Julia Parke

Julia Parke (she/they) is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information and a research affiliate at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University. Her doctoral research examines the emergence of virtual/AI social media influencers on popular digital platforms. Drawing from platform research and cultural studies, she introduces the theoretical framework of ‘virtual skin’ to analyze racial and gendered embodiment in immersive and augmented digital spaces. This framework connects tech industry narratives with historical patterns of racial representation, investigating the ‘assetization’ of virtual race within attention and loneliness economies.

Julia’s adjacent research interests include the Korean Wave (‘Hallyu’) and the implications of East Asian popular media and fandom for theories of affect and globalization. She has written on ethnic and diasporic media, AI-generated synthetic media, KPOP, Internet culture, and girlhood for Feminist Theory, Canadian Journal of Communication, and the Journal of Global Diaspora & Migration.

As an AI consultant and Strategic Communications Advisor for Statistics Canada, Julia conducts workshops on AI bias and social media for directors and researchers in the public service. Her community engagement work has involved a partnership with STACKT market for Asian Heritage Month, funded by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and knowledge translation projects through outlets such as Teen Vogue, The Conversation, Koffler Centre of the Arts, and Vancouver TAIWANfest.