It’s been awhile since I’ve last posted. Last semester was a tough one for me, but I managed to accomplish the things I had set before me. I took and passed the qualifying exams at the end of August, I wrote and had approved my full proposal, and I submitted …

I recently learned that I passed my qualifying exams: the day would be September 9, 2011. It was a hot day, and I had been waiting 11 days, on pins and needles, awaiting a call from my chair. As I typed…no, I won’t bore you with the narration of the big …

I’m not sure how one is supposed to feel when she reaches this moment, but I was over-the-moon happy. What moment is this? Finally having my pre-proposal approved and quals date set.
I went through three revisions of the pre-proposal with my diss chair before we submitted it to the entire …

After mentioning several studies that she felt illustrated quality in their qualitative research (Cherny 1999; Danet 2001; Markham 1998; Turkle 1996; Baym 2000), Baym states that the arguments developed in these works are compelling because of “at least six interrelated strengths they share: they are grounded in theory and data, …

Statement about qualitative research that stuck out to me in Baym’s “Finding the Quality in Qualitative Internet Research”…
“Although counterarguments may be a little harder to predict, high-quality qualitative work should anticipate those counterarguments and provide a persuasive evidence-based case against them both in the structuring of the research design and …

Today, while chatting on Facebook, I joked about how a dissertation was a not a story but being a creative writer perhaps I would think about the dissertation as a story–perhaps it would help me to write it when the time came to do so.
Right now, I’m typing up notes …

I recently finished reading Martin Kevorkian’s Color Monitors: The Black Face of Technology in America [click cover to read more about book], and it was definitely a different way to examine the idea of race and technology. I have read many articles and several books that talk about the digital …

I wasn’t sure this day would happen, and it’s just a small, teeny tiny step in the progress, but it’s a step, so that makes it important. For the last month, month and a half, I’ve been going back and forth with my dissertation chair with my pre-proposal. With his …

Families are vital components of our lives. Through families, we receive unconditional love, trust, devotion, support, and encouragement.
Are families vital components to our Second lives?
Yes, to many of us. Many continue to see SL as merely a game, a place to live out fantasies that have nothing to do with …

I wanted to make sure I got this blog post in before 2011 because I wanted the post dated in the year the milestone was accomplished.
Some might not see this as much of a milestone, but when I think about how my personal life has changed and been changed since …

Been awhile since I’ve updated, but since summer classes ended, I needed a break to prepare for the fall classes, and now I’m a month into the last semester of course work.
What does this mean for me?
Well, plenty!
Narrowing my dissertation topic (focus, focus, focus), getting my research questions together (tighten, …

Having read a range of materials this term, some familiar and some new, on what topic do you want to research or read more about and why?
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Can’t pick just one topic. So much fascinates me. Three topics I’m interested in learning more about are game culture and what TC can ...

I have submitted my behemoth of a paper, “Where We Stand: On Being Mommy Bloggers of Color” to my professor. Am I happy with it? Actually, I think I am. There’s some good material there and in revisions, it will get better. Because I love Wordles so much, I of course …

About three weeks ago, I did it. Did what, you might ask? Completed my first year of doctoral work. It was challenging and at times, extraordinarily difficult, but I have learned some major things about myself as a person and as a student that I believe will carry well as …