About Graeme Kirkpatrick

Graeme Kirkpatrick first studied Peace Studies at Bradford University and then Mastered in political philosophy at York. He earned a PhD on analytical philosophy of mind and principles of explanations in the human sciences at Birkbeck in London. Since 2000, he has been working on issues related to technology. His first monograph, Critical Technology, was a critical study of the principles of human-machine interface design on personal computers and it won the Philip Abrams Memorial Prize from the British Sociological Association in 2005. In this monograph, he explores the social processes and the 'technical politics' that have shaped the artifacts, which populate digital culture. 

Then in 2002, he started studying video games and in 2003 to 2004 he established the first purely humanities-based MA degree in the subject. 

His work on digital culture and games has recently taken a historical turn as he is currently collaborating, as a visiting researcher, with colleagues at the university of Lodz, on a project looking at the reception of new media in Poland in the 80s and 90s. He is also working with colleagues in Denmark and Australia to form a network of scholars exploring the early history of computer gaming. 

His research is in the following areas:

1      The place of technology in social thought.

2     The social history of computer games and gaming.

     Critique and the future of critical social theory.

However, more recently he has concentrated on video games. Computer Games and the Social Imaginary, positions the development of the medium in social and cultural context.