I’ve read a few papers by Girish J Gulati and Christine B Williams at Bentley University. Their work on social media adoption and Congress is super helpful to my work and I’m seeing some interesting themes with Congress and trends within technology through their work. In this paper, Gulati and Williams look into the adoption […]
AGS Symposium Talk
In late spring I gave a practice talk at the Associated Graduate Students Symposium (click picture to see video). The talk described the beginnings of my research into constituent communication in Congress. I decided to give this talk to practice my speaking skills and to articulate my research goals. More than six months later, AGS […]
The Democratic Interface
Last night I read: The democratic interface: technology, political organization, and diverging patterns of electoral representation by W. Lance Bennett, Alexandra Segerberg, and Curd B. Knüpfer. The piece was recently published in the journal of Information, Communication, and Society.
The Potato Paradigm
What are some things you could possibly know about a single potato? You could know….. Size Color Shape Texture Taste
Tech Threats to Democracy
The New York Times just posted a chilling article titled “Silicon Valley Can’t Destroy Democracy Without Our Help”. In the very first line, Emily Parker says “Silicon Valley, once a force for good, is now a threat to democracy”. I haven’t read the entire article yet, but it probed my brain to ask if this is […]
On Guidance
I’m having a little trouble with guidance. Because my interest are so interdisciplinary, it’s hard to find where and how I should fit into the current landscape. The thought of finding that spot in the crowd has been nerve wracking, but I met the amazing Bo Ruberg, a new professor in our department. They told […]
Hamilton
Last night I was driving in my car and was signing along to the Hamilton soundtrack. I realized while I was singing that I discovered the Hamilton soundtrack at the end of my junior year of undergraduate, right as I started thinking about graduate school. And as I thought about the timeline in my car, […]
Down The Rabbit Hole
This quarter I will be entering the rabbit hole of literature to prepare for my qualifying exam in the spring (It’s basically a large literature review). There are a few questions that I need to start answering to situate my work: [1] How many people are looking at technology in Congress and in what ways? […]
Smart Citizens, Smarter State
I finished reading Beth Novek’s book called Smart Citizen, Smarter State. Novek focuses on citizen engagement and calls for more expert-centric software to help government identify and utilize expertise outside of government to help with government decisions. This book was a great representation of the lack of good software within government. Her examples of policies […]
To Write About Yourself
“The first draft of anything is shit.” ― Ernest Hemingway Writing and very often talking about yourself is hard. It’s even harder when it’s being evaluated by someone through the lens of a personal essay. I am currently in the process of writing a draft for the NSF GRFP, and after reading about 20 previously […]