Tanja Sihvonen gained a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Turku, Finland, in 2009. After graduating she worked in Amsterdam (NL) and in the Game Research Lab in Tampere (FI). She was appointed as professor of communication studies at the University of Vaasa (FI) in 2014.
After gaining a PhD in media studies from the University of Turku (FI), she has published widely on various topics related to digital media and technology. In her book Players Unleashed! Modding The Sims and the Culture of Gaming (Amsterdam University Press, 2011 – open access link) she presented a theoretical frame for the study of players and users creatively extending and appropriating computer games and other digital applications.
Her most recent research considers role-playing games, queer game studies, and game economies, as well as the uses and misuses of social media. She writes about trolling and astroturfing, discourses of blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies, and interaction with robots and social bots.
At the moment, she acts as the leader of two multidisciplinary research projects: Conceptualizing Blockchains (CoBlo, 2018-), funded by Aktia Vaasa Foundation, Foundation for the Advancement of Finnish Securities Markets, Foundation for Economic Education, OP Group Research Foundation, and the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion; and Short-form videos as news source for young people (Lyhytvideot nuorten uutislähteenä, 2022-) funded by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation.
See more of her scholarly works on the Publications page.