SSHRCing
I’m working on a sshrc funding proposal. For those who aren’t familiar, funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canad makes the difference between attending and not attending graduate school. I’ve decided to pursue the PhD and working on the proposal is both exciting and frustrating. I’m working with vague ideas about women, violence, and the internet but since we know that this is a huge issue it’s taking a long time to get a focus and research question.
I’m kicking around ideas about why gendered violence occurs online, cultures of resistance against the harassment, why certain individuals become targets/victims and their agency, Lessig’s four pillars of internet governance (norms, laws, architecture, market), the role of the internet in constructing women’s bodies, identities, consciousness (this taken from Romano’s piece below), and of course what to do about it all, but first understanding it from a philosophical perspective.
Maybe I’ll come back and link these up later but if you’re curious about any of them I advise select text > right click (control+click on mac) > search in google.
On my desk with highlighter poised I’ve got:
- Alison Adam: Cyberstalking and Internet pornography: Gender and the Gaze
- Adam: Gender and Computer Ethics
- Chat Garcia Romano: Beyond Tools: Technology as a feminist agenda
- Leslie Regan Shade and Barbara Crow: Canadian Feminist Perspectives on Digital Technology
- Barbara Crow and Graham Longford: Digital Restructuring: Gender, Class and Citizenship in the Information Society in Canada
I see history, philosophy, and com studies in this.
Also in the mix is Donna Haraway’s Simians, Cyborgs, and Women because you can’t talk about women and technology without the Cyborg Manifesto. How I missed the Cyborg Manifesto. It’s probably been two years since I last tried to get through understand read it.
It’s been a long day and I ran out of food hours ago. Even though I’m not done I have to leave for food and rest. I’ll be back early or work late at home or something because I need a draft for my letter writers in the morning.
If anyone has any great ideas let me know. I could use one before 9am tomorrow.
I am also SSHRC-ing and totally out of ideas! Yay! I feel your pain.
Well I don’t have any ideas, especially for that level of work, but I just wanted to drop a note to say I wish you luck; you’ll do great!
@Alexandra: are you switching to a canadian school? Where do you submit your app?
@Jacqui: thanks — I know I will put something together, somehow, but the process is sooo stressful! I started late thinking I wasn’t going to apply and changing disciplines complicates things too. thanks for the vote of confidence. It helps. :)
There has been a couple articles about trolls, griefers and 4chan that I would recommend:
WIRED: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons
NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?hp
Thanks Mita. I read the NYT article to the end. I’ve never seen an article on trolls with that much depth. So much to think about!
I’m not switching schools – Canadians applying through a PhD program abroad can still apply (this was actually a surprise for me – I only found out a couple of weeks ago, so the application process has been kind of frenzied), and we just submit our applications directly to SSHRC.
Which schools are you applying to?
@ Alexandra: frenzied? I feel your pain. My head is swirling from trying to get a research focus, filling out the app, applying for work for next semester, grading the papers for my TA job, doing my own school work (!) not to mention still trying to follow up on my kid’s drama class. I’m looking forward to …hmm? when is break time?
If only I had the sun and the beach! I bet you spend all your time there…. ;) I want to go to grad school in California too.