Martey focuses on social interaction in and engagement with digital technologies, including video games, social media and virtual worlds. She examines identity in digital spaces, including race, gender and sexuality.

Martey’s work includes the development and testing of an app designed to facilitate complex analyses and the design and testing of an educational game for improving decision-making skills. Publications include an examination of gender and age in Second Life and World of Warcraft, and assessments of engagement and motivation in a digital game.

Martey led the creation of a handbook for media makers, “Multiculturalism Matters,” that offers guidelines for using inclusive language in their work.

Martey is a member of several professional associations, including the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, the International Association for Media and Communication Research and the Association of Internet Researchers.

Martey earned her B.A. and her M.S. in regional economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and 1994, respectively, and a Ph.D. from that institution’s Annenberg School for Communication in 2006.