in Korea’s Online Feminist Activism. In H. Jenkins, G. Peters-Lazaro, & S. Shresthova (Eds.), Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change**. NYU Press. Available at: https://nyupress.org/9781479869503/popular-culture-and-the-civic-imagination/ [PDF: click here]
Winner: 2021 Browne Best Edited Collection in Popular Culture and American Culture [link]
Chapter reviewed in: Hinck, A. (2021) “Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change, edited by Henry Jenkins, Gabriel Peters-Lazaro, and Sangita Shresthova.” [book review]. Transformative Works and Cultures, 36. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2021.2183
Williams, D., & Kim, D. O. (2019) Third places in the Ether Around Us: Layers on the Real World. In Pascoe, J., & Bosman, C. (Eds.), Rethinking Third Places: Informal Public Spaces and Community Building. Edward Elgar Publishing. Available at: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/rethinking-third-places-9781786433909.html [PDF: click here]
Online
Author
Kim, D. O., Wang, L., & Jenkins, H. (2024) "“Girl Crush” K-pop Idols: A Conversation between Korean, Chinese, and US Aca-fans." Pop Junctions: Reflections on Entertainment, Pop Culture, Activism, Media Literacy, Fandom and More.
Part I (Mar. 18): https://henryjenkins.org/blog/2024/3/18/girl-crush-k-pop-idols-part-i
Part II (Mar. 20): https://henryjenkins.org/blog/2024/3/18/girl-crush-k-pop-idols-part-ii
Blog review: Her, J. (2024, August 19). Henry Jenkins, K-pop Girl Crush’s ever-changing definition, and Studying Fandom. Medium. https://medium.com/@jhertauher/henry-jenkins-k-pop-girl-crushs-ever-changing-definition-and-studying-fandom-dd82f595126d
Kim, D. O. (Dec. 12, 2022) "Games as Social Technology—A Syllabus." Pop Junctions: Reflections on Entertainment, Pop Culture, Activism, Media Literacy, Fandom and More. https://henryjenkins.org/blog/2022/12/11/games-as-social-technologya-syllabus
Kim, D. O. (Nov. 3, 2021) "The Joy Kill Club: On Squid Game (2021), a Roundtable-Monologue by a Korean Female Aca-fan." Confessions of an Aca-fan. Henryjenkins.org.
Part I (Nov. 1): http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2021/10/30/squid-game-part-one
Part II (Nov. 3): http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2021/10/30/squid-game-part-two
Kim, D. O. (Sept. 21, 2021) “Artificial Not Welcome, Real Is Better? Sus Virtual Beings Among Us.” In Media Res. Media Commons. https://mediacommons.org/imr/content/artificial-not-welcome-real-better-sus-virtual-beings-among-us-2
Editor/Foreword/Toolkit
Foreword author (part four) & series lead editor (editorial team co-lead with Shresthova, S. and Paulina L.). Four-part Feeding the Civic Imagination blog series “Intercultural Food”, “Digital Media and Food”, “The Great British Bake Off”, and “Passing Down and Following Up: Jewish Cuisine’s Umbrella Potential”. Pop Junctions. https://henryjenkins.org/search?q=feeding%20the%20civic%20imagination
Toolkit designer (developed in collaboration with Delano, I., Mischie, I., Persaud, C., & Quick, T.), “Watering the Civic Imagination”. https://www.civicimaginationproject.org/watering-civic-imagination
Scholarly Presentations (*equal contribution; ^graduate student co-author)
Refereed Conferences
Kim, D. O. (2024) “Virtual Influencer History: Human Patterns in New Old Media”. Invited to contribute to the panel “Virtual Celebrity Industries in East Asia.” Accepted for presentation at the 25th annual meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), Sheffield, UK.
Maksimova, M.(^) & Kim, D. O. (2024) “Video Games as Participatory Playgrounds for Civic Imaginations on War: The Case of Laika: Aged Through Blood”. The annual meeting of Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
Kim, D. O. (2024) “Free-to-play nostalgia: Platformized nostalgia in Korean casual mobile game MinigameHeaven (2023)”. Accepted for presentation as an invited member to the panel “(Re)Contextualizing Play: Time, Space, and Place in Mobile Game Design”. The annual meeting of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Boston, MA, USA.
Kim, D. O. (2023) “Mapping Invisible Visibility: Gay Dating Apps, Physical Places, and Networks in Korea”. The 109th annual meeting of the National Communication Association (NCA), National Harbor, MD, USA.
Kim, D. O. (2023) “Real But Fake, Real Because Fake: Technologically Augmented K-pop Idols and Meta-authenticity” (Panel). The 24th annual meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Kim, D. O. (2023) “Algorithmic Assignment Bias? Promoting Student Ownership of Learning through Collective Reflectivity”. “It's All Fun and Games Until the Robots Take Over: Teaching With/About AI and Other "Controversial" Tools” (Panel). The 21st annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (CSA), Fairfax, VA, USA.
Kim, D. O. (2023) “Too Real but Too Fake: Virtual Influencers and Meta-authentic Nonhumans on Demand”. The 73rd annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Kim, D. O. (2023) ““I am the First Virtual…Again”: Defining the “Novel” Phenomenon of Virtual Influencers”. The 73rd annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Kim, D. O. (2022) “The Newness of New Media: A Classroom Assignment/Activity Workshop” (Panel). The 20th annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (CSA), Chicago, USA [Hybrid due to COVID-19].
Morstatter, F., Kim, D. O., Jonckheere, N., Liu, C., Seth, M. & Williams, D. (2021) “I'll Play on My Other Account: The Network and Behavioral Differences of Sybils.” Accepted for presentation at the 2021 ACM SIGCHI annual meeting on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY 2021) [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Kim, D. (2021) “Mapping Invisible Visibility: Location-based Dating Apps, Physical Gay Places, and Bodies in Seoul, Korea”. The 19th Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association, USA [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Kim, D. (2020) ““Pay for Your Choices”: Deconstructing Neoliberal Choice through Free-to-play Mobile Interactive Fiction Games”. The 70th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Kim, D. (2020) “Navigating South Korean Gay Cultures: Emerging Digitalscape and Research Ethics”. The 70th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Liu, M., Choi, S., Kim, D. & Williams, D. (2020) “What Makes Grandpa Tank: Motivations of Video Game Play by Older Adults”. The 70th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Jonckheere, N., Kim, D., Liu, C., Seth, M., Shankar, T., Guo, J., Morstatter, F. & Williams, D. (2020) “I'll Play on My Smurf Account: Sybils and Network Measures”. The 70th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Xu, A. Y., Wang, Y., Kim, S., Kim, D., McLaughlin, M. (2020) “Caregiver Acceptance of Technology for Keeping Persons Living with Dementia Safe at Home”. The 70th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia [Virtual due to COVID-19].
Kim, D. (2019) “Audiences as Editors: Transnational Spreadable Media and YouTube Mukbang (Eating Videos).” The 8th Korean Screen Cultures Conference. Preston, England.
Curran, N., Kim, D. (*), Kim, H. (2019) “Appropriation, Conflation, and Othering: A Thematic Analysis of South Korean Twitter Discourse on the Jeju Yemeni Refugees.” The 69th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Washington D.C., USA.
Alarcon, A., Baik, J., Kim, D. (*) (2019) ““Everyone deserves a Smartphone?”: Understanding the media’s legitimation of mobile technology use by Syrian refugees.” The 69th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Washington D.C., USA.
Kim, D. (2018) “Human versus Cartoon Agents: The Effect of Formal Realism on Parasocial Interaction and Parasocial Relationship.” The 68th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Prague, Czech Republic
Kim, D. O. (2012) “Understanding the Failure of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan –Feminism Films in the Commercial Market.” The 10th Cultural Studies Camp, Yangpyeong, South Korea.
Symposiums/Conference/Invited Talks
Kim, D. O. (Invited) Presenter and discussant for Leaders’ Forest Seminar Series “Human-Technology Interaction,” a multi-disciplinary seminar series for scholars and KFAS fellows. Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, Seoul, Korea [Virtual; Oct, date TBU].
Kim, D. O. (Invited) “Are You a Real Human? Virtual Influencers and AI Culture.” IDEA talk for AI IMPACT research forum. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA [Oct 24th].
Kim, D. O. (2023) “Already Player One: Virtual Humans and Humans in Meta-authentic Media.” Invited talk, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Seminar Series, Department of Media and Communication, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China [Virtual].
Kim, D. O. (2022) “Virtually Real? In-between Spaces and Bodies in Meta-authentic Media.” Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies Young Scholars Talk. Knowledge Festival All Seasons, Half Moon Bay, California, USA.
Kim, D. O. (2022) “Playing Around with the Civic Imagination.” 2022 Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Conference, Irvine, California, USA.
Kim, D. O. (2019) “Mirroring the Misogynistic Wor(l)d: Civic Imagination and Speech Mirroring Strategy in Korea’s Online Feminist Activism”. Presented with Civic Paths (research group) Case Studies of Creative Social Change, Annenberg Research Seminar, University of Southern California.
Curran, N., Kim, D. (*), Kim, H. (2019) “Alt-Right, Alt-Feminist, and Alternative Visions for South Korea? Contestation over Yemeni Refugees in Twitter Discourse.” USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Research and Creative Project Symposium, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Alarcon, A., Baik, J., Kim, D. (*) (2018) ““Everyone deserves a Smartphone?”: Understanding the media’s legitimation of mobile technology use by Syrian refugees.” USC Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Research and Creative Project Symposium, Los Angeles, California, USA.