Tag: academic writing

Reflections on the BTS Conference 2021

May 5, 2021 / kateringland / 0 Comments

A view of the galaxy with bright stars and a purple hue.

The month of May is proving to be a whirlwind and we are only 6 days in. But I wanted to take a moment out of my day to write down some of my reflections and experiences from my first ever BTS Conference.I have been to a lot of different conferences over the years, but this one definitely had a different kind of vibe and I loved it. This blog is more my overall reflections of the experience of the conference, rather than getting into the details of the research. If you want to see more of the blow-by-blow of my experience, I’ve added my conference tweets at the bottom of this post.

To get this out of the way…

I will admit that I had some concerns before the conference started given the tension over research in the community and newbie researchers talking to magazine outlets that I shall not name here. A part of my goal for tweeting during the conference (and this blog) was to increase the transparency to which these research activities are to ARMY as a whole. I want concerns and questions about research, the purpose, how it works, what the outcomes are answered before they get to the point that ARMY are only hearing about it after the fact in a media outlet. Fortunately, everyone at the conference (and from what I saw on Twitter) were open, transparent and understanding of one another.

Now the good stuff!

Because the conference was by topic rather than discipline, it had a diverse range of fields and types of people represented (from hobbyists to full professors). For me personally, this is my favorite kind of space to be in. There is something so magical about being in interdisciplinary spaces. Everyone brings their own expertise and backgrounds to the room to discuss specific topics and the conversations that are unleashed are always rewarding. Are there some frustrations and miscommunications? Sure. But by far, diversity and interdisciplinarity is always the best option.

Partially because the audience was both interdisciplinary and not necessarily “academic” (in the ivory tower sense of the word), the content and talks were approachable and accessible. The keynote speech on the first day by Dr. Crystal Anderson set a wonderful tone that I feel pervaded the whole rest of the conference. Right from the start, ARMY as the fans were centered as the experts in this space – not journalists or other academics. And certainly not nameless older abled white male academic whose opinion is so often valued by those outside the community (insert eye roll here).

Researchers studying both BTS and ARMY, at least at this conference, were here because they value both BTS and ARMY – many opened their talks by giving their backgrounds not just as researchers, but as ARMY. It was refreshing. Honestly, between the open passion about being ARMY and the diversity (oh the wonderful diversity) of panelists and attendees really made this the safest I have felt at a conference, ever.

The big take-away from the conference, for me, was: Vulnerability and being open about struggles helps to create a space for us to care for each other (both for BTS and ARMY). In online spaces, there are real people with their own pain and struggles behind the screen. Care is loving yourself & taking care of your community.

Slide with purple text with a title that reads, Balancing Mental Health and Misinformation. The body of the slides says, "Negativity, venting, purpose, belonging, healing... all coexist in the same online space" — A slide from the panel on Balancing Mental Health & Misinformation (in online spaces like Twitter)

The conference organizers (next year’s organizers or other research ARMY organizing these kind of events, feel free to slide me a DM if you want to talk about making the event more accessible) did a wonderful job of setting the tone and I came away with lots of ideas for my own research. I met a lot of other passionate ARMY also interested in furthering the same goals of bringing knowledge to our community. Overall, the whole experience left me motivated and with a feeling that I’m really glad I am both ARMY and researcher. Borahae!

This blog post was fueled by

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

old computer monitor with black background, green text that reads "critical failure detected, do not panic.. do not panic... do not panic..."

CHI 2019 Recap Part 1: Play and Technology

May 18, 2019 / kateringland / 3 Comments

Given that I’ve recently returned from CHI, I thought I would write up a few of my thoughts in a little mini-series of blog posts. Some, like this one, will be related to research, while others will be related more to going to the conference and my reflections on academia and HCI more broadly given my experiences in Glasgow.

an open diary with blurred writing, flower pressed into middle of book

One of the opportunities I had this year, as a newly minted PhD, was to chair a session (that is, run the session of paper presentation, introduce the speakers, hand out the best paper awards, ask questions if the audience is shy, and, most importantly, keep to time). It was a fun job and gave me a chance to engage with the speakers for some great papers! So, I thought I would recap some of the highlights about play and technology that piqued my interest during the conference.

Play (with/through/around technology) is one of the pillars of my research, as you can read in the blog recapping my own paper presentation at CHI. The other work I saw presented was a nice compliment to my own research. One paper, “Coding for Outdoor Play: a Coding Platform for Children to Invent and Enhance Outdoor Play Experiences,” was about an outdoor play activity that teaches children how to code. This game also had a social component with children working together to create game rules (which translated as ‘code’). Another paper, “Group Interactions in Location-Based Gaming: A Case Study of Raiding in Pokémon GO,” also looked at social aspects of play in outdoor spaces. I think there’s a lot of interesting avenues of this research at the intersection of play (indoor or outdoor, virtual or physical), technology, and social interactions.

These papers give a us a road map forward in terms of understanding children’s play in the 21^st Century. What most excites me about this work is I can see the opportunity here to be inclusive. Children with disabilities can benefit from augmenting environments with technology. I have seen this in my own work and I can see the natural extensions of some of the work above to move into disability spaces. In fact, Microsoft seems to also be moving a similar direction with the announcement of augmented reality Minecraft. This space is new and exciting, and I think with a little forethought and care we can make this inclusive for everyone.

A sunset over the tops of trees in minecraft.

“Autsome”: Fostering an Autistic Identity in an Online Minecraft Community for Youth with Autism

March 16, 2019 / kateringland / 2 Comments

Preview: Autism is a medical diagnosis that has attracted much attention in recent decades, particularly due to an increase in the numbers of children being diagnosed and the changing requirements for getting the diagnosis. In parallel online communities around autism—both those supporting individuals, families seeking treatment and those supporting embracing the autism identity—have grown. Other work has shown support groups can be useful for those encountering hardship in their lives. In this paper, I illuminate the tension in claiming the autistic identity within this community. The walls of the community work to keep community members safe, but also set them apart from others on the internet. I see that the Autcraft community goes beyond being a support group for victims of targeted violence, to one that redefines and helps community members embrace their own autistic identities.

What is autism and what impact does the label of autism have?

Autism has been the topic of much public concern in recent decades, especially since the sensationalized “autism epidemic” swept through the media. As a medical diagnosis, autism focuses on challenges for individuals; such as whether they are verbal, make eye-contact, or are sensitive to change. Often, as a label, autism is given to youth in order to gain accommodations in school, or for medical treatment. Autistic youth often experience various ways in which this label is used to disempower and disenfranchise them.

This is the case for many youth that are a part of an online community, “Autcraft,” a community centered on a Minecraft virtual world for autistic youth. While those with autism are often the target of harassment and violence in online spaces, the Autcraft community has been actively engaged in making themselves a safe space for youth with autism. Beyond simply keeping bullies out, however, the community has taken the label of “autism” and turned it into something positive—a label worth identifying with.

In the Autcraft community, I have found that the label acts both as a target and as a way for community members to redefine their identities.

Targeting Autism

Concerns over safety of children is an ongoing concern for parents and other caregivers. This is particularly true of those with autistic children, as those with autism tend to be targeted both by their peers and by strangers [32]. Much like other marginalized groups, “autism” is used as a derogatory term. Further, threats of violence can be found across the internet, including in the comments section of YouTube videos, a site used by Autcraft community members. This is especially meaningful as other related work has shown the embodied experience in these online spaces can be as impactful as in physical spaces [29]. Unfortunately, these threats of violence can also result in actual physical harm.

Harassment, threats of violence, and comments about autistic people killing themselves can have a large impact on those targeted, such as additional stress and other psychological harm [22]. The harm, however, does not stop with verbal and written threats. Like other marginalized communities, those with autism face the very real threat of violence against them [14,15].

Here is a video related to these threats of violence in the autistic community at large.

Redefining Autism

There is evidence throughout the Autcraft community of those who are expressing their autistic identity. Autcraft community members may be learning to understand and accept themselves or their child as an autistic individual, but they are also learning to deal with challenges found outside the Autcraft community where they may not find themselves accepted and face opposition.

New word created by the players of @Autcraft: Autsome.
"Having autism and being extremely impressive" pic.twitter.com/CoPUmOvZNt
— Stuart Duncan (@autismfather) January 25, 2019

[alt-text for embedded tweet picture: autsome, adjective, Having autism and being extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration. “My autsome child makes me proud everyday!” synonyms: breathtaking, awe-inspiring, magnificent, wonderful, amazing, stunning, staggering, imposing, stirring, impressive; informal extremely good; excellent. “The band is truly autsome!”]

Adopting “autism” and various forms of the word—as seen in the name of the community “Autcraft”—lends to a sense of identity with others who have the same or similar medical diagnosis. Aside from using “aut” or “autistic” in their user names (i.e., the names that are displayed with their avatars and forum posts, rather than a real-world name), the Autcraft community displays this acceptance through the creation of autism-centric words, such as “autsome.” According to a community post, “autsome” means, “Having autism and being extremely impressive or daunting” and “extremely good; excellent.” Scholars have described how those with disability are often held to a higher standard and those who are “extreme” tend to be held up as inspirational. This type of “inspiration” frames disability as something to be overcome, while achieving difficult objectives. However, I argue that having language such as “autsome” is meant to be inspirational not for others looking in to the Autcraft community, but for the autistic children who are otherwise dealing with a barrage of negative language about autism. This reframes autism as an identity that is worth embracing, rather than overcoming.

Autcraft community members actively work to reshape the mainstream dialog about autism. First and foremost, members try to lead by example, following a set of tenets set out by community founders that encourage and promote good behavior. Community members also engage in outreach to both educate others and to make their own expressions of their autistic identities more visible to others. Members of the Autcraft community engage in activities—much like creating memorials for victims of violence—that purposefully shed light on the hardships they have faced. These efforts are examples of how those with marginalized identities fight back against oppression. As scholars, by listening to these community members and understanding their activities, we can begin to elevate the voices of those who have long been silenced.

For more details about our methods and findings, please see my paper that has been accepted to iConference 2019 (to appear in April 2019). Full citation and link to the pdf below:

Kathryn E. Ringland. 2019. “Autsome”: Fostering an Autistic Identity in an Online Minecraft Community for Youth with Autism. In iConference 2019 Proceedings. [PDF]

Acknowledgements: I thank the members of Autcraft for the warm welcome to their community. Thank you to members of LUCI for their feedback and special thanks to Severn Ringland for his diligent editing. I would also like to thank Robert and Barbara Kleist for their support, as well as the ARCS Foundation. This work is covered by human subjects protocol #2014-1079 at the University of California, Irvine. This work is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH115882). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

September 14, 2016 / kateringland / 0 Comments

For slide notes: Collaborative Writing and Critique from Kate Ringland

Grad Student Workflow, Part 5

March 31, 2016 / kateringland / 0 Comments

This week I will be writing about free writing. This is the fifth part of my series about my workflow as a graduate student (you can find Part 1 here). Last week, in Part 4, I gave an overview of my various steps in my writing process. Now I will break the first step down for you.

Free Writing

This is something I strive to do every (work) day. I carve out 35-45 minutes and sit down and write. My goal is 1500 (any kind of) words. Some days I don’t quite make it to my 1500 goal because I am tired or things get too hectic for my full writing session, but I do the best I can.

I do my free writes in OmmWriter and then transfer the text over to Evernote for safe keeping.

The great thing about this program is it is simple and quiet. I can plug in my headphones and hear ocean waves and the happy click-clack of keystrokes.

With a quick swipe of the mouse, I can check in on my word count if I’m feeling particularly anxious. For the most part, however, I just write.

When I’m done with my 1500 words, a quick copy and paste from OmmWriter to Evernote (filed under my notebook title “Free Writes”) saves my writing. I do this quick switch for one primary reason – searchability. My goal at the end of the day is to have all my research notes, memos, writing, etc. all in one place that is easily parsed and searchable. That way, when I get to later steps in my writing (“Now where did I put that one idea about a conference paper…..”) I can throw some keywords into my Evernote and find what I need. Work done now, upfront, is work saved later when energy levels may be low, cognitive function may be impaired, and deadlines are getting anxiously near.

I find this free write process to be very freeing (haha). First, it gets rid of one reason for writer’s block – the blank page. My later writings can now have snippets of free write pasted in to get them started – no more blank page! I also find this process really helps jumpstart and solidify my thought process. I am thinking through my writing. As I go through my day, do my readings, maybe work on various projects, my brain is making all sorts of connections I might not be aware of. These free writes are one place where I find myself actually articulating for the first time and iterating on these connections.

Up next, I will talk about memos in Part 6.

Grad Student Workflow, Part 4

March 25, 2016 / kateringland / 0 Comments

As mentioned in Part 1, I am discussing my various workflow tools in order to have a more pleasant and efficient grad school experience. Last week, in Part 2, I discussed my general task management and in Part 3 I discussed reading and citations. This week I will be starting my sub-series about writing.

Sources: Much of what I’ve learned about my workflow, I’ve gotten from other folks. What I’m discussing in the next few posts is an amalgamation of different work management patterns I’ve gotten from around the internet, people in the lab, or figured out for myself. I would like to give a big thanks to Hacking the Thesis.

Writing

Over the next month I will be posting about the various steps I take in my writing. My plan is to talk about the following:

free writing
memos
academic paper drafts
writing for blogs or other “general” audience media

One book I found very helpful was Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day. The habit that I have picked up since my first read through is writing everyday. I do this by setting aside roughly 45 minutes of my day for my free writing. I aim for about 1500 words per day of this kind of writing. The next level of writing is slightly more structured memos, which usually have some kind of focus (a question I am trying to answer, or something specific I am analyzing or drafting up). Finally, the free writes and memos then feed into my rough drafts. When I know what kind of question I want to answer for a particular venue, I can start a more formal drafting process. This is also where I bring in coauthors to help with the argument, literature, and clarity.

While my main focus is my academic writing, I also change things up to give my brain a rest by writing fiction and journalling. Perhaps I will have more on this after I’ve finished this series of blog posts.