Biography

Mary Leigh Morbey is Professor of Culture and Technology and serves as the Associate Co-Chair of the York University Institute of Research on Digital Learning. Currently she leads an international research project, Ugandan Heritage Sites, between the Uganda National Museum (Kampala) with museum Conservator Linda Neruba, and the York Institute for Research on Digital Learning research team – Dr. Maureen Senoga, Dr. Michelle Sengara, and videographer Mary Pat O’Meara. Their work captures Ugandan heritage sites through video and photograph, and stories of the older people living in the shadow of the sites through videoed interview in English and Luganda. Thus far, data of ten sites (of 100) collected with Mary Pat O’Meara in August 2013 when Dr. Morbey was a Guest Researcher with the museum, illustrate the rich culture of Uganda: little known by Ugandans and the world. The data, situated in a Social Media structure to be centered in a museum website, preserves and communicates about potentially lost heritage. A trailer of six YouTube videos can be viewed, and commented upon, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oePhs1XVLPM, with the current project research Facebook page located at https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=uganda%20heritage%20sites%20%2B%20stories.

Currently a second research project, a Facebook eight-year longitudinal study with Dr. Michelle Sengara and York Masters of Education graduate Mordechai Sabeti, examines pedagogical implications of adapting Facebook for learning in graduate and undergraduate higher education blended (both in class and online) courses. The study explores what is gained through the use of closed and protected Facebook sites in university education, centering on challenges and opportunities for education in a world of Social Media.

Professor Morbey researches, teaches, and publishes widely on the theory, history, practice, and education of Web participatory architecture and Social Media, and technological mediations of visual culture with an emphasis on East Africa. Her publications are included in Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon, Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, SIGGRAPH Visual Proceedings, the International Journal of Learning and Media, and the International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, as well as other academic book chapters and journals. Presently she is completing a book that links information communication technologies to education, juxtaposing open access, open content, and participatory Web and Social Media, and exploring ethical frameworks in which to situate and practice current technological developments. She has been a Guest Researcher at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia; The Louvre Museum, Paris, France; and the Uganda National Museum, Kampala, Uganda.

Scholarly Interests

·      Web 3.0/4.0 technologies including Social Media

·      Ethics and information communications technology theory and practice with an emphasis on access

·      The Global South/developing world

·      National museum virtual spaces

·      Technological mediations in visual cultures

Selected Publications

• Morbey, Mary Leigh, & Steele, Carolyn (2013). Student Mastery in Metamodal Learning Environments: Moving Beyond Multimodal Literacy. In Carel Whithaus, & Tracey Bowen Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres of Student Compositions. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh
• Morbey, Mary Leigh, Villamor, Lourdes, Senoga, Maureen, & Griffith, Jane (2012). Participatory Architecture: Web 2.0 Education in the Uganda National Museum . In Harrison H. Yang, & Shuyan Wang Cases on Formal, Non-Formal, and Informal Online Learning: Opportunities and Practices. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference
• Morbey, Mary Leigh (2011). Beyond Multimedia Literacy: Supporting Mastery in Virtual Environments International Journal of Learning and Media, 2(4), 7-20 (MIT Press). doi:10.1162/ijlm_a_00058.
• Morbey, Mary Leigh (2009). National Museums Websites: Colonizing and De-Colonizing. In M. Bermann, & T. Faust (Eds.), Handbook of Business and Finance: Multinational Companies, Venture Capital and Non-Profit Organizations (pp. 179-190). New York: Nova Science Publishers
• Morbey, Mary Leigh (2006). Killing a Culture Softly: Corporate Partnership with a Russian Museum. International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, 21(4), 267-282.
• Morbey, Mary Leigh (2000). Academic Computing and Beyond: New Opportunities for Women, Minority Populations, and the New Media Arts. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 6(4), 54-77. doi:10.1177/135485650000600405.
• Morbey, Mary Leigh (1998). Harold Cohen Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon. Die Bildenden Kunstler aller Zeiten und Volker (Vol. 20, pp. 164-165). Munchen/LeipzigGermany: K. G. Saur Verlag

Selected Presentations

• Morbey, M. L., York, D. N., O'Meara, M. P., Senoga, M., & Sengara, M. (April 2014). Decolonizing Architecture of Participation for the Uganda National Museum: Web 2.0 Expressions of Heritage Sites. Presented at: American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia
• Morbey, M. L., & Sabeti, F. M. (April 2014). To Friend or Not to Friend: An Exploration of Facebook for Higher Education Teaching and Learning. Presented at: American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia
• Morbey, M. L., Mwanja, R. N., Senoga, M., O'Meara, M. P., & York, D. (August 2013). Expressions of Uganda Heritage Sites. Presented at: Uganda National Museum, Kampala
• Morbey, M. L., Villamor, L., & Sabeti, F. M. (May 2013). To Friend or Not to Friend: Adopting Facebook for University Course-Based Learning. Presented at: First International Conference of Social Media: Implications for the University, Toronto
• Morbey, M. L., Senoga, M., Villamor, L., & Griffith, J. (October 2012). Social Media Engages Oral Culture in the Uganda National Museum. Presented at: 4th European Communication Conference: Social Media and Global Voices, Istanbul
• Wiencek, F., Morbey, M. L., & Lombardi, J. (October 2012). Virtual Collaboration Spaces for Transdisciplinary Research and Pedagogy: A Conceptualization. Presented at: 4th European Communication Conference: Social Media and Global Voices, Istanbul
• Morbey, M. L. (April 2012). Oral Culture and Digital Voices in the Uganda National Museum. Presented at: Technology and New Media Speaker Series, Duke Unviersity, Durham, NC
• Morbey, M. L. (May 2011). Metamedia Immersive Environments: Transitions in Digital Learning. Presented at: Media in Transition 7 - Unstable Platforms: The Promise and Peril of Transition International Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
• Morbey, M. L., Senoga, M., Villamor, L., & Kortenaar, P. (May 2011). Problematics of the Uganda National Museums Engaging Web 2.0. Presented at: Media in Transition 7 - Unstable Platforms: The Promise and Peril of Transition International Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
• Morbey, M. L., Kortenaar, P., Senoga, M., & Villamor, L. (May 2011). The Uganda National Museum Engages Web 2.0: Challenges and Possibilities. Presented at: Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies, Toronto
• Morbey, M. L., Napeyok, E. P., Kortenaar, P., & Senoga, M. (July 2010). Web 2.0 Comes to the Uganda National Museum. Presented at: 2nd International Conference on Education, Economy and Society, Paris, France
• Morbey, M. L. (June 2006). Cultural Identity on National Museum Websites. Presented at: Fifth International Conference on Cultural Attitudes towards Technology and Communication, Tartu, Estonia
• Morbey, M. L. (September 2005). From Cybercolonialism to Cyberglocalization: A Virutal Shifting of Cultural Identity on National Museum Websites. Presented at: REFRESH! The First International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology, Banff, AB

Research Projects

The Storm of Progress - New Horizons, New Narratives, New Code

New Media Network Development

Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL)

Women, Discriminating Technology and the Visual Arts: In Search of a Gender Equitable Theoretical Framework for Computer-Based Visual Arts

Awards

• Kenneth Marantz Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of Scholarly Excellence, The Ohio State University - 2001

York University Affiliations/Cross Appointments

• Institute for Research on Digital Learning: Associate Co-Chair
• Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technology: Associate Member

Partnerships/Initiatives/Centres

• Institute for Research on Digital Learning: Research lead for the partnership between the York Institute for Research on Digital Learning (Toronto) and the Uganda National Museum Uganda Heritage Sites Project (Kampala) with museum Conservator Linda Neruba.