[Air-L] 2016 Best Dissertation Award - Dr. Eden Litt

[Michelle, AoIR Association Coordinator]

The Best Dissertation Award for 2016 goes to* Dr. Eden Litt* for her
dissertation, “The Imagined Audience: How People Think About Their Audience
and Privacy on Social Network Sites.” She filed it June 2015 at
Northwestern University, under the direction of Prof. Eszter Hargittai.

Dr. Litt investigates the imagined audiences to whom social media users
share their latest updates – whom do they imagine as the audience? What
shapes these imagined audiences? Do these imaginings fluctuate each time
they post? And do these imaginings relate to other factors, such as what
people reveal or conceal?  Her research design was creative and ambitious,
and she managed to draw from a diverse sample of participants and a range
of social network sites to make her claims. Litt’s rigorous study supports
important findings, which ultimately sketch an agenda for future research
in Internet studies focused on better understanding the intentions and
assumptions of social media users in their day-to-day online practices. A
readable and well-organized manuscript, Litt’s dissertation is a shining
example of excellence in the field today.

The committee also offers an honorable mention to Dr. Anne Helmond. Her
dissertation was titled “The Web as Platform: Data Flows in Social Media,”
and she filed it September 2015 at the University of Amsterdam, under the
direction of Prof. Richard Rogers. Dr. Helmond’s dissertation is notable
and stands to make a significant long-term impact in the field.

AoIR is grateful for the hard work by this year’s Best Dissertation Award
committee: Daren Brabham (chair), Taina Bucher, Mathias Klang, Anders
Larsson, and Sun Sun Lim.

Congratulations to Dr. Litt and Dr. Helmond for their exceptional work!