How Very Meta

I am currently a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I have completed comprehensive examinations in the areas of social theory and social psychology. To be more specific, my research interests center around identity, gender, technology (specifically the Internet), and social theory. My comprehensive exams took the form of two research papers. The first, in the area of social theory, is entitled “Are We to Be Forever Trapped Between the Two?: Modernity, Postmodernity, and the Internet;” I presented this paper at the 2003 meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society and it was recently published in Social Thought and Research (volume 25, #1 & 2, pages 85-110). The second, in the area of social psychology, is entitled “’ROLFMAO! ‘: The Presence of the Body in Web-Based Chat Rooms” and won second place in the 2003 Carl Couch Internet Research Awards; I presented it in the awards session at Internet Research 4.0, the 2003 meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers. I have presented smaller portions of that research project at the American Sociological Association meetings in August 2002 and at Internet Research 4.0.

During the summer of 2004, I attended Summer Doctoral Programme at the Oxford Internet Institute. I also presented a paper entitled “Public and Private on LiveJournal” at Internet Research 5.0 at the University of Sussex, England. This project will eventually become one chapter of my PhD dissertation, which has the working title “Public and Private in the ‘Blogosphere.”

Before coming to UMass, I completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton College. My senior thesis was entitled Contemporary Legends and Contemporary Values: A Cycle of Mutual Influence.