Proudly nerding @ AOIR 2018: women & minorities leading Academia Research
Amazing. Inspiring. Sensational. Mind-blowing.
Those are some of the words to describe the learnings and findings shared at the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR). This annual conference is held around the world and this time was celebrated in Montreal. The AoIR is an Academic Association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of Internet studies.
I got a very fun spoiler alert here for you: even during Internet conferences we still have connection and/or technology failures, so, as a nice take away, don’t be frustrated in case this happens to you somewhere else!
I thought it was gonna be tough to be back on the research field and Academia after a formal year of being completely off from it, but it actually took me 5 minutes to switch back on my eternal student nerd chip. I was fascinated by all the information and realized that I really miss studying, sharing and exchanging with colleagues and students. I love being challenged, I’m amused by thinking and re-thinking things I take for granted about everyday life, the tech platforms I use and the behavior I assume on them, I surprise myself at my own conclusions and all the several ideas I can think of for further research after hearing inspiring colleagues talk about them.
And I’m even more obsessed and in love with the Internet and all its digital possibilities !!
Just to give you a glimpse, at the moment, just on this Chrome window alone, I have 21 opened tabs about the authors, researchers, thoughts and institutions that caught my eye and mind throughout today’s session. And it’s been only DAY ONE!
After 72 hours of non-stop exposure to research creme de la creme, I’m happy to share some of what I considered to be the highlights:
- The unthinkable users hacks and “mis-uses” off and on social media platforms (specially on Facebook, Instagram and Be Live Asia) under the most compelling and extraordinary ways.
- Those “un-findings” -as I’d like to call them- on the black game streamers practices in the US (specially the female black game streamers in Twitch)
- The importance of liveness on day to day activities and on massive, collective milestones; how they articulate what becomes an “event” or ‘eventful’ activity or memory.
- The redefinition of bingewatching — do we bingewatch the newspaper in the morning? are gamers bingewatching a challenge on a game? do we ‘bingelisten’ to podcasts?
- Is representation something relevant online? Are we happy with the open platform and open source of platform, sites and networks? Is there such thing as an “online white-supremacy” ? How and where nuances are articulated if the coding system was built and thought by white, straight man on top of this companies?
- The reflection on how we store our memories and how they are being shape by the different technologies (software and hardware alike) we use at the amazing Museum of Random Memory.
It was extremely interesting to see the amount of talented young women leading mind-blowing, awe-wing research. From Crystal Abidin leading the digital studies in Asia and recently in Scandinavia, to Esther Hammelburg in Holland collaborating with Van Dyck, I was gladly surprised that the female power reach Academia heights as well as Black, Asian and Native-American minorities. These people’s views at this levels are massively important to shape and contribute the textbooks and findings from a richer, wider perspective. The contextualization of the same phenomena from a different point of view changes it completely. And this is why this inclusion and representation is so much needed. In my small amount, I’m happy to have contributed to this and lean the scale a little bit more towards the ideal balance.
After all this mental awakening, I was able to present my studied done hand in hand with Prof. Anne Kaun, which contributed to the analysis on how the algorithms should be perceived: the urgent need to rethink algorithms as a constant work-in-progress, something that is being done and re-done on the interaction between people and the platform, day after day, minute by minute and not something given and fixed.
It felt extremely empowering yet humbling to be presenting our findings, by myself, in front of this superb and talented crowd of international, a-list researchers. Being, once again, as in most places I go, the only Uruguayan in the crowd — I was faced with the challenge of representation, explanation, justification and contextualization of my research. Why I was representing a Swedish University? Why did I perform my study in Singapore? Why am I living in NYC? Don’t get me wrong, the AoIR is one of the most inclusive, open-minded, fun and tolerant Association I’ve been part of, but one has that annoying yet ingrained need to explain my role there. I guess I needed a boost in my confidence, believing I belong there, that I earned my place among Academia— whatever my gender, my nationality or my age is.
Thankfully, my presentation was during the last day and that boost was in place before showtime. Today, I can say with total confidence I feel extremely proud of where I came from and where I am. I’m full of excitement and energy to steer up the next game changing research and fuel the creativity, investigation and work with upcoming challenges for the Internet, the Content and the Advertising Industry.
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Where I am now would not have been possible without the previous chosen path. Like those Maryland snails, which always leave a trail behind to realize where they are and where they have been. So, here comes the gratitude:
Here is where Prof. Javier Mazza, Prof. Raquel Guinovart, Prof. Mariangela Giaimo and Prof. Richard Danta come into place. All of those majestic, talented professors who re-kindled the knowledge light each time they opened their mouth to inspire us with their wisdom. They ignited the storytelling and the pleasure, desire and passion for understanding the cosmovision around us through words, paradigms and narratives.
Prof. Leandro Gomez and specially the lovely and brilliant Dr. Ana Ribeiro, who trusted me with classes and students, who taught me the passion and resilience needed for research and teaching and who allowed me to grow in my craziness while sharing my thoughts and ideas in class.
Thank you Prof. Goran for seeing a potential in Portugal and lead me to the talented Anne. I wish Anne was in Montreal with me. She was a stealth support on my thesis and trusted me to do a long distance mentoring and project which ended up in this fantastic opportunity. Tack sa mycket, Anne!
