From her own experiences with social media, Morrison explores the possibilities for viral academic speech to become what she terms “public / scholarship” (56). For Morrison, a mode of engagement with new media that weighed the public and scholarly elements more evenly would lead to more transformative, and less disruptive, work. Morrison takes time to examine and acknowledge her own privilege as a public scholar, as well as the repercussions to her and others for doing academic work in the open. She does not shy away from detailing the harm that can be caused from a viral social media presence or incident, especially to minority groups: “Internet shitstorms rain down disproportionately, with disproportionate damage, upon the more precarious” (61). In this way, Morrison argues, technology should not be seen as automatically disruptive, or immediately positive; rather, engaging with tools like social media opens up the possibility for transformative work that acknowledges privilege, systemic bias, and potential for harm.

 

Work cited

Morrison, Aimée. 2018. “Of, By, and For the Internet: New Media Studies and Public Scholarship.” In The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities, edited by Jentery Sayers, 56–66. New York: Routledge.