Pintar received a master's degree in Anthropology and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with a concentration in science and technology studies, and an area focus on the former Yugoslavia.
Currently she is Teaching Associate Professor and Acting BS/IS Program Director at the UIUC School of Information Sciences,[3] as well as a faculty affiliate at the Illinois Informatics Institute where she teaches the design and programming of Interactive Fiction.
[5] In 1991, Pintar wrote and designed CosmoServe, using an early game design system for interactive fiction (IF), Adventure Game Toolkit (AGT) developed by Mark Welch and David Malmberg.
[6] The game won the 5th Annual Softworks AGT game-writing contest in 1991.
[7] The following year, 1992, she organized a team of Compuserve Gamer's Forum members and was the principal designer for creating Shades of Gray: an Adventure in Black and White.
[9] Shades of Gray is “generally considered the finest AGT game of all time.”[10] The collaborative authorship of the game is referenced as an example of the kinds of creative possibilities that emerged within the early online IF community.
[11][12] Both games were published in a book and CD by David Gerrold, Fatal Distractions: 87 Of the Very Best Ways to Get Beaten, Eaten, Maimed, and Mauled on Your PC, (Waite Group, 1994).
[14] This multidisciplinary work covers the history of hypnosis as well as the current contexts and controversies for its practice.
The Valley Between Us: Narrative manipulation and information bias in the racial segregation of Milwaukee.
This anthology explores how media and information technology shape housing choices and cultural understanding.
Not Your Grandmother’s Family Tree: Technology-mediated kinship & practices of privacy in genetic-genealogy networks.
Invisible, Aesthetic, and Enrolled Listeners across Storytelling Modalities: Immersive preference as situated player type.
[21] Her popular non-fiction book, The Halved Soul: Retelling the Myths of Romantic Love,[22] and the liner notes on her albums and CDs, incorporated stories and poetry that were originally performed.