Joanne's interest in technology is not limited to policy and social implementation and adoption. She is a true 'geekgrrl' (yes, the spelling error is actually deliberate), building computers as a hobby, and keeping up with technology development and diffusion as a matter of course. Joanne moved to the UK in December 2007 on a Highly Skilled Migrant Program status, to exercise her skills in social networking production and deployment with Xenial, a Fleming Media company. She has been Client Director of Xenial since February 2008, and is happily based in the lively London creative district of Soho. Previously Joanne has had a successful consultancy practice in Australia. She resigned after twelve years as a university academic in February 2007 to pursue her consultancy business full-time. After receiving a number of queries from the private sector to act as a consultant, but never having enough time to devote to her contract work, Joanne felt it was finally time to move away from the comfort of the university life and focus on her commercial ventures.

Joanne's long career as a university academic involved teaching in communications and strategic use of information technology. Joanne was Lecturer in the MBA program at the Brisbane Graduate School of Business at Queensland University of Technology where she taught for five years and conducted research in E-commerce, e-communications policy and Internet Marketing. She has previously been lecturer in Telecommunications and Media Studies at Swinburne University (under Professor Trevor Barr) for three years and Monash University in communications policy and practice at the National Centre for Australian Studies (under Professor Peter Spearritt) for five years. She also acted as a Research Assistant and Webmaestro for NCAS. During 2005 she was acting as a private consultant for organisations, acting as an e-commerce strategist and conducting business analysis of front-end websites as well as integration for back end systems and general information technology management, media communications, public relations and marketing. And from 2005-2007 she was seconded to the Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design (ACID) where she acted as a Program and Project Manager for research projects in interactive television advertising, and she provided strategic advice and analysis on the products of all research programs at ACID.

Joanne is also a former classical ballet dancer, and she taught classical ballet for eight years at the Waverley Academy under the direction of Pauline Waters.

Joanne is one of eleven Ideas Advisors appointed by Premier Peter Beattie for the Brisbane Ideas Festival, taking place at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre during March and April 2006.

She was Secretary/Treasurer for the Australia and New Zealand Communication Association from 2002 -2004 and was Webmaestro for ANZCA fro 2001 - 2007. She is also on the organisational and advisory committee for the National Forum project, publishers of the successful On Line Opinion electronic journal, and she is Creative Director of the Young Networks Foundation. She has been a member of several other organisations ranging from the political to the cultural, and is an active member of several virtual communities.

Joanne's brother, Andrew (Andy Grace to his on air listeners), is a prominent Sydney radio announcer with a history of working for the AUSTEREO and Australian Radio Networks.

Joanne also maintains an academic analysis of blogging through her LiveJournal Account. Feel free to discus issues she raises there.