If you've been viewing the entries of this website already, you'll know I have a tremendous amount of admiration for the country of New Zealand, but I have seen first-hand many issues it shares with the rest of the world; problems of rape culture, sexism, racial/ethnic minority issues, a lack of LGBT+ resources and more. But along with these things I have also seen a wellspring of scholars seeking to improve these issues and due to the cultural climate of the country, they are making great strides in this research that is resulting in powerful changes for the world. I want to be a part of this - front and center.
My trip to New Zealand this time last year was a powerful one for me as evidenced by this site and it has changed my academic future for the better. Starting with this new blog page I am announcing plans of further education in New Zealand's Massey University of Wellington! I am first planning to go this upcoming February of 2017 and then if things pan out I plan to go again for post-bachelor study in my field! I have already been accepted into a USAC program, and applied to many scholarships but this will take a lot of work, determination, and help from my friends, family, and those who believe in me. This blog post will serve to explain my plans and introduce my future, expanding on the ethnographic experiences in middle earth.
My trip to New Zealand this time last year was a powerful one for me as evidenced by this site and it has changed my academic future for the better. Starting with this new blog page I am announcing plans of further education in New Zealand's Massey University of Wellington! I am first planning to go this upcoming February of 2017 and then if things pan out I plan to go again for post-bachelor study in my field! I have already been accepted into a USAC program, and applied to many scholarships but this will take a lot of work, determination, and help from my friends, family, and those who believe in me. This blog post will serve to explain my plans and introduce my future, expanding on the ethnographic experiences in middle earth.
A little Background
My degree paths are in Communication and Anthropology. I decided on these departments with a specific goal of learning how to do a job I have been doing for the past 6 years, better - building a safe, closet-friendly, online community for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and other (LGBT+) minority communities in the U.S. With this knowledge I built a community on my own YouTube Channel founded Trans* Youth Channel, and RESCQU NET (Resources Empowering the Stealth Closeted, Questioning, and Under-resourced community on the net).
In this work I have become keenly aware, as have many in the marketing and public relations business, that the internet is a different world for every demographic of people. For some it's a well-spring of information, for others its an entertainment and social platform, and for even more it is a dangerous place where information is sold to the highest bidder or being 'outed' is a tweet away. These viewpoints of the internet change based upon race, ethnicity, sexuality, and more just as with regular cultures and it is my opinion that this must be studied in an equal fashion to ethnography in physical places. As Bonnie Nardi and Jeff Snodgrass have mentioned in their ethnographic works of World of Warcraft, and online in general, these spaces are culturally significant in their own right and cannot be studied without recognizing their integration with physical cultural centers.
In this work I have become keenly aware, as have many in the marketing and public relations business, that the internet is a different world for every demographic of people. For some it's a well-spring of information, for others its an entertainment and social platform, and for even more it is a dangerous place where information is sold to the highest bidder or being 'outed' is a tweet away. These viewpoints of the internet change based upon race, ethnicity, sexuality, and more just as with regular cultures and it is my opinion that this must be studied in an equal fashion to ethnography in physical places. As Bonnie Nardi and Jeff Snodgrass have mentioned in their ethnographic works of World of Warcraft, and online in general, these spaces are culturally significant in their own right and cannot be studied without recognizing their integration with physical cultural centers.
Why?
These revelations of community in online environments, and my bachelor's career in Communication and Anthropology have lead me to pursue greater studies in both fields to learn among the top researchers of diverse communities in Wellington, New Zealand. Wellington New Zealand has already published a wealth of knowledge on how diverse communities are developed online and in what environments safe-spaces thrive for different people. New Zealand's current issues (aforementioned) are the very reason they stand at the forefront of the current new media career path, online community facilitation. The work of Massey University's New Media Communication Studies department will act as a center point to understanding how the online environment creates and maintains these cultures, so it will be the perfect place to establish my path.
My Plan
With my reasons and historical imperative in mind it is my hope that I can hold to the following plan in my experiences for the overall goal of better-understanding and improving online communities so as to provide a space that does not give to divisive polarized online conversations in communities, aids discourse across socio-ecological levels, connects global communities beyond the social bubbles created by social media industries, and en-cultures the best environments we can make on a singular domain for a group of people, in all of the diverse ways we can.
STEP 1: Apply to and attend Massey University of Wellington for 1 semester Under-graduate via USAC Program. |
COMPLETE! |
STEP 2: Finish my Bachelors at Colorado State University |
12/14/2017 |
STEP 3: Move to New Zealand and study post-graduate work under the communication department of Massey - Wellington |
Early 2018 |
STEP 4: Use this information I gain to improve online community environments and lend more power and agency to the communities. |
My future (too cliche?) |