Contact Information Digital
Inequality 9/11 Political Discourse Global New Media Curriculum Vitae
Global New Media, Communication,
and Culture
Both my work on digital inequality and 9/11 virtual discourse fora
belong to a broader research agenda that seeks to contribute to the study of global new media, communication,
and culture. My work links the study of new media, interaction, and culture
together in response to the questions: What is local and what is global
about how differently situated social actors communicate and evaluate
information using new media? How do individuals socialized in different
cultural, economic, and national environments produce and read signals of
identity, trustworthiness, reputation, risk, and reliability? Throughout my work, I use a comparative lens on differently
situated user populations, early and late stage phenomena, and national groups
in
My two articles on eBay
I employ online questionnaires and
ethnography to reveal competing interpretations of institutionalized reputation
information in my examination of eBay’s community-wide boycott known as “Black
Friday.” In Everyday eBay Culture, I elucidate framing disjunctures
between the eBay administration and user community regarding informational
literacy, trust, and reputation that spark an online social movement.
A comparative case study approach to
evaluative processes is central to my article in Qualitative Sociology
with David Halle. We explore the effects of digitization on the ways people
understand their access to and engagement with the arts in online settings. We
study conflicting interpretations of legal and policy issues concerning
intellectual property and distribution. In Les Actes de l’Art & @rt,
I analyze the evolution of evaluation of visual data from ethnographic museums
in the 19th century to the internet in the 21st century.
My article in New Media &
Society was selected by the ASA Computer and Information Technology Section
for its 2007 Outstanding Paper Award. I undertake an analysis of virtual
identity signaling to argue that theoretical concepts and analytical frames
from symbolic interactionism play a critical role in unraveling the dynamics of
online interaction and identity work, as well as how individuals read identity
in mediated settings.
The exponential growth of new communication technologies and their rapid global diffusion necessitates comparative analyses sensitive to the distinctiveness of context. My work speaks to this challenge by uncovering how differently situated individuals bring their culturally specific resources to their encounters with new media.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
“New
Avenues for Sociological Inquiry: Evolving Forms of Ethnographic Practice.”
(with Jeremy Schulz). Forthcoming in Sociology.
“The Cyberself: Symbolic Interaction in the Digital Age.”
2007. New Media & Society, Volume 9,
Issue 1.
Award 2007 Outstanding Paper
ASA: Computer and Information Technology
Section
“Online Art Auctions à la française and à l’américaine: eBay
France and eBay USA.” 2006. The Social Science Computer Review. Volume
24:4.
“Digitization, the Internet, and the Arts: eBay, SAG,
e-Books, and Napster.” (with David Halle) 2002. Qualitative Sociology.
Volume 25:3.
Book Chapters
“Creating
Social Categories of Art: the Sociology of Art in Context.” forthcoming in Les
Actes de l’Art & @rt: l’Université de Paris VII.
“Black Friday and Feedback Bombing: An Examination of
Trust and Online Community in eBay’s Early History.” 2006. Everyday eBay Culture, Collecting, and
Desire. Ken Hillis, Michael Petit and Nathan Epley (Eds.), Routledge.
“Cultural
Constructions of Trust and Risk in Virtual Auction Houses: eBay
Book Reviews
“Doing
Visual Ethnography” 2008. Library and Information Science Research, Volume
30:4.
“Critical
Cyber-Culture Studies.” 2007. The Journal of Communication, Volume 57: 4.
Talks and Conference
Presentations
“Parallel
Systems and Cultural Difference in Art Auctions: French and American use of
eBay.”
USC
Annenberg,
“Online
Spaces and Ethnographic Inquiry: New Media Communication and Cyberethnographic
Practice.”
National
Communication Association Annual Convention,
“Online
Art Auctions à la française and à l’américaine: Comparing eBay
Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association,
“The
Internet: the Next Key Component of Visual Sociology.”
Annual
Meeting of the International Visual Sociology Association, San Francisco, 2004.
“Vive
la différence: Framing Art and Community in Two Online Venues.”
Annual
Meeting of the International Visual Sociology Association, San Francisco, 2004.
“Framing
and Reframing Museums: Art in Online Contexts.”
Art
& @rt: l’Université de Paris VII, 2004.
“Virtual
Auction Houses as Culturally Constructed Venues.”
Art
& @rt: l’Université de Paris VII, 2003.
“The
Cyberself: The Self-ing Project Goes Online” (with Jeremy Schulz).
Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, 2002.
“Cyberethnography
and the Future of Qualitative Digital Research.”
Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, 2002.
“The
Impact of New Technologies on the Arts.”
Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association,
“Reputation
and Trust on eBay: Black Friday: 08/20/99.”
Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association,
“The
Digitization of the Arts: Three Case Studies.”
Grants
2001 WebShop Conference on Internet Research
National Science Foundation Funded
Two-Week Seminar,
2000 Research Summer Mentorship Grant
UCLA Graduate Division