Bio:
Wesley Shumar’s research is focused on the commodification of culture, the cultural production of value, the transformation of space, time, and communicative interaction through digital technologies, and the social and interactive processes of learning. His work on higher education focuses on the cultural and spatial transformation of American universities within an increasingly consumerist economy. His work on learning focuses on the ways the internet and digital technologies can enhance learning interactions. He is currently exploring the craft economy and the production of value. He is writing a book on the craft beer community to be published by Routledge. He is Co-PI on the EnCoMPASS Project, a 4-year National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project. The project promotes an authentic teacher professional development community through an NSF developed software tool and a unique curriculum design. He is author of College for Sale: A Critique of the Commodification of Higher Education, Falmer Press, 1997 and Inside Mathforum.org: Analysis of an Online Mathematics Education Community, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. He is co-editor of Structure and Agency in the Neoliberal University, Routledge/Falmer, 2008 and Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace, published by Cambridge University Press, 2002. His forthcoming book is Producing and Consuming the Craft Beer Movement, As part of the Routledge Critical Beverage Studies Series.