I am a PhD candidate in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. My research investigates the values embedded in the design of digital health technologies, and how these values both impact and reflect cultural beliefs about the “healthy person.”

For my dissertation project, I am conducting ethnographic research within the meditation technology industry in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Through fieldwork and interviews with meditation app designers and users, as well as the broader meditation community, this project explores how the design and use of meditation technologies shapes the contemporary experience of stress and mental health.

Prior to entering a PhD program, I was a fellow at the Center for Technology, Society, and Policy at UC Berkeley, where I conducted a research project that investigated how neighborhood watch was enacted on the social network Nextdoor.com. I’ve also worked as a research-focused User Experience Designer in the SF Bay Area, after earning a Master’s of Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University and an MA in Psychology from New York University.

Feel free to contact me with questions or opportunities. I can be reached at rebecca [dot] jablonsky [at] gmail [dot] com