Rachel Plotnick is an Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in The Media School at Indiana University Bloomington. She received her PhD from the Media, Technology and Society program in the School of Communication at Northwestern University. Her research and teaching focus on information, communication and media technologies from an historical and critical/cultural perspective.

Specifically, Rachel’s research agenda examines human-machine relations, particularly as they relate to interfaces. She investigates how these surfaces play a role in the technological and social aspects of daily life.

Rachel’s book, Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic and the Politics of Pushing is published by The MIT Press. Read an excerpt.

Her research is also featured in Technology and CultureNew Media and Society, the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST)Media, Culture and Society and others.