DOCSLIB.ORG

Computational Methods for Next-Generation Online Media Ecosystems

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Computational Methods for Next-Generation Online Media Ecosystems University of California Santa Barbara Computational Methods for Next-Generation Online Media Ecosystems A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science by May E. ElSherif Committee in charge: Professor Elizabeth Belding, Chair Professor William Wang Professor Amr Elabaddi December 2019 The Dissertation of May E. ElSherif is approved. Professor William Wang Professor Amr Elabaddi Professor Elizabeth Belding, Committee Chair August 2019 Computational Methods for Next-Generation Online Media Ecosystems Copyright c 2019 by May E. ElSherif iii In Memory of all Lives Lost due to Hate and Bigotry iv Acknowledgements This thesis is about responsibility to promote the good and prevent the harm. This work is the result of the best and most challenging years of my life. I would like to start by thanking my family who always put education at the forefront of their priorities. I am really grateful for all their efforts, their endless support, and love throughout my life. They taught me work ethic, perseverance, and ambition by example. To my dad, thank you for your generosity in providing me with whatever I needed through my education journey. To my mum, thank you for lending me an ear, being there whenever I needed you, and believing in me against all the odds. To my sister, thank you for giving me positive vibes and listening to all my stories. To my brother, who is not here today, you will always be in my thoughts and I wish you were here today. I cannot thank enough my research adviser, Elizabeth Belding. I have been fortunate to have her as my mentor, supporter, and my advocate. Not only did she believe in me as a researcher but also research line I chose to tackle. She always finds way to make research more interesting and impactful. I did not only learn how to be a good researcher from her but I also learned how to be a good mentor. I would not have been the researcher I am now if it weren't for her. Many thanks to my mentor William Wang who introduced me to the field of Natural Language Processing and how to tie it to problems with social impact. I had the great privilege to learn a lot from his vast knowledge and applying this knowledge in my work. To Amr Elabaddi, thank you for your insightful research questions and for always having an open door and open mind when I needed help. He always made me feel that I have a part of my Egyptian family away from home. To my collaborators: Mogran Vigil-Hayes, Ramya Raghavendra, Shirin Nilizadeh, Vivek Kulkarni, and Jing Qian, thank you for contributing to this work in many ways v and it was a joy to work with you. I had the privilege to work with and mentor many undergraduates who developed a passion for Computer Science research: Dana Nguyen, Xuewen Sherry Li, Barbara Korycki, Andrew Gaut, Tony Sun, Shirlyn Tan, and Yuxin Huang. Together, we engaged in tackling research problems and I enjoyed every discussion we had. Special thanks to Elizabeth Belding, William Wang, and Diba Mirza who guided me through the mentoring process and provided feedback whenever needed. I would like to especially thank Dana Nguyen who has demonstrated unprecedented excitement and dedication to research. We co-authored together multiple publications through which she showed persistence, ownership, and hard work. To my colleagues and friends: Morgan Vigil-Hayes, Victor Zakhary, Mohamed Wahba, Radwa Hamed, Nadah Feteih, Mahmoud Ramadan, Mai Said, Vivek Adarsh, and Esther Showalter. Your words of encouragement and our conversations kept me going through lots of challenges. Finally, I would like to specifically thank Mohamed Wahba for his support during lots of deadlines. He heard all my ideas, confusions, helped me practice so many talks, and constantly affirmed my place in the academic community. vi Curriculum Vitæ May E. ElSherif Education 2014-2019 Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara. Advisor: Elizabeth Belding Thesis: Computational Methods for Next-Generation Online Media Ecosystems 2011-2013 M.Sc. in Wireless Communications and Information Technology, Nile University, Giza, Egypt. Advisors: Tamer ElBatt, Ahmed Zahran and Ahmed Helmy Thesis: Similarity Metrics and an Information-theoretic Framework for Opportunistic Mobile Social Networks 2006-2011 B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. Graduated with Distinction Advisor: Hatem ElBoghdady Thesis: The Golden Retriever: A Robotic Odor Source Localizer Research Interests Social computing, natural language processing, data science, applied machine learning, computer-supported cooperative work, computational social science Awards & Honors 2019 UCSB Computer Science Outstanding Graduate Student Award 2018 UCSB Grad Slam Finalist (Public Speaking) 2017 UCSB Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award 2011 Google Research Award (Nile University) 2011 Nile University Research Fellowship (Full academic scholarship) 2009 IEEE Best Project Award (Cairo University Student Brach) 2009 Ideal Student Award (Cairo University) 2008 Best Volunteer Team (Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement NGO) Publications Refereed Papers [1] J. Qian, M. ElSherief, E. Belding, and W. Yang Wang. Learning to Decipher Hate Symbols. In North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (NAACL HLT'19). vii [2] A. Gaut, T. Sun, S. Tang, Y. Huang, M. ElSherief, J. Zhao, D. Mirza, E. Belding, K. Chang, and W. Yang Wang. Mitigating Gender Bias in Natural Language Processing: Literature Review. In Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL'19), 2019. [3] J. Qian, M. ElSherief, E. Belding, and W. Yang Wang. Hierarchical CVAE for Fine- Grained Hate Speech Classification. In Empirical Methods of Natural Language Process- ing (EMNLP'18), November 2018. [25% Acceptance Rate]. [4] J. Qian, M. ElSherief, E. Belding, and W. Yang Wang. Leveraging Intra-User and Inter-User Representation Learning for Automated Hate Speech Detection. In North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (NAACL HLT'18), June 2018. [18% Acceptance Rate]. [5] M. ElSherief, V. Kulranki, D. Nguyen, W. Yang Wang, and E. Belding. Hate Lingo: A Target-based Linguistic Analysis of Hate Speech in Social Media. In AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM'18), June 2018. [16% Acceptance Rate]. [6] M. ElSherief, S. Nilizadeh, D. Nguyen, G. Vigna, and E. Belding. Peer to Peer Hate: Hate Speech Instigators and Their Targets. In AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM'18), June 2018. [16% Acceptance Rate]. [7] M. ElSherief, B. Alipour, M. Al Qathrady, T. ElBatt, A. Zahran, and A. Helmy. A Novel Mathematical Framework for Similarity-based Opportunistic Social Networks. Elsevier Pervasive and Mobile Computing, 42:134{150, December 2017. [Journal Exten- sion]. [8] M. ElSherief, M. Vigil-Hayes, R. Raghavendra, and E. Belding. Whom to Query? Spatially-Blind Participatory Crowdsensing under Budget Constraints. In ACM Work- shop on Mobile Crowdsensing Systems and Applications (CrowdSenSys'17), November 2017. [9] M. ElSherief, E. Belding, and D. Nguyen. #NotOkay: Understanding Gender-based Violence in Social Media. In AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM'17), May 2017. [14% Acceptance Rate]. [10] M. ElSherief, T. ElBatt, A. Zahran, and A. Helmy. An Information-theoretic Model for Knowledge Sharing in Opportunistic Social Networks. In IEEE Conference on Social Computing and Networking (SocialCom'15), December 2015. [25% Acceptance Rate]. [11] M. ElSherief and E. Belding. The Urban Characteristics of Street Harassment: A First Look. In ACM Workshop on Smart Cities and Urban Analytics (UrbanGIS'15), November 2015. [12] M. ElSherief, T. ElBatt, A. Zahran, and A. Helmy. The Quest for User Similarity in Mobile Societies. In IEEE Workshop on Social and Community Intelligence (SCI'14), March 2014. [17% Acceptance Rate]. viii Other Contributions [13] M. ElSherief. Compressed Lexicon and Currently the Largest Twitter Hate Speech Dataset. https://github.com/mayelsherif/hate_speech_icwsm18, June 2018. [14] M. ElSherief, M. Vigil-Hayes, R. Raghavendra, and E. Belding. Whom to Query? Spatially-Blind Participatory Crowdsensing under Budget Constraints. In AAAI Confer- ence on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing (HCOMP'17), October 2017. [Poster]. [15] M. ElSherief, T. ElBatt, A. Zahran, and A. Helmy. O'BTW: An Opportunistic Similarity-based Mobile Recommendation System. In ACM Conference on Mobile Sys- tems, Applications and Services (MobiSys'13), June 2013. [Demo]. Experience CS8: Introduction to Computer Science, Instructor of Record, UCSB. [Summer 2019] UCSB MOMENT Lab, Gradaute Research Assistant, Santa Barbara, CA. [2014-2019] Early Research Scholars Program (ERSP), Lead TA, UCSB. [Fall 2018-Spring 2019] Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society (BKC), Harvard University, Research Intern, Cambridge, MA. [Summer 2018] Polaris Wireless Research, Data Science Intern, Mountain View, CA. [Summer 2016] Wireless Intelligent Networks Center, Research Assistant, Nile University, Giza, Egypt. [2011-2013] Center of Informatics Science, Bioinformatics Intern, Nile University, Giza, Egypt. [Summer 2010] Teaching Assistant, Computer Science Department, UCSB. [Winter-Spring 2014] Teaching Assistant, Engineering Math and Physics Department, Cairo University. [2012-2013] ix Abstract Computational Methods for Next-Generation Online Media Ecosystems by May E. ElSherif Human biases
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Engender Resource Kit
    ENGENDER RESOURCE KIT Welcome to the Engender project, a collaboration between Heinrich Boell Foundation and Accidental Films and TV INTRODUCTION TO ENGENDER Welcome to the Engender project, a collaboration between the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Accidental Films and TV to pilot a television series on feminism, gender issues and key related concepts. The first three episodes explore the concept of feminism; feminism and intersectionality; and gendered representations in the media. In each episode, a set of core issues is discussed in depth in order to introduce viewers to a feminist understanding of the specific topic. This resource pack mirror the TV series. Developed from research undertaken for each episode, they contain a summary of the content, key feminist quotes, links to more information, and some provocative questions to help deepen understanding and promote further discussion. THE PILOT SERIES EPISODE 1. “Femi” What? Explores the origins of feminism; unpacks what feminism is and what it is not; and looks at how feminist action has changed society globally and locally in South Africa. EPISODE 2. Many Identities = Many Oppressions. Grapples with the complexity of intersectional feminism to show how gender identity, race, class, sex, age and ability intersect to multiply the effects of prejudice on an individual. EPISODE 3. Ways of Seeing. Examines the way the media represents people through a gendered lens that normalises stereotypes based on perceived genders and sexualities. III “FEMI” WHAT? TABLE OF CONTENTS “FEMI” WHAT? 1 INTRODUCTION 1 CORE MESSAGES 1 WHAT IS FEMINISM 2 Sexuality and Gender Identities 7 HISTORY OF FEMINISM 9 Waves of Western Feminism 10 Western Feminism and Race 11 Backlash 15 HISTRY OF FEMINISM IN AFRICA 17 The African Feminist Forum 21 Voice, Power and Soul: Portraits of African Feminists 22 FEMINISM IN SOUTH AFRICA 24 QUESTIONS 31 GUEST PANELISTS 32 “FEMI” WHAT? 1 INTRODUCTION This introduces the readers to feminism, its genesis and linkages to concepts like gender, sexuality, race and culture.
    [Show full text]
  • MIAMI UNIVERSITY the Graduate School
    MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Bridget Christine Gelms Candidate for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ______________________________________ Dr. Jason Palmeri, Director ______________________________________ Dr. Tim Lockridge, Reader ______________________________________ Dr. Michele Simmons, Reader ______________________________________ Dr. Lisa Weems, Graduate School Representative ABSTRACT VOLATILE VISIBILITY: THE EFFECTS OF ONLINE HARASSMENT ON FEMINIST CIRCULATION AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE by Bridget C. Gelms As our digital environments—in their inhabitants, communities, and cultures—have evolved, harassment, unfortunately, has become the status quo on the internet (Duggan, 2014 & 2017; Jane, 2014b). Harassment is an issue that disproportionately affects women, particularly women of color (Citron, 2014; Mantilla, 2015), LGBTQIA+ women (Herring et al., 2002; Warzel, 2016), and women who engage in social justice, civil rights, and feminist discourses (Cole, 2015; Davies, 2015; Jane, 2014a). Whitney Phillips (2015) notes that it’s politically significant to pay attention to issues of online harassment because this kind of invective calls “attention to dominant cultural mores” (p. 7). Keeping our finger on the pulse of such attitudes is imperative to understand who is excluded from digital publics and how these exclusions perpetuate racism and sexism to “preserve the internet as a space free of politics and thus free of challenge to white masculine heterosexual hegemony” (Higgin, 2013, n.p.). While rhetoric and writing as a field has a long history of examining myriad exclusionary practices that occur in public discourses, we still have much work to do in understanding how online harassment, particularly that which is gendered, manifests in digital publics and to what rhetorical effect.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Acting Like 13 Year Old Boys?'
    ‘Acting like 13 year old boys?’ Exploring the discourse of online harassment and the diversity of harassers Lucy Fisher-Hackworth Submitted to the Department of Gender Studies, University of Utrecht In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies Main supervisor: Dr.Domitilla Olivieri (University of Utrecht) Second reader: Dr. Jasmina Lukic (Central European University) Utrecht, the Netherlands 2016 Approved: _________________________________________ 1 ABSTRACT In this thesis, I have undertaken research into the users behind online harassment. The impetus behind this was to investigate taken for granted assumptions about who harassers are, what they do online, and how they do it. To begin, I highlight the discourse of online harassment of women in scholarship and online-news media, discussing the assumptions made about who is harassing and why. I discuss the lack of consideration of multi-layered harassment and argue for more research that takes into consideration the intersectionality of harassing content, and the experiences of all women online. I provide an overview of online methodologies and of feminism on the internet. I then undertake an investigation into harassers behind online harassment of women, and find trends in user profiles, user behaviour, and in online communication patterns more broadly. I discuss how researching this topic affected me personally, reflecting on the impact of viewing high amounts abusive content. My findings challenged many of the assumptions initially identified, so, with that in mind, I provide a discussion of why such assumptions are problematic. I argue that such assumptions contribute to a discourse that homogenizes harassment and harassers, and overlooks broader internet-specific behaviours.
    [Show full text]
  • Intersectionality: T E Fourth Wave Feminist Twitter Community
    #Intersectionality: T e Fourth Wave Feminist Twitter Community Intersectionality, is the marrow within the bones of fem- Tegan Zimmerman (PhD, Comparative Literature, inism. Without it, feminism will fracture even further – University of Alberta) is an Assistant Professor of En- Roxane Gay (2013) glish/Creative Writing and Women’s Studies at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. A recent Visiting Fel- This article analyzes the term “intersectional- low in the Centre for Contemporary Women’s Writing ity” as defined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (1989, and the Institute of Modern Languages Research at the 1991) in relation to the digital turn and, in doing so, University of London, Zimmerman specializes in con- considers how this concept is being employed by fourth temporary women’s historical fiction and contempo- wave feminists on Twitter. Presently, little scholarship rary gender theory. Her book Matria Redux: Caribbean has been devoted to fourth wave feminism and its en- Women’s Historical Fiction, forthcoming from North- gagement with intersectionality; however, some notable western University Press, examines the concepts of ma- critics include Kira Cochrane, Michelle Goldberg, Mik- ternal history and maternal genealogy. ki Kendall, Ealasaid Munro, Lola Okolosie, and Roop- ika Risam.1 Intersectionality, with its consideration of Abstract class, race, age, ability, sexuality, and gender as inter- This article analyzes the term “intersectionality” as de- secting loci of discriminations or privileges, is now the fined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in relation to the overriding principle among today’s feminists, manifest digital turn: it argues that intersectionality is the dom- by theorizing tweets and hashtags on Twitter. Because inant framework being employed by fourth wave fem- fourth wave feminism, more so than previous feminist inists and that is most apparent on social media, espe- movements, focuses on and takes up online technolo- cially on Twitter.
    [Show full text]
  • Where Are We in Gender Equality?
    INCLUSION WHERE ARE WE IN GENDER EQUALITY? Women have major barriers to reaching the top in ICT careers, and in just accessing technology in some countries – and all women face both offline and online violence, says ADRIANA LABARDINI INZUNZA magine being at the IIC’s annual conference in grouped in four categories determine how equal a the year 2028 with an equal number of women society is for women – work, essential services and and men experts in the fields of ultrabroadband enablers, legal protection and political voice, Iinfrastructure, all-shared spectrum, data security and autonomy.1 analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms, In the more developed nations, we are finally robotics, automated vehicles, torts law for witnessing an improvement in gender equality with autonomous devices, cyber jurisdiction, virtual a reduction in physical violence against women and labour communities, meta platforms, collaborative a major impact on the wellbeing of societies media, internet governance and cryptocurrencies. as a whole: more effective governments, more The IIC president took us through the productive economies, more profitable industries, technological and institutional evolution of society, healthier citizens, happier children, and less crime. citizens and ICT in the data economy since 2018. Importantly, we now envisage a freer, fairer, “The past 10 years have seen unprecedented brighter life for men and women who share power, transformation and yet, we are still witnessing duties, rights, access to public speech, decision- violence and discrimination against women – but making spaces, as well as domestic and family now coming mainly from autonomous machines responsibilities in a more balanced fashion. that have been fed with centuries of gender bias, McKinsey, in another report, has found that a stereotypes and discrimination from a long staggering $12 trillion could be added to global GDP prevailing sexist society,” she highlighted.
    [Show full text]
  • Cornell Alumni Magazine
    c1-c4CAMja11 6/16/11 1:25 PM Page c1 July | August 2011 $6.00 Alumni Magazine Well-Spoken Screenwriter (and former stutterer) David Seidler ’59 wins an Oscar for The King’s Speech cornellalumnimagazine.com c1-c4CAMja11 6/16/11 1:25 PM Page c2 01-01CAMja11toc 6/20/11 1:19 PM Page 1 July / August 2011 Volume 114 Number 1 In This Issue Alumni Magazine 34 Corne 2 From David Skorton Farewell, Mr. Vanneman 4 The Big Picture Card sharp 6 Correspondence DVM debate 8 Letter from Ithaca Justice league 10 From the Hill Capped and gowned 14 Sports Top teams, too 16 Authors Eyewitness 32 Wines of the Finger Lakes Ports of New York “Meleau” White 18 10 52 Classifieds & 34 Urban Cowboys Cornellians in Business 53 Alma Matters BRAD HERZOG ’90 56 Class Notes Last October, the Texas Rangers won baseball’s American League pennant—and played in their first-ever World Series. Two of the primary architects of that long-sought vic- 91 Alumni Deaths tory were Big Red alums from (of all places) the Big Apple. General manager Jon 96 Cornelliana Daniels ’99 and senior director of player personnel A. J. Preller ’99 are old friends and Little house in the big woods lifelong baseball nuts who brought fresh energy to an underperforming franchise. And while they didn’t take home the championship trophy . there’s always next season. Legacies To see the Legacies listing for under- graduates who entered the University in fall 40 Training Day 2010, go to cornellalumnimagazine.com. JIM AXELROD ’85 Currents CBS News reporter Jim Axelrod has covered everything from wars to presidential cam- paigns to White House politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Unspeakable Things:’
    Speaking ‘unspeakable things:’ Documenting digital feminist responses to rape culture Acknowledgments: We’d like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) for supporting this research project. We’d also like to acknowledge the useful comments we received upon presenting this work at the 2015 Console-ing Passions Conference in Dublin, as well as the suggestions from anonymous reviewers. Abstract: This paper examines the ways in which girls and women are using digital media platforms to challenge the rape culture they experience in their everyday lives; including street harassment, sexual assault, and the policing of the body and clothing in school settings. Focusing on three international cases, including the anti-street harassment site Hollaback!, the hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported, and interviews with teenage Twitter activists, the paper asks: What experiences of harassment, misogyny and rape culture are girls and women responding to? How are girls and women using digital media technologies to document experiences of sexual violence, harassment, and sexism? And, why are girls and women choosing to mobilize digital media technologies in such a way? Employing an approach that includes ethnographic methods such as semi-structured interviews, content analysis, discursive textual analysis, and affect theories, we detail a range of ways that women and girls are using social media platforms to speak about, and thus make visible, experiences of rape culture. We argue that this digital mediation enables new connections previously unavailable to girls and women, allowing them to redraw the boundaries between themselves and others. 1 Keywords: Feminism; activism; affect; Twitter; rape culture Introduction In her 2014 book, Unspeakable things: sex, lies, and revolution, feminist journalist Laurie Penny writes about those ‘unspeakable things’ that have long escaped mention in popular media cultures: sexual violence, male privilege and the wreck of neoliberalism – especially their effects on girls and women.
    [Show full text]
  • Program Guide
    User: jjenisch Time: 04-09-2013 13:54 Product: LAAdTab PubDate: 04-14-2013 Zone: LA Edition: 1 Page: T1 Color: CMYK LOS ANGELES TIMES | www.latimes.com ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT Sunday, April 14, 2013 Program Guide Inside: Ticket information Schedule of events List of authors and participants Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is in association with USC. Los Angeles Times Illustration © 2013 Frank Viva User: jjenisch Time: 04-09-2013 13:54 Product: LAAdTab PubDate: 04-14-2013 Zone: LA Edition: 1 Page: T2 Color: CMYK ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT LOS ANGELES TIMES | www.latimes.com • • SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 T2 User: jjenisch Time: 04-09-2013 13:54 Product: LAAdTab PubDate: 04-14-2013 Zone: LA Edition: 1 Page: T3 Color: CMYK ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT latimes.com/festivalofbooks Thank you Download the free app for iPhone and Android. Search “Festival of Books” to our Sponsors Presenting Sponsor Table of Contents 4 Welcome to the 2013 Festival of Books The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes 6 honor the best books of 2012 CENTER Major Sponsor PULLOUT Meet this year’s illustrator 9 Programming grid! Attendee tips! Kid tested, parent approved: 10 The Target Children’s Area Festival map! And more! 16 Ticket information Contributing Sponsors 18 Directions, parking and public transportation info A list of authors, entertainers and 20 Festival participants 47 Exhibitor listings Supporting Sponsors Notable book signings by authors 50 LOS ANGELES TIMES | Participating Sponsors Festival of Books Staff: www.latimes.com Ann Binney John Conroy Colleen McManus Kenneth
    [Show full text]
  • This Is What a Feminist Tweets Like: "Women's Language" and Styling Activist Identities in a #Yesallwomen Twitter Corpus
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2019 This Is What a Feminist Tweets Like: "Women's Language" and Styling Activist Identities in a #YesAllWomen Twitter Corpus Eleanor A. Morikawa The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3379 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST TWEETS LIKE: ‘WOMEN’S LANGUAGE’ AND STYLING ACTIVIST IDENTITIES IN A #YESALLWOMEN TWITTER CORPUS BY ELEANOR A. MORIKAWA A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 Eleanor Morikawa All Rights Reserved ii This is what a feminist tweets like: 'Women's language' and styling activist identities in a #YesAllWomen Twitter corpus by Eleanor A. Morikawa This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Linguistics in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Cecelia Cutler Chair of Examining Committee Date Gita Martohardjono Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Matthew Garley Jillian Cavanaugh Lauren Squires THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract This dissertation presents results of a study of linguistic practice in the context of feminist activism on Twitter. Twitter has become a primary medium for social and political activism and a rich venue for study of the relationship between digitally mediated language and identity production.
    [Show full text]
  • Discussion Questions for Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
    Discussion Questions for Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit These discussion questions were prepared by the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) for the Reader with a Cause book club on Goodreads. If you like our questions please feel free to use them – and don’t forget to join the conversation online at: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/347680?group_id=114966 1. What does “mansplaining” have to do with domestic violence? One of Solnit’s main themes in this book is the connection between silencing women and violence. In her essay “#YesAllWomen,” she argues that our acceptance of casual sexism, rape culture, and sexual entitlement have created an environment that is at the very least hostile to women and is a “slippery slope” toward violence. She writes: “A man acts on the belief that you have no right to speak and that you don’t get to define what’s going on. That could just mean cutting you off at the dinner table or the conference. It could also mean telling you to shut up, or threatening you if you open your mouth, or beating you for speaking, or killing you to silence you forever.” (p. 134) Do you agree? Why or why not? 2. Men Explain Things to Me “Yes, people of both genders pop up at events to hold forth on irrelevant things and conspiracy theories, but the out-and-out confrontational confidence of the totally ignorant is, in my experience, gendered. Men explain things to me, and other women, whether or not they know what they’re talking about.
    [Show full text]
  • YESALLWOMEN: Narrative Response to Gendered Violence
    #YESALLWOMEN: Narrative Response to Gendered Violence Megan McIntyre Sonoma State University Present Tense, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 2019. http://www.presenttensejournal.org | [email protected] Sex Doesn’t Sell: Bitchmedia’s Schema for Effective Branding and Financial Viability Megan McIntyre Clayton Sandell: Elliot Rodger left disturbing hints, starting with those chilling YouTube videos. Elliot Rodger: I’ll be a god, exacting my retribution on all those who deserve it. Clayton Sandell: And this 141-page manifesto, detailing the troubled life of an alleged killer, from childhood bullying, sibling rivalry, fantasies about killing his father and step-mother, and his Annotated transcript for the video essay: most repeated grievance, being rejected by women. Narrator: On May 23, 2014, Elliot Rodger, a 22- year-old student at Santa Barbara City College, Elliot Rodger: Girls gave their affection and sex murdered his three roommates. Then he drove and love to other men, but never to me. to the sorority houses just off the campus of the nearby University of California at Santa Barbara. Narrator: Almost four years later, and a few There, he shot three women outside their thousand miles away, Alek Minassian, a recent sorority house. Two of these women died of graduate of Toronto’s Seneca College, used a their wounds. From there, he drove around van to murder 10 pedestrians on a downtown Santa Barbara, seemingly at random, shooting at Toronto street. He framed his attack as another buildings and bystanders, one of whom died, front in the “Incel Rebellion.” “We will overthrow and hitting pedestrians with his vehicle. When all the Chads and Stacys,” he wrote on Facebook police finally located that vehicle, they found just before the attack, and in his final words Roger inside, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot online, before the murders, he turned to a hero.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Hatef Azeta Dissertation.Pdf
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications ALTERNATIVE SPACES OF ENGAGEMENT: CONSTRUCTING MEANING THROUGH TRADITIONAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA AMONG ROMA IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC A Dissertation in Mass Communications by Azeta Hatef © 2019 Azeta Hatef Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2019 The dissertation of Azeta Hatef was reviewed and approved* by the following: Matthew P. McAllister Professor of Communications Chair of Graduate Programs Chair of Committee Dissertation Adviser Michelle Rodino-Colocino Associate Professor of Communications Matthew Jordan Associate Professor of Communications Yael Warshel Assistant Professor of Communications; Research Associate, Rock Ethics Institute *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii Abstract This dissertation examines the use of televisual media forms and social media outlets by Roma activists in the Czech Republic as these activists search for ways to ameliorate discrimination, exclusion and the challenges of identity and community building among the Roma within Czech society. Roma marginalization manifests in a myriad of ways including explicitly through practices such as discriminatory housing and educational segregation. There are also the implicit methods of exclusion including the silencing of voices and experiences. Media are one of the sites that have excluded Roma and continue to present Roma in limited and stereotypical ways with harmful implications. This dissertation explores the specific efforts and outcomes of those engaged in challenging and changing this situation, which is critical for ascertaining a broader understanding of the dynamics and formulating new strategies for change. In particular, this study sets out to understand the ways in which activists attempt to engage communities using media—televisual, online and social media—as sites for identity negotiation and community development, that may in turn contribute to a sense of belonging to help combat unjust systems.
    [Show full text]