This presentation is about a simple plastic brick.  It is also about a massive multimedia empire striving to build interactive virtual worlds from this brick.  But most of all, it is about play—in particular, how playing with these material and virtual bricks challenges us to rethink the binary distinction between digital and analog.  Beyond this distinction, the playful and participatory medium of LEGO may offer us a glimpse into the complex hybridity of an increasingly multimedia and transmedia culture.

Jonathan Rey Lee (Visiting scholar, Communication) is completing a book manuscript on the medium of LEGO.  He received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Riverside and has published articles on LEGO and board games.