Methods
My dissertation uses a mixed-method approach to examine African-American mom bloggers’ online identity creation–individually and socially, and how these identities and the use of blogs enable interaction with readers and development of a community among African-American bloggers and their readers. This approach is three-fold: interviews with African-American mom bloggers, a …

Framework
At least three foregrounded identities present themselves for the African-American mom blogger: African-American (race), Woman (gender), and Mother (work). Each of these identities is embedded with its own history that must be negotiated by the woman. It’s not a one-time negotiation; it’s fluid, changing to reflect new experiences outside and …

Intro
In the summer of 2010, I took an Internet Writing course, and in the class, we had to write a paper that focused on some aspect of writing for the Internet. At the time of the class, I was in my last leg of course work and was trying to …

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 …

Chapters are being sought for an edited volume, which seeks to map the study of religion in relation to digital games and gaming environments. The book will
focus on how video games can be read as religious texts, rituals or experiences, as well as investigations of religious narratives/themes employed in video …

Dear Colleagues,
Chapter proposals are invited for an edited book on Virtual Worlds in Online and Distance Education, to be published by Athabasca University Press as part of Terry Anderson’s Issues in Distance Education series. The book’s scope will encompass the use of virtual worlds for fully online/distance and blended modes …

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 …

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, …