D.E. Wittkower
Get to Know Me
Something that excites me in my field...
interdisciplinary collaboration
My hidden talent(s) is...
I restore fountain pens and other vintage and antique writing instruments, play ukulele, and raise orchids.
Last time I stepped out of my comfort zone...
I competed in a Division III open Foil event at a local USA Fencing Tournament.
Current University
Old Dominion University
Research Area
Philosophy of technology, information ethics, information literacy, and cybersecurity
Research Summary
His research focuses on and branches out from the intersection of phenomenology of technology and feminist ethics of care in order to address discriminatory technology and develop inclusive design strategies and processes.
Background
D.E. Wittkower is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Old Dominion University, and founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sociotechnical Critique.
Wittkower has published work on topics including discrimination in design, informational economies of care, self and self-performance on Facebook, friendship online, the function and value of boredom on SNS, the role of the cute in digital culture, the phenomenology of audiobooks, the Occupy movement, ethics of care and employee loyalty, exploitation and community in crowdfunding, and the crisis in copyright.
In addition to being editor or author of six books on philosophy for a general audience, he is author or coauthor of forty-five book chapters and journal articles, in publications including First Monday, Techné, International Review of Information Ethics, The APA Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers, and Social Identities. He has also written for Slate, Speakeasy, and Passcode, and has recorded a dozen audiobooks that, combined, have been accessed over a million times.
Alma Mater
Wittkower received his B.A. in Society and the Human Condition from University of Redlands in 1997, his M.A. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 2004, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 2006.