Well, it was another exciting season of reviewing a rich batch of applications for our 2016 PhD Internship Program. We love reading about all the great work out there but really, really, really hate that we have just a few seats for our intern program. Please spread the word about this program and throw your …
Reflections on technology and the 2016 elections
Way back in 2008, Off the Bus reporter Mayhill Fowler filed a report on an appearance by Hillary Clinton during that spring's Democratic primary. The piece opens with a quote: "'Being here this morning is a gift,' Hillary Clinton says to the small band of supporters, several hundred strong, gathered under the Saturday morning sun …
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Book release: Queering the Countryside-New Frontiers in Rural Queer Studies
I am happy to announce the release of Queering the Countryside, with exciting contributions by great scholars and edited by Brian J. Gilley, Colin R. Johnson and myself. Find it in NYU Press, or order it from Amazon. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Rural queer experience is often hidden or ignored, and presumed to be alienating, lacking, and incomplete …
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How To Get a Social Media Ph.D.
A few months ago, I asked how we might reconsider Ph.D. education in light of digital media, social media, and the changing landscape of scholarly publishing. No matter what your Ph.D. aspirations are, all Ph.D.s are sort-of about publishing and dissemination of research and also reading research, and these activities are being transformed by digital media. …
How Do Users Take Collective Action Against Online Platforms? CHI Honorable Mention
What factors lead users in an online platform to join together in mass collective action to influence those who run the platform? Today, I'm excited to share that my CHI paper on the reddit blackout has received a Best Paper Honorable Mention! (Read the pre-print version of my paper here) When users of online platforms complain, we're often …
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SMC media roundup
This is a collection of some of our researchers' quotes, mentions, or writings in mainstream media. Topics include Facebook's supposed neutral community standards, sharing economy workers uniting to protest, living under surveillance and relational labor in music. Tarleton Gillespie in the Washington Post --> The Big Myth Facebook needs everyone to believe And yet, observers …
#trendingistrending: when algorithms become culture
I wanted to share a new essay, "#Trendingistrending: When Algorithms Become Culture" that I've just completed for a forthcoming Routledge anthology called Algorithmic Cultures: Essays on Meaning, Performance and New Technologies, edited by Robert Seyfert and Jonathan Roberge. My aim is to focus on the various "trending algorithms" that populate social media platforms, consider what they do as a set, and then …
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LA Times Op-Ed: Your job is about to get “taskified”
I've got a small Op-Ed from our crowdwork research in the Sunday's Los Angeles Times' print edition, published on January 10th, 2016 . It reflects on the challenges that workers face in a world of “taskified” labor—particularly the problem of getting paid when no one’s legally on the hook for sending you your last paycheck. Full …
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kudos for upcoming SMC visitor Paul Dourish
Now that we have said goodbye to our most recent long-term visitor, Henry Jenkins, we can look ahead to our next, Paul Dourish. It's a fine time to do so, as he has just been awarded two honors that testify to his important contributions to the study of computation and society. His 1992 paper "Awareness and Coordination …
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Henry Jenkins, on “Comics and Stuff”
We have had the distinct privilege of having Henry Jenkins visit our research group for the past few months. Give the immense impact of his work on the study of digital culture and digital industries, fan communities and the creative repurposing of media texts, and political participation and new forms of online activism, it was …
Social Media Collective 