Sherry turkle

Abstract

Sherry Turkle, a pioneer in the study of technology and the self, is both a scholar and a public intellectual. Using a unique voice and methodology combining ethnographic and clinical interviews, Turkle traces the rise of the computer revolution and the emergence and adoption of different technologies and their affordances-computers, the Internet, social robots. In this process, her theoretical direction also develops from a focus on the self, identity, and finally, social connections and disconnections. This article describes how Turkle's work chronicles the changing conceptions of human (and machine) possibilities, her recent turn to sociability, and her unique methodologies as major intellectual contributions. © 2012, IGI Global.