STEPHEN R. BARNARD - Blog

Book Award!

8/14/2020

I am honored to share some exciting news: My 2018 book, Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, Networked Publics, and the Transformation of American Journalism just received the 2020 Book Award from the American Sociological Association's section on Communication, Information Technologies, & Media Sociology (CITAMS). It is satisfying enough to write a book and to have it published, but to be recognized by my colleagues in this way, and to be in such excellent company, is truly something else. Thank you! You can learn more about the award and the rest of the amazing award recipients here.

All Media Are Social coming soon!

2/10/2020

It's finally here! Well, almost. All Media Are Social: Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media, the book I co-authored with Andrew Lindner, is set for release in April 2020. The book offers a reader-friendly introduction to media sociology, and promises to be both interesting and entertaining to anyone with an interest in today's media. Available to order now!

Me in the news...

8/7/2018

I recently published a couple op-eds about Twitter and journalism. I'll save the backstory for another time, but here are the articles:

“Journalists, please don’t leave — it's time to fix Twitter” The Hill, July 29, 2018.
“It’s Time for the Fourth Estate to Heed the Fifth” RealClearPolitics, July 26, 2018.

My work was also featured in a Beme News story (starting at 05:25). Video below:

My first book!

7/13/2018

I am proud to announce the release of my first book, Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, Networked Publics, and the Transformation of American Journalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Here is what other scholars have said about it so far:

“Citizens at the Gates makes a compelling case that Twitter is transforming and mixing American journalism and political activism in new ways. Drawing on his sophisticated command of Bourdieusian field theory, Stephen Barnard offers an original analysis of the complex interweaving of technological affordances and socially structured practices. This is an impressive book and an indispensable guide to making sense of the contemporary media landscape.”
-Rodney Benson, Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University, USA

“No one doubts journalism is changing profoundly, but how is its transformation related to broader shifts in the social world? Only an approach rooted in social theory can answer that question. Stephen Barnard’s exciting new book is one of the first to pursue it, offering a convincing account of how media sources such as Twitter are acquiring influence in journalistic practice and changing journalistic values. Essential reading for those curious about where journalism is heading.”
-Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Tweeting #Ferguson: new article out today!

6/19/2017

My article, "Tweeting #Ferguson: Mediatized fields and the new activist journalist" was just published in New Media & Society. (Available here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444817712723)

A pre-print version is available below: https://osf.io/gcvfd/

ESS 2017 + Digital Sociology Mini-Conference

3/13/2017

On the heels of another successful ESS and #DigitalSociology mini-conference, I find myself reflecting on all the great people, papers, and conversations. That reminds me to share the work I presented, which is a draft of the theoretical chapter for my book, Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, Networked Publics, and the Transformation of American Journalism (under contract with Palgrave MacMillan). The working chapter is available on SocArXiv. Questions and comments would be most welcome--just send me an email, or leave a comment below.

Presentation at ESS Digital Sociology Mini-Conference

3/29/2016

Recently, I presented my most recent paper at the Digital Sociology Mini-Conference, in conjunction with the Eastern Sociological Society's annual meeting in Boston, MA. These are the slides from my presentation:

Tweeting #Ferguson: Mediatized fields and the new activist journalist from Digital Sociology Mini-Conference

New articles out this month

3/9/2016

I have two new pieces out this month. The first is a peer-reviewed article, “Spectacles of Self(ie) Empowerment? Networked Individualism and the Logic of the (Post)Feminist Selfie,” published in Studies in Media and Communications, volume 11.

The second piece, just published today on the Contexts blog, is titled “Keeping it real with Twitter and #realacademicbios.” This is the first of (hopefully) many projects I'm working on using the social data analysis platform, Pulsar.

Just Be You: Tips for Professional Networking in the Digital Age

2/19/2016

I was recently asked to speak at a workshop about managing professional identities. I don't claim to be an "expert" on this topic, but I've certainly learned a lot about it in recent years--both a scholar and an agent of the digital world. So, I created a brief list of tips, with a specific emphasis on social media and personal websites. I hope they're helpful. And of course, please share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.

Be active
- Don't spread yourself too thin
- Pick a few outlets and keep them updated
  - Sites that are updated too infrequently may lose traction or even reflect negatively

Be present
- Don't be afraid to interact and reply
- Engage in conference "backchannels"
  - You'd be surprised at how much can come out of these conversations
- Connect in person when you can

Be consistent
- What is your site/account for?
  - Make a decision and make it right (i.e. follow through)

Be adaptable
- It's okay to change your mind, or your focus, as long as you come by it honestly

Be (somewhat) strategic
- Build and manage your own "personal brand" (I'm not sure I like this phrase, but there's a lot of truth to it)
  - It's not just about advertising; Networks are built on interaction
- Know your audience
  - Disciplinary colleagues, public, students, media, etc.
    - It may be difficult to serve more than a few at once

Be engaging
- Find communities to join
- Link early and often
- Don't be afraid to "think out loud"
  - This is (part of) what's so interesting about public scholarship

Be valuable
- Define an audience and serve some function(s)
  - Curating is good, but don't just share others' posts

Be an advocate for yourself
- Think about how you can amplify your work
  - Share, "pin," and/or promote
  - use appropriate #hashtags and/or @mentions
    - I have posts that earned over 10,000 impressions (even though my network of followers is little more than 1,000) simply because it was "retweeted" (shared) by larger gatekeepers

Be aware
- Know the limits of your platform(s)
  - How public?
  - How anonymous?
  - How contextual?
  - How ephemeral?
    - Each of these will influence how your posts are received

Be you
- Project your identity as you see it
- A little humility goes a long way, but don't be afraid of a little self-promotion

Be prepared to respond to backlash
- Public scholarship has it's downsides, especially if your work or identity operates on the margins
- Be respectful, especially if you disagree
- But, beware of feeding the trolls
- Knowing your platform and having a response plan can help minimize stress and unwanted publicity

Tips for teaching with Twitter

1/6/2016

Every so often, I get questions from friends and colleagues about how to teach effectively with Twitter or other social media. The questions range from the simple (i.e. "How?" and "Why?") to more specific (i.e. "What are the biggest do's and don'ts?" and "What are your assignments like?"). Having spent the past five years trying to figure out what works for me and my students, I feel pretty well prepared to answer such questions. Even so, I'm constantly learning, and every semester I make changes based on the previous semester's experiences.

Before I respond, I try to take a deep breath to ponder how much detail is worth going into, and what will be the most effective way to offer my input. Like so many things, digital pedagogy is something that sounds simple in theory, but is much more difficult in practice. I've found the same rule often applies to explaining it. But even if I have a hard time figuring out where to begin such conversations, I'm thankful every time they happen because it forces me to reflect on what I do, and why. This time, I figure it's worth sharing more publicly. Hopefully others will find something useful. And then who knows where the conversation could go?

So, without any further ado, here are a few of my tips for teaching with Twitter:

Be clear about what you want and why you’re doing it. It also helps to show them how, either with an in-class demonstration and/or through your own tweets. They should get the hang of it after a few weeks. If you need to remind individual students of anything regarding their conduct, try to do so privately. Direct Messages (DMs) work well for this.
Find ways to bridge the gap between Twitter and the classroom. You can start by incorporating their tweets or other related experiences into class sessions. If you’re looking for more, consider ways to get them tweeting in class. I do this occasionally by asking everyone to live tweet films we watch in class, and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.
Provide suggestions for managing their online identity and talk about possible concerns, especially when you’re requiring them to create a public account. (Accounts have to be public for the hashtag conversations to work, but private accounts might be okay for less social uses.) I always suggest students consider making their public accounts anonymous (unidentifiable name and profile image) if they’re concerned about possible backlash or self-censorship. In reality, many use their school ID, though some get more creative or tweet from an account they already use.
Create a class #hashtag. Alternatively, you could require students to @mention you in each tweet. This will help facilitate class participation through discussion, sharing, and other engagement with each other (likes and retweets), and sometimes even with accounts outside the class. It also makes it easier to join or follow the conversation.
Be ready for hiccups to occur. Students who tweet from a newly created but incomplete profile (no user image, bio, following, followers, tweets, etc.) often have a hard time getting their tweets to show up on the #hashtag, even when they’re tweeting properly. I’ve speculated that this is due to Twitter’s algorithms filtering out tweets from new accounts they expect to be spam, although I’ve never been able to get ahold of Twitter to explain or fix. The problem usually goes away within a few days of completion and active use (the longest I’ve seen is a week).
If you’re going to grade the tweets, consider having students use Storify to create a collection of all of their tweets. This could be done at the end of the semester, or at shorter intervals. I have found many benefits to doing this: First, it’s MUCH easier than having to search for them yourself, and doing this at the end of the semester makes it even easier to see all tweets made by the user, which may have not shown up on the hashtag search (see #4). Second, it provides students a platform to reflect on the work they’ve done. Finally, in putting the responsibility back on the students, it requires them a greater reason to “buy in” to the assignment and provides a very tangible overview of the work they have done in the course.

If you're still reading this and are looking for more, consider checking out a somewhat recent version of my
Twitter assignment. It’s far from perfect—always a work-in-progress—but you’ll get a sense of how I structure the assignments and what resources I point them to (other helpful URLs at the bottom).

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