SOIS PhD Newsletter - Spring 2017

Save the Date! PhD Orientation

The SOIS PhD Newsletter is published by the SOIS PhD student body. Contributions (articles, letters, photos, etc.) are welcomed. EDITORIAL BOARD Laura Ridenour, PhD Student, Contributing Editor Xin Cai, PhD Student, Contributing Editor Dana Wallace, PhD Student, Contributing Editor

August 29, 2017 | NWQB 3511 August 30-31, 2017 | NWQB 2450

Art Direction & Design: Claire Schultz

Doctoral Program Committee Spring 2017 Dr. Richard Smiraglia (Interim PhD Director) Dr. Wilhelm Peekhaus Dr. Dietmar Wolfram Dr. Michael Zimmer Dr. Laretta Henderson (ex-officio) Melissa Castillo (PhD Student Rep.)

2025 E Newport Ave NWQB 3rd Floor Milwaukee, WI 53211

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL scope UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE, SCHOOL OF INFORMATION our STUDIES INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

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PhD Information Studies

PhD Newsletter Vol. 06 | No. 01

In this issue:

1 2 3

4 5

6 7

8-9

10

Note from the Interim Director, Richard Smiraglia

New PhD Students: Michelle Hamberlin, Joshua Torres, Benjamin Omwando, Dana Wallace, Jessica Hutchings Student News

Recent Graduates

Where Are They Now: Anna Lauren Hoffman

Where Are They Now: Nick Proferes

Recent Scholarships

Save The Date: Upcoming Events

School of Information Studies 2025 E Newport | NWQB 3rd Floor Milwaukee, WI 53211

Spring 2017

A Note from the Interim Director The eighth year of our PhD program has seen ongoing success alongside exciting new changes. Our students continue to produce highly cited award-winning research, our graduates take up exciting new careers, and our new students and applicants represent a stimulating and international array of cultural imperatives for the advancement of information studies. One of the most important updates to our program is the launch of our distance option, by which students may earn our PhD by attending required courses using synchronous distance technology. A key part of the distance option is a required longer orientation onsite, through which the whole cohort is enabled to get to know each other in person. Another important advance for our program is the proportion of students who are supported in full by externally funded research grants. This is a hallmark of most iSchool doctoral programs. It allows the participating students immediate admission to the high-powered world of research teams, the rhythm of empirical research, and presentation of results at scientific conferences. It is a heady advance for SOISâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; doctoral program and we are proud of this change. We also have streamlined the program, making it possible for students entering in Fall 2017 to complete the degree within three years if they are so inclined, thus reaching the marketplace sooner. And we have continued to see that all doctoral students are assigned to both TA and RA posts from the very beginning, the better to prepare for teaching alongside research. This newsletter is chockablock with student accomplishments. Join me in congratulating all of our students and graduates! Richard P. Smiraglia Interim Director

PhD

Welcome to SOIS New PhD Students FALL 2016

Information Studies

Michelle Hamberlin

Hello. My name is Michelle Hamberlin. I received both my B.S. and M.L.I.S. here in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. My current research interests are Information Law, Policy, and Ethics. My free time is spent doing artwork - watercolor, oil, and acrylic painting. I enjoy reading and listening to music. I’m a big science fiction fan, especially Star Trek!

Joshua Torres

Student News

PhD Information Studies

Honorable Mention Awardee of Doctoral Poster SOIS doctoral student, Yuehua Zhao, received honorable mention for the doctoral poster, “Investigation on Autism Support Groups on Facebook” she presented at the ALISE/Jean Tague-Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Research Poster Competition, ALISE (Association for Library and Information Science Education) Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA, January 20, 2017.

Joshua Torres

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with my BA in both History and French in 2013. After graduation, I enrolled in a relatively new program called Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. As a result of this program, I obtained a Master’s Degree in 2015, but more importantly a new love of all things technology. I uncovered an internal font of curiosity towards the digital world and strived to learn more. While here at SOIS my current interests lie in augmented reality and its application in the classroom. In my free time I enjoy all active sports, leisurely hikes, and strong coffee. I love being social, especially when that coincides with speaking French.

SOIS Student Research Day SOIS Doctoral students (pictured left to right) Sukwon Lee, Katie Chamberlain Kritikos, Shannon Crawford Barniskis, Inkyung Choi, and Musa D. Hassan presented research projects and posters at the Annual SOIS Student Research Day held on March 31st.

Benjamin Omwando

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) with an MLIS-IT Concentration (2016, May), and I hold a B.Sc in Information Science from Moi University – Kenya. My research interests include: information systems, predictive analytics, especially in healthcare information systems, transaction log and social network analysis, human and computer interaction. Also, I have a curiosity about the relationship between information retrieval systems and information policy. I love gardening so that I can get fresh vegetables and fruits right from the farm.

Dana Wallace

Dana has a MLIS from SOIS and is our program’s first distance student, participating synchronously in seminars via distance technology.

Jessica Hutchings

Jessica Hutchings 02 | PhD Newsletter

In Loving Memory of Tyler Scott Smith

February 14, 1985 - November 7, 2016 The School of Information Studies is deeply saddened by the passing of a dear member of the SOIS family and UWM community. Tyler Scott Smith, SOIS PhD Student and 2010 alum of the MLIS program, passed away on November 7th, 2016. Tyler worked as an Academic Librarian in the UWM Libraries User Services Division. He had been with UWM Libraries since 2008, where he first began as a student intern before being hired into an Academic Staff position in 2010. He leaves behind his wife, Amy, and their infant daughter, Stella. Tyler was gregarious, well-liked, and always generous with a smile. He made a profound impact in the lives of the students he mentored, faculty, fellow students and colleagues, the staff with whom he light-heartedly joked around and inspired. He will be remembered fondly. Spring 2017 | 03

PhD

Welcome to SOIS New PhD Students FALL 2016

Information Studies

Michelle Hamberlin

Hello. My name is Michelle Hamberlin. I received both my B.S. and M.L.I.S. here in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. My current research interests are Information Law, Policy, and Ethics. My free time is spent doing artwork - watercolor, oil, and acrylic painting. I enjoy reading and listening to music. I’m a big science fiction fan, especially Star Trek!

Joshua Torres

Student News

PhD Information Studies

Honorable Mention Awardee of Doctoral Poster SOIS doctoral student, Yuehua Zhao, received honorable mention for the doctoral poster, “Investigation on Autism Support Groups on Facebook” she presented at the ALISE/Jean Tague-Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Research Poster Competition, ALISE (Association for Library and Information Science Education) Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA, January 20, 2017.

Joshua Torres

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with my BA in both History and French in 2013. After graduation, I enrolled in a relatively new program called Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chicago. As a result of this program, I obtained a Master’s Degree in 2015, but more importantly a new love of all things technology. I uncovered an internal font of curiosity towards the digital world and strived to learn more. While here at SOIS my current interests lie in augmented reality and its application in the classroom. In my free time I enjoy all active sports, leisurely hikes, and strong coffee. I love being social, especially when that coincides with speaking French.

SOIS Student Research Day SOIS Doctoral students (pictured left to right) Sukwon Lee, Katie Chamberlain Kritikos, Shannon Crawford Barniskis, Inkyung Choi, and Musa D. Hassan presented research projects and posters at the Annual SOIS Student Research Day held on March 31st.

Benjamin Omwando

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) with an MLIS-IT Concentration (2016, May), and I hold a B.Sc in Information Science from Moi University – Kenya. My research interests include: information systems, predictive analytics, especially in healthcare information systems, transaction log and social network analysis, human and computer interaction. Also, I have a curiosity about the relationship between information retrieval systems and information policy. I love gardening so that I can get fresh vegetables and fruits right from the farm.

Dana Wallace

Dana has a MLIS from SOIS and is our program’s first distance student, participating synchronously in seminars via distance technology.

Jessica Hutchings

Jessica Hutchings 02 | PhD Newsletter

In Loving Memory of Tyler Scott Smith

February 14, 1985 - November 7, 2016 The School of Information Studies is deeply saddened by the passing of a dear member of the SOIS family and UWM community. Tyler Scott Smith, SOIS PhD Student and 2010 alum of the MLIS program, passed away on November 7th, 2016. Tyler worked as an Academic Librarian in the UWM Libraries User Services Division. He had been with UWM Libraries since 2008, where he first began as a student intern before being hired into an Academic Staff position in 2010. He leaves behind his wife, Amy, and their infant daughter, Stella. Tyler was gregarious, well-liked, and always generous with a smile. He made a profound impact in the lives of the students he mentored, faculty, fellow students and colleagues, the staff with whom he light-heartedly joked around and inspired. He will be remembered fondly. Spring 2017 | 03

PhD

Recent Graduates

Information Studies

Dr. Renee Ben nett-Kapusn

iak

Fall 2015 Graduate

What are you doing now?

Currently, I am looking for employment. My focus has been narrow, mainly NY, so that has limited my options. I am also writing a book. The publisher, Libraries Unlimited, contacted me last year to expand an article I wrote for Public Library Quarterly on adult 50+ library services. How did your work as a PhD Student prepare you for your current role? My focus during my PhD program was on overcoming barriers to access. I concentrated on 50+ adults since there is very little out in the field on this important growing population. Deciding early on what I wanted to research has helped prepare me in writing an informative book for the library field. What challenges are you encountering in your transition from student to professional? I found to be the most challenging aspect transitioning from student to professional was the lack of being able to attend conferences unless you have the money to maintain memberships and the cost of attending. Without gainful employment, that is challenging and attending conferences helps you keep up to date on trends and concerns within your area of expertise. If you knew now what you knew then, how would you approach conferences differently? I would attend different types of conferences to broaden your scope. Information studies crosses over into other fields of studies. I would also volunteer to help out so I would meet more peers. Getting your face known along side your work will help make valuable connections for future collaborations. What advice would you offer to current and future PhD students at SOIS? Try to figure out what your concentration will be as soon as you can. This will help you when you prepare for prelims and for your dissertation. You would have accumulated a lot of research on that area, which is beneficial when you are writing with a time limit and when you want to concentrate on acquiring and disseminating your data. I would also try to get to know as many Professors as you can by collaborating on projects or within your classes, which will help you when you want to form your committee. They will then get to know your writing style and what your passion 04||PhD PhDNewsletter Newsletter 04

is for your research. This is important to have in your committee members. Is there anything else you would like to add? Create a network among your fellow students and get together frequently to discuss your research and also to unwind. This will be a place to encourage each other, ask for advice or to complain about things. Sometimes you just need to vent! Working towards a PhD is stressful in many ways since life does not stop while you are researching. Having someone else who is also dealing with the same types of stress can be helpful. In addition, try not to let your research consume your life. You need to be able to have other interests and time away from your work to be able to look at it with fresh eyes each time and to stay healthy both physically and mentally. If not, you will burn out really quickly. Your work will always be there, other things might not. Work into your routine the time you need away. You will be thankful you did. Good luck!

Dr. Jennifer Thiele Spring 2016 Graduate

What are you doing now? I’m continuing to direct the Marinette County Library System, which consists of six rural branches and one mid-sized main branch. How did your work as a PhD Student prepare you for your current role? It helped me to think bigger. So many times you are putting out fires on the micro-level and just trying to get through the days. Often times now, I back up to see what the larger issues are and try to take those into consideration. What challenges are you encountering in your transition from student to professional? The challenge of independently writing and doing research in the public realm. Access to databases and research is difficult, as we don’t have the academic collections that say, UWM has. If you knew now what you knew then, how would you approach conferences differently? I don’t know that I’d approach them much differently than I do now. I’ve volunteered to be the chair of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) conference planning committee for 2018, so I am learning a lot by serving as co-chair this year. Being aware of the things that happen behind the scenes is very important. I think that academics and

practitioners need to come together more, and my goal in serving is to make the 2018 WLA conference more appealing to academics to help gain more representation from the universities. We are in the process of implementing poster sessions and attempting to diversify our conference program. We have also been recruiting students to be active participants in the planning process, which I think will be mutually beneficial. What advice would you offer to current and future PhD students at SOIS? I would tell them that it is critical to develop relationships and a support system while in school. Work-life balance is impossible, so you have to make sure to take care of yourself. It’s easy not to prioritize this and it can have a huge impact on your physical and mental state. If you have a family, this can be worse. Most people will not understand why you are giving most of your time and money to something that seems like a pipe dream. This is especially true if you grew up in a family that didn’t participate in higher education. There is also pressure if you have a partner and children, because you are devoting all of your resources to this dream and it feels selfish. If you fail, you feel like you will drag them with you, and I don’t have advice for combating that feeling. I just know that the only thing that prevented me from falling down that hole were the friends I made in the program and my committee members. If you are missing those two elements, the process can be soulcrushing. Is there anything else you would like to add? I would just like to add a note to honor my committee member, John Bohte. He passed away a few days ago, and we are all shocked and heartbroken. He was an amazing mentor, and I learned so much from him. I feel very blessed that I was able to know him.

Dr. Carol Sab bar Fall 2016 Graduate

What are you doing now? Director of Library and Instructional Technology Services at Carthage College (which was my position before and during my studies as well.) Also, teaching an online course in Digital Information Services for SOIS, which I feel very honored to do.

PhD Information Studies

upper-level administration at my institution. Moreover, the knowledge gained from the prerequisite courses has made me feel more at home supervising library staff; I feel more able to understand their work and “speak their language.” Also, as my staff and others around me saw me undertaking the coursework and dissertation, it has inspired some of them to embark on additional studies as well. The research component has really helped me to think more deeply about how to study various types of phenomena and has given me confidence to undertake possible future publications. Finally, it has, of course, qualified me to teach the course I am now teaching, which is a bonus. What challenges are you encountering in your transition from student to professional? I worked full-time during my entire course of studies, so I was never really a “student.” No real transition here. I think the only oddity is that people – especially fellow students and SOIS faculty – expect that I will look for a different profession because of my degree, and that wasn’t really the goal of the experience. If you knew now what you knew then, how would you approach conferences differently? I wish I could have attended more. I did very little of this as a student beyond what I attended for my regular job, so I don’t have any insight here. What advice would you offer to current and future PhD students at SOIS? My experience was great, and I would give this advice: 1) Find an excellent advisor that will give you good advice, be a mentor to you, and bring out your strengths. 2) (actual advice from Dr. Xie): Make sure EVERY assignment you do for every course builds up to your dissertation. 3) Make sure that you find a dissertation topic that you LOVE and enjoy pursuing to the end. 4) Ask for advice from students who have gone before you. For me, talking with Melodie Fox about how to survive prelims was probably the best move I made; her advice was indispensable, and her example gave me the courage and confidence to get through that very intimidating time. Is there anything else you would like to add? Having been a part-time student with a full-time job elsewhere and being an older student probably makes my experience somewhat atypical. Still, everyone treated me with respect, and I appreciate that.

How did your work as a PhD Student prepare you for your current role? I believe that receiving the degree and having written a dissertation has given me more credibility with faculty and Spring 2017 | 05

PhD

Recent Graduates

Information Studies

Dr. Renee Ben nett-Kapusn

iak

Fall 2015 Graduate

What are you doing now?

Currently, I am looking for employment. My focus has been narrow, mainly NY, so that has limited my options. I am also writing a book. The publisher, Libraries Unlimited, contacted me last year to expand an article I wrote for Public Library Quarterly on adult 50+ library services. How did your work as a PhD Student prepare you for your current role? My focus during my PhD program was on overcoming barriers to access. I concentrated on 50+ adults since there is very little out in the field on this important growing population. Deciding early on what I wanted to research has helped prepare me in writing an informative book for the library field. What challenges are you encountering in your transition from student to professional? I found to be the most challenging aspect transitioning from student to professional was the lack of being able to attend conferences unless you have the money to maintain memberships and the cost of attending. Without gainful employment, that is challenging and attending conferences helps you keep up to date on trends and concerns within your area of expertise. If you knew now what you knew then, how would you approach conferences differently? I would attend different types of conferences to broaden your scope. Information studies crosses over into other fields of studies. I would also volunteer to help out so I would meet more peers. Getting your face known along side your work will help make valuable connections for future collaborations. What advice would you offer to current and future PhD students at SOIS? Try to figure out what your concentration will be as soon as you can. This will help you when you prepare for prelims and for your dissertation. You would have accumulated a lot of research on that area, which is beneficial when you are writing with a time limit and when you want to concentrate on acquiring and disseminating your data. I would also try to get to know as many Professors as you can by collaborating on projects or within your classes, which will help you when you want to form your committee. They will then get to know your writing style and what your passion 04||PhD PhDNewsletter Newsletter 04

is for your research. This is important to have in your committee members. Is there anything else you would like to add? Create a network among your fellow students and get together frequently to discuss your research and also to unwind. This will be a place to encourage each other, ask for advice or to complain about things. Sometimes you just need to vent! Working towards a PhD is stressful in many ways since life does not stop while you are researching. Having someone else who is also dealing with the same types of stress can be helpful. In addition, try not to let your research consume your life. You need to be able to have other interests and time away from your work to be able to look at it with fresh eyes each time and to stay healthy both physically and mentally. If not, you will burn out really quickly. Your work will always be there, other things might not. Work into your routine the time you need away. You will be thankful you did. Good luck!

Dr. Jennifer Thiele Spring 2016 Graduate

What are you doing now? I’m continuing to direct the Marinette County Library System, which consists of six rural branches and one mid-sized main branch. How did your work as a PhD Student prepare you for your current role? It helped me to think bigger. So many times you are putting out fires on the micro-level and just trying to get through the days. Often times now, I back up to see what the larger issues are and try to take those into consideration. What challenges are you encountering in your transition from student to professional? The challenge of independently writing and doing research in the public realm. Access to databases and research is difficult, as we don’t have the academic collections that say, UWM has. If you knew now what you knew then, how would you approach conferences differently? I don’t know that I’d approach them much differently than I do now. I’ve volunteered to be the chair of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) conference planning committee for 2018, so I am learning a lot by serving as co-chair this year. Being aware of the things that happen behind the scenes is very important. I think that academics and

practitioners need to come together more, and my goal in serving is to make the 2018 WLA conference more appealing to academics to help gain more representation from the universities. We are in the process of implementing poster sessions and attempting to diversify our conference program. We have also been recruiting students to be active participants in the planning process, which I think will be mutually beneficial. What advice would you offer to current and future PhD students at SOIS? I would tell them that it is critical to develop relationships and a support system while in school. Work-life balance is impossible, so you have to make sure to take care of yourself. It’s easy not to prioritize this and it can have a huge impact on your physical and mental state. If you have a family, this can be worse. Most people will not understand why you are giving most of your time and money to something that seems like a pipe dream. This is especially true if you grew up in a family that didn’t participate in higher education. There is also pressure if you have a partner and children, because you are devoting all of your resources to this dream and it feels selfish. If you fail, you feel like you will drag them with you, and I don’t have advice for combating that feeling. I just know that the only thing that prevented me from falling down that hole were the friends I made in the program and my committee members. If you are missing those two elements, the process can be soulcrushing. Is there anything else you would like to add? I would just like to add a note to honor my committee member, John Bohte. He passed away a few days ago, and we are all shocked and heartbroken. He was an amazing mentor, and I learned so much from him. I feel very blessed that I was able to know him.

Dr. Carol Sab bar Fall 2016 Graduate

What are you doing now? Director of Library and Instructional Technology Services at Carthage College (which was my position before and during my studies as well.) Also, teaching an online course in Digital Information Services for SOIS, which I feel very honored to do.

PhD Information Studies

upper-level administration at my institution. Moreover, the knowledge gained from the prerequisite courses has made me feel more at home supervising library staff; I feel more able to understand their work and “speak their language.” Also, as my staff and others around me saw me undertaking the coursework and dissertation, it has inspired some of them to embark on additional studies as well. The research component has really helped me to think more deeply about how to study various types of phenomena and has given me confidence to undertake possible future publications. Finally, it has, of course, qualified me to teach the course I am now teaching, which is a bonus. What challenges are you encountering in your transition from student to professional? I worked full-time during my entire course of studies, so I was never really a “student.” No real transition here. I think the only oddity is that people – especially fellow students and SOIS faculty – expect that I will look for a different profession because of my degree, and that wasn’t really the goal of the experience. If you knew now what you knew then, how would you approach conferences differently? I wish I could have attended more. I did very little of this as a student beyond what I attended for my regular job, so I don’t have any insight here. What advice would you offer to current and future PhD students at SOIS? My experience was great, and I would give this advice: 1) Find an excellent advisor that will give you good advice, be a mentor to you, and bring out your strengths. 2) (actual advice from Dr. Xie): Make sure EVERY assignment you do for every course builds up to your dissertation. 3) Make sure that you find a dissertation topic that you LOVE and enjoy pursuing to the end. 4) Ask for advice from students who have gone before you. For me, talking with Melodie Fox about how to survive prelims was probably the best move I made; her advice was indispensable, and her example gave me the courage and confidence to get through that very intimidating time. Is there anything else you would like to add? Having been a part-time student with a full-time job elsewhere and being an older student probably makes my experience somewhat atypical. Still, everyone treated me with respect, and I appreciate that.

How did your work as a PhD Student prepare you for your current role? I believe that receiving the degree and having written a dissertation has given me more credibility with faculty and Spring 2017 | 05

PhD

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Recently Hired Graduates

Information Studies

Also, finding and maintaining good mentorship can be harder once you’re outside of the formal structures of a PhD program. I’ve been lucky to connect with generous and engaged senior folks here at Berkeley and I’ve also been fortunate to maintain a close and collaborative relationship with Michael (Zimmer, my SOIS advisor) since leaving. However, I’ve certainly seen some of my fellow postdocs struggle on this front.

Dr. Anna Lauren Hoffmann

If you could offer current and future SOIS students any advice, what would it be?

After your PhD, you went on to a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Berkeley. How has the postdoc experience been? Someone once suggested to me that there are three kinds of postdocs: a few that will boost your profile, many that help you maintain your profile, and some that won’t help you much at all. I think that largely rings true. I was incredibly fortunate to land at Berkeley, where I have been able to mature as a scholar and build up my name—not only through new academic projects but also through new connections with industry. I attribute a lot of my recent success to the platform and opportunities Berkeley and being in the Bay Area has afforded me. What challenges have you encountered during this transition? I sometimes joke to my colleagues here at Berkeley that being a postdoc is kind of like being in academic purgatory: you have your PhD in hand, you’re doing the research, you’re writing, you’re reviewing, in some cases you’re teaching (and you’re maybe doing some service, too)—but your job security is limited and you have very little power, especially when it comes to decisions that might directly impact your position. It can be hard to find a voice and convey scholarly authority under these conditions.

06 | PhD Newsletter

audiences. All of these things helped make my farranging work legible to the kinds of schools where I hoped to one day work. In short: be you, be different—but be strategic. :)

Dr. Nicholas Proferes

I want to be real about the realities of the market right now. After two cycles where my application got little-tono traction for tenure-track positions, I was fortunate this year to get multiple campus visits. I know that at some of the places where I was short-listed, the number of total applicants ranged from 200-500 (FIVE HUNDRED!).

After your PhD, you went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland. How was your transition from PhD to postdoc?

In the face of that kind of competition, I think— unfortunately—that simply doing good, solid work isn’t enough. Yes, doing good work is integral—my CV and overall package were undoubtedly stronger this year than they’ve ever been—but, increasingly, you should think of good work as necessary but not sufficient. This is especially true if your work is out of the mainstream or if you belong to a marginalized or underrepresented demographic group.

The transition was interesting! I was (naively) surprised at how taxing finishing the dissertation was, and hadn’t quite realized that you need some solid downtime afterwards. Thankfully I didn’t move straight from graduation into the new position, but instead had the summer to explore some new projects at my own pace.

For me, I think three additional factors were key: timing, name recognition, and what I’ll call “legible risks.” In terms of timing, “data ethics” is a hot topic right now and my work on ethics and data science at Berkeley helped position me at the bleeding edge of some of these conversations. As for name recognition, there are lots of ways you can improve your visibility—you can institutionclimb (for better or worse, implicit bias is a powerful thing), you can network your butt off, or you can seek out highprofile collaborations. In my case, I did a lot of networking (through both service and travel) and I engaged in some high-profile public writing for places like The Guardian and Slate. When your application is one in a stack of hundreds, any amount of extra recognition helps.

In terms of the move itself, I’m originally from the D.C. area, coming to Maryland thankfully meant I didn’t have to learn the ins and outs of a new city. It took me a few weeks to fully wrap my arms around the work I’d be doing at Dr. Katie Shilton’s Ethics & Values in Design Lab. But since then, it’s been fantastic—Dr. Shilton gives me lots of leeway in balancing the work of the lab with my own research agenda.

As for what I mean by “legible risks:” my work has never fit easily into a single box—I draw not only on work in information ethics and media studies, but also from political philosophy, infrastructure studies, feminist and critical theory, queer studies, law and policy, literary theory, pop culture, and beyond. Straddling so many domains as a single scholar is risky, but I think a certain amount of risk-taking is necessary to set yourself apart. To counter this “riskiness,” I also consciously endeavored to make my choices legible to certain iSchools. I made a point to publish my work in well-regarded journals in the field; I attended conferences and workshops that forced me to translate my theoretical work for applied and technical audiences; and I used op-eds and editorials to translate my ideas and make them accessible across

What challenges have you encountered during this transition? I would say the biggest challenge I’ve dealt with is moving from a situation where I was only balancing a few things (the dissertation and teaching) to a situation where I’m now balancing multiple lab research projects, helping manage the RAs and students at the lab, teaching, my own research projects, and being on the job market. You have to become much more judicial with time-management. What experiences were the most valuable as a PhD student, and then again as a postdoc, for helping prepare you for the job market? There are a few pieces of advice that I’d give in regards

PhD Information Studies

to the job-market: 1) Start working on your elevator pitch now. Tell it to EVERYONE. Tell it to your advisor. Tell it to other students. Tell it to your partner, your friends, your parents, your dog. Practice it, revise it, and then practice it some more. 2) Serve on search committees and attend job talks. It gives you a much better sense of what makes a good candidate, what to do in a talk or what not to do. 3) Network at conferences. Go to “birds-of-afeather” sessions. Go to colloquia. Chat with someone after a talk if you liked their work. It’s useful because a) its always interesting to learn about people’s work and research approach and b) folks will remember what you do (if you have your elevator pitch down), and even if they aren’t on search committees themselves, they may think of you when they stumble across jobs that might be a good fit. If you could offer current and future SOIS students any advice, what would it be? Find structures to keep yourself accountable and moving forward as you do your work. Join a writing or workshop group. Go to coffee shops with a friend every Saturday morning and agree that you will both work for a specified amount of time. Get into good writing habits early and stick with them. Similarly, make sure you practice self-care. Exercise, meditation, church, whatever self-care is for you, make sure you do it. You will not be productive for long if you don’t. Is there anything else you would like to add? One of the best parts of my PhD program at SOIS was the sense of community and camaraderie among the students. As stressful as a PhD program is, its important make time to participate and to support each other.

Spring 2017 | 07