Research

I’m an interdisciplinarian who’s interested in the role of storytelling in everyday life and the effect of new technology on how and why we tell stories.

Research Interests: print culture and technology, narratology and storytelling, narrative methodology, new media ecology, textual communication, transmedia storytelling, visual and design communication, communication and writing pedagogy, Canadian writing

Dissertation:

  • Working Title (updated): Print culture and new media: An ecology of Canadian Generation-X writers and writing, 2000-2009.
  • Description: My dissertation is an ecological-style analysis of narrative works published from 2000-2009 by Canadian writers born 1961-1981 (Generation X). The impetus for this study is the prevalent belief that the internet and social media are having a detrimental impact on reading and writing skills. My goal is two-pronged: first, to determine whether there were any notable changes in writing style during the Aughts and second, if there were, to determine whether they appear to be individual (more likely to affect heavy social media users) or societal (likely to affect even new media abstainers).

  • posts on process

Bibliography:

Comprehensive Areas:

Papers Written for PhD Coursework: Focal Practices and Online Community ■ By(e) Anonymous ■ Who Are You? Reading L.M. Montgomery’s Self-Construction as a Writer through Emily Byrd Starr ■ Who’s Telling the Story? Gender and Attribution in “The Legend of Two Sisters” and “The Legend of the Squamish Twins” / “The Recluse” ■ Jokes & Judgments: Media Representations of the “Octomom” ■ You Have the Power: The Importance of Foucault’s Work on Power for Studies of New Media ■ Really Radical Media: Enzensberger’s Reversal vs. Baudrillard’s Transgression ■ The Prescience of Pre-“Ideology” Writers: Machiavelli and Milton ■ From “Second Life” to “Online Presence”: The Transformation of Online Presentation of Self ■ Author and Hero in Fake Memoirs: The Case of Margaret B. Jones

Master’s thesis:

MA Papers: Dialogism in Blog Narratives: Theories and Practicalities ■ Yours, Mine, and Ours: Intertextuality in Blog Narratives ■ BlogHer: Constructive Tool or Technological Ghetto? ■ Intertextuality In The Blogosphere: Why A Creative Commons Approach Makes More Sense Than “All Rights Reserved” ■ 21st Century Pilgrimages: “Running” For Charity ■ VICTI/M/ONSTER: The Monstrous-Feminine In Monster ■ Online Diaries: The Personal is Political Reprised

And a few older titles to show the progression of my research interests…

Law, Select Papers: It’s Not (Always) About The Money: How Web logs and the Creative Commons are Shaking Up Traditional Media ■ The Intersection of Workplace and Cyberspace: Balancing Employees’ Privacy Rights with Employers’ Concerns ■ The Origins and Extent of Property Rights: The Compatibility of Locke’s Ideas with Delgamuukw

Education, Select Papers and Presentations: Barbara Hepworth (presentation) ■ Critique of Mary Pratt’s Child with Two Adults ■ Georgia O’Keeffe (presentation) ■ Gallery Presentation: Malei Young ■ Women Artists (presentation) ■ Simone de Beauvoir: Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

Biology, Select Papers: Does Wilderness Have Intrinsic Value? Flawed Arguments in Favor of Intrinsic Value ■ Predictive and Prenatal Testing for Huntington’s Disease: Procedures and Ethical Implications ■ Amniocentesis and its Applications to Genetic Counselling

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