Who am I?

I’m a Cultural Anthropology PhD student working at the intersection of technologies and cultures. My primary work investigates the transformation of text based journalism (Newspapers and Blogs) within the United States. The foundation of this study is a multi-sited ethnography exploring the wide range of forces currently at play in transforming the collection, editing, publishing, and circulation of local, regional, and national news. The majority of the work will be spent in a midsize city’s daily newspaper and a range of alternate written media weekly “indie” papers and online citizen journalists. Supplemental research will be carried out at the Research and Development lab of a major news organization, at a non-profit news foundation, and at several journalism schools.

In addition to this work on journalism, my other research interests include the anthropology of knowledge, artificial intelligence, social media, martial arts, and the future of reading.

Prior to beginning at Cornell, I was a visiting professor at RIT’s School of Print Media. I completed a Masters in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago and, before that, spent eight years in a variety of internet production and content strategy roles at Eastman Kodak’s kodak.com.

I’m also available far various work for hire, including ideation, ethnography, freelance writing, and strategic consulting. You can email me at mbernius [at] gmail . com (my other social contacts to the right).