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 …

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, …

A friend of mine asked this question in a post online and because I could never the initial link that talked about this “vook,” I went in search of it myself. Here it is…a new stage of book development.

At first glance, this is very intriguing to me. The idea of …

As a user of visual media online, what aspects of interactivity and visual presentation have you come to expect in online publications and Web sites?
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I have to say that I think I’m pretty old school when it comes to what I expect from online publications and Web sites. What does ...

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 …

What does your set of commonly used social media tools say about you as a participant of the human + machine culture? Give examples to illustrate.
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I will try anything once…just about.
That’s my short answer.
Here’s the longer answer.
I’m fairly immersed in the h+m culture. I’m a heavy participant. I remember ...

Great interview with online luminary Clay Shirky over at Salon.com in which he explains the new digital literary revolution and how the Web will change reading.
I have to print this as a PDF and take some notes because Shirky has some solid thoughts on technological and cultural change and “which …

As a technical communicator, what tools comprise your toolset? What advantages do they have over other tools? What one dream tool would you add to your list (something you’d like to learn)?
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Interesting set of questions because this time next year, I could be listing yet another set of tools.
The Tools I ...

What topic(s) are you considering for the paper? Discuss one or more alternatives in detail and explain its relation to some of the concepts and theories we’re reading (or are going to be reading).
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Tentative Title: Blogging While Black: Mommy Bloggers
Idea: In this course, we’ve talked about how digital writing ...

This caught my eye because of our talks a few weeks ago in Internet Writing class about journalism and the importance of storytelling in writing the news.
The article is called “Kill Art and Craft, and You Might Share the Coffin” by Ike Pigott, and he discusses the importance of storytelling …