Searching for the why.
As an emerging media specialist, I study how technology and media affect people socially and psychologically. My research engages with niche demographics, and focuses on how media acts as an advocacy tool for different groups. Below are examples of my research conducted during my time as a Masters student at Boston University as well as a undergraduate at the University of Georgia.
To find examples of my academic writing that extends beyond research, scroll down to the “Academic Papers” section.
Turning to social in times of crisis.
With the rise of social media use globally, many turn to these platforms instead during acts of violence for help. In my most recent study, I analyzed social media use of students during gun violence, looking closely at the Stoneman Douglas shooting.
Beyond the cover.
In the past decade, we’ve seen more displays of activism originate online and a divide grow larger between the generations who turn to new media for news and those who continue to engage with traditional media In this paper, I analyzed two specific movements (#MeToo and #FridaysForFuture) and how hashtag activism intersects with some of the most popular traditional media outlets, specifically TIME Magazine.
Athens Eight: where are they now?
I conducted qualitative historical research with archival materials and oral histories. The research focused on the late 1960s and early 1970s, a period which saw significant change in US higher education, women’s rights, and the University of Georgia. In my research, I looked at the 1972 Sit-in of the Administration Building, and how this act of protest and the following legal proceedings affected civil rights movements in Athens, GA and nation-wide.
Academic Papers.
Below are academic papers I have written that focus more on fundamental concepts of emerging media.
Strengthening the reach of MDSC.
The Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress (MDSC) reached out to my team to conduct research on how they as a nonprofit organization can optimize their social media content to generate a greater volume of user engagement. To do so, we conducted a content analysis of the Facebook pages of 48 national and local Down syndrome nonprofits. For our paper, we focused on the Framing theory, using the theory regarding Episodic and Thematic frames (Iyengar, 1999) and an extension of the original theory developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000).
Ideas worth spreading.
During my junior and senior year at UGA, I worked with TEDxUGA. I was able to get an inside look at the sociological effects the organization had. For EM 797: Connecting Humans: Networks, History and Social Media, I analyzed these effects and explored how TEDx acts as a form of collective action.
Bowling Leagues Gone Virtual?
In The Internet Trap, Matthew Hindman develops a pessimistic thesis that the Internet has not increased individuals’ freedoms—whether economic, cultural or political. Throughout the book, he refutes Internet optimists’ predictions that the Internet would equalize, or disperse, attention and power—and in fact that it has done the opposite in many ways.
I critique Hindman’s argument by juxtaposing his thoughts with Robert D. Putnam’s on the decline group-based social structure found in his work Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.