[Air-L] Elevating critical race and internet studies

[Lynn Schofield Clark]

Thanks so much to Sarah for her query, and to everyone for widening the discussion to a conversation about how we can both support our students and also how the Association of Internet Researchers as an organization can respond at this time. Thanks also to those who have made suggestions and I hope that this will continue as we all grapple with responding to and caring for our students, our young people, and to those of all ages in our immediate circles and wider communities.
 
As President of the organization, I appreciate the very real desire for responses and for places of discussion. On a personal note, I am incredibly thankful for the contributions critical race and digital studies scholars have made to this Association over the years through their insights in their writing, their work with students, and through their contributions in roundtables, fishbowls, keynotes, and in other conference venues both formal and informal. This is an important time to elevate the work in this area. The Executive Board has been working on creating a list of resources for research, teaching and active responses to be shared on our website soon. Mostly, we want to direct people to the incredible resources that others have already collated in this area. If anyone wants to contribute to this task, please reach out to anyone on the Exec. Just so you know, we also discussed donations, which our legal status does not allow, but we know that many in our membership and on the Exec have been donating to bail and mutual aid funds. We are also exploring other avenues for making material contributions, such as supporting the publication efforts of those working in these spaces.
 
Members of the Executive Board of the Association of Internet Researchers also have been seeking input from several Black and critical race scholars who have played leadership roles in this organization in the past. We are very mindful of the unprecedented demands on critical race scholars and our Black colleagues at this time, and are incredibly grateful for their help. Instead of making a statement, too curbed by legal demands to be meaningful, the organization’s current leadership wants to seek insights from these scholars and take the organization toward structural change that addresses the many challenges we are facing as scholars, educators, and as human beings. Among the Exec, we’re discussing your past suggestions, scholarship, and interventions and we also welcome further suggestions. We also acknowledge that we as an international organization must respond to injustices across the world and did not respond to, for example, recent protests in Hong Kong or genocide in Xinjiang. As an international organization we also must be mindful of the ways that the Black Lives Matter movement is localized in particular ways, such as with the issue of Indigenous Deaths in Custody in Australia, a topic addressed in Bronwyn Carlson’s outstanding 2019 AoIR keynote in Brisbane. Our members and contributors have addressed and continue to address these issues in important ways.
 
As a Board, we have committed to examining and addressing how our organization participates in reproducing systemic injustice. We are also interested in exploring how the upcoming virtual conference may provide spaces for discussions about race. Please contact anyone on the Board if you’d like to participate in this discussion on elevating critical race in internet studies at AoIR and you’ll get connected to others who have the headspace to devote to this, either right now, or later on. Thanks again to all who want to use this list to think through responses at this challenging and transformative time.
 
Lynn Schofield Clark, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Professor, Chair & Director,
Estlow Center for Journalism & New Media
Department of Media, Film & Journalism Studies
University of Denver
And
President, international Association of Internet Researchers
LynnSchofieldClark.com

 
 
 

On 6/4/20, 4:04 PM, "Air-L on behalf of Sarah Ann Oates" <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of soates at umd.edu> wrote:

    Dear AOIRers,
    
    I wanted to ask this great list a question for our times. See the message
    below from a student I taught in an online social media and society course,
    in which we had a module on #BlackLivesMatter. Can you think of a better
    way to respond than just with a list of campus groups and a note that I was
    impressed that she wanted to commit to activism for her beliefs? That's
    what I did, but I'd like to help a bit more because it's heartening both to
    see students wanting to put their scholarship into action. Thanks in
    advance. BTW, I asked her if I could ask the list and she said that was
    great.
    
    Here is her message:
    
    As a young black woman, I am struggling to cope with all that is happening
    in our country right now. Looking at social media I am further saddened to
    see images of Black men being murdered and their deaths reposted and
    reposted for all to see. I fear people will become desensitized to these
    images and names like George Floyd will just become another hashtag and
    forgotten victim of a corrupt system.
    
    *... I was wondering if you had any advice or resources for action beyond
    social media. I know the Black Lives Matter module discussed the sort of
    "wind tunnels" we create where like-minded people swirl ideas among mutual
    followers, but little action is taken beyond likes and retweets. I want to
    do something that goes beyond liking a post or ranting about it on Twitter.
    If you have any ideas or resources regarding the potential to leverage
    social media for positive social change I'd love to learn more about them!*
    
    Sarah Oates
    Professor and Senior Scholar
    Philip Merrill College of Journalism
    University of Maryland
    College Park, MD 20457
    Email: soates at umd.edu
    Phone: 301 455 2332
    https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.media-politics.com__;!!NCZxaNi9jForCP_SxBKJCA!D8Z4sMneL2hSlsN2GhajVtbmQnFqBvdWzhP-UKCfce2hMhPVQ2oXBsGsLVViHU-q$ 
    Twitter: @media_politics
    
    *Support the UMD Student Crisis Fund
    <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://giving.umd.edu/giving/showPage.php?name=crisis-funding__;!!NCZxaNi9jForCP_SxBKJCA!D8Z4sMneL2hSlsN2GhajVtbmQnFqBvdWzhP-UKCfce2hMhPVQ2oXBsGsLZS2H1H8$ > today. *
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