iSchool Professor Matt Ratto, his collaboration group ThingTank Lab, and the Knowledge Media Design Institute have received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Fund. Ratto’s successful grant is titled ‘Digital economy trading zones: interactional expertise and the role of public, private, and academic values’.

Professor Mary-Lou Lobsinger from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design is one of co-applicants of the grant. Other go-applicants include Professor Sara Grimes from the Faculty of Information, Professor Megan Boler from OISE, Professors Kate Hartman and Professor Emma Westecott from OCAD University, and Professor Jason Nolan from Ryerson University.

The project leverages Ratto’s public-private-academic consortium ThingTank Lab (previously DDiMIT) and asks what are the necessary and important characteristics that allow a digital economy ‘trading zone’ to flourish? The project runs for three years and primarily provides salaries and stipends for masters and PhD students.