Current Research:

My dissertation research focuses on military recruiting advertisements during the era of the all volunteer force, 1973 to the present. In focusing on print ads targeted towards women and people of color, I am interested in the ways that recruiting ads have used representations of difference in making appeals to potential recruits. Ground in archival research, I explore how representations of difference emerging at the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, and class articulate and reflect ideals of citizenship. While my dissertation research focuses on print advertisements, I used tools learned while completing my NMCC certificate to digitize my archive of military recruiting advertisements.

Discovery of NMCC:

I discovered the New Media and Culture Certificate while taking a course on Histories and Theories of New Media in the School of Journalism and Communication. As a feminist media studies scholar interested in the ways media representations and technologies shape, and are shaped by, cultural understandings and material practices, I was excited about the opportunity to engage in a transdisciplinary program. Since then I’ve taken a number of NMCC courses, including a course on Informational Politics in the Philosophy Department, a Habitual New Media course in Comparative Literature, and a Digital Ethnography course. All the courses I’ve taken as part of the NMCC have shaped my research interests and have provided me with the opportunity to engage with students and faculty from across the university who I otherwise might not have met. The NMCC has been incredibly influential in shaping my experience as a grad student at the UO.

Useful Resources for New Media Students:

Outside of the faculty and fellow students I’ve met while pursuing the NMC certificate, I’ve found a number of useful resources. The Digital Scholarship Center has been a fantastic resource as has the Fembot Collective. Through the DSC and the Fembot Collective I also had the opportunity to meet with numerous scholars from a variety of disciplines who have a vast wealth of knowledge to share. I also just recently discovered The Programming Historian, which has a variety of lessons and tutorials on techniques for digital scholarship.

Influential Reads:

The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age– Allucquère Rosanne Stone

Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet– Lisa Nakamura

Programmed Visions: Software and Memory– Wendy Hui Kyong Chun

Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature– Donna J. Haraway

Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women– Anne Balsamo

What My Year Looks Like:

This year I am planning on continuing my dissertation research while also exploring other research interests. I’m working with the Digital Scholarship Center to construct an interactive archive based on my primary source research on military advertising. I’m also working with the DSC and the Fembot Collective in designing a tutorial on using digital tools for social activism. I’ll also be serving as a Fembot Grad Student Intern and helping with new initiatives for the academic year, including Ms. Fembot 2016 in LA this spring

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