Category Archives: PhD

GamerGate: A History

This is a collection of the numerous blog posts and news articles that archive the predominately agreed upon historical narrative regarding the beginnings and elements of GamerGate. I skimmed through them as they popped up in my Twitter feed. The history presented in my Storify is created from how I remember the history unfolding. There is also, I am sure because I am now re-telling it within the context of an academic paper for an Advocacy class, an element of editorial arrangement for flow and application to the meaning being made in the story.

What Is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks

Know Your Meme: GamerGate

Don’t believe the ‘conspiracy,’ gaming has bigger problems than ‘corruption’

#GamerGate: Here’s why everybody in the video game world is fighting

NPR All Tech Considered: GamerGate controversy fuels debate on women and video games

This list is the one that I collected. If you’re looking for evaluative posts, that is still pending. Check back later to see if it’s been revised. And feel free to leave links in the comments to other take you fee hold value to this discussion.

 

Those who left home

There have been several women connected to GamerGate who have been chased out of their homes. Brianna Wu’s flight with her husband in October 2014 made international news. The Guardian covered it. She covered it herself on xojane.com. Kotaku covered it in detail which includes screenshots of a series of tweets with direct threats. Zoe Quinn, the woman at the beginning of the GamerGate controversy, also left her home out of concern for her safety. Anita Sarkeesian left home out of fear of her safety, and she remains vague regarding her whereabouts. Sarkeesian has even felt compelled to cancel a speaking event at Utah State University after the school received threats of a mass shooting.

There have been claims of attacks on pro-GamerGaters, however, I was unable to find sources that provided the claimed video evidence. This could be for a few reasons, not the least is fatigue from searching through numerous articles and tweets and blog posts and Tumblr memes and….

If you would like to provide links in the comments, that would be appreciated. Add whatever other links you feel would help add to this information in general.

Discussion

Merriam-Websters’ definition can be found here. I frequently use this word as it carries the academic connotation of akin to fight. When I’m talking in person, I usually pause a beat before deciding discussion is the most effective word.

In the GamerGate project, I see the hashtag as more of a record of a fight. But fight doesn’t carry the same academic weight as discussion. Argument is also a probable synonym, but that holds a different meaning in academia. Attack would also probably work, if it did not also carry military and conquest elements. And while these additional elements may meaningfully add to the conversation, I am making the call that it opens the conversation to be directed in unintended ways I wish to avoid.

Politics, Policy, and Advocacy

In my PhD program, I opted to take a Politics, Policy, and Advocacy class. This has been very informative, and challenging (in an incredibly good way). I’m having a great time in the class, and learning a lot about advocacy from a theoretical perspective, which has been helpful in naming some of my past experiences.

But as it’s a PhD class (or really a class in general), I have to create a final paper/project. And I have a great idea for how I’m going to format it! (I’m seriously super excited for my idea to work out; a draft will be posted here, the link to the final will be as well).

As excited for trying a new writing form as I am, I find I am nervous for the content. Because I will be talking about the type of advocacy that is hidden in the fight conversation that is happening at the hashtag gg (if you don’t know what this is, watch this space. All will become clear in the next few weeks. As will the reasons I am hesitant to be clearer).

Beyond sharing this random collection of thoughts, I wanted to have a post explaining why there are going to be a quick flurry of posts that aren’t pushed to my social media forums. I am going to be publishing my final project the week before it’s due on Storify, which might also be how I submit the final project. To make the argument clearer, I feel like there are places where I need footnotes. However, publishing through Storify makes footnotes a little tricky (this could be due to my n00b status with Storify), so I plan to create un-social media linked posts here to function as footnotes. As I think the footnotes are interesting as stand alone thoughts, I won’t have them as hidden links on the site; they will simply be folded into the feed.

So if you’re subscribed for updates, this is my apology for the influx of updates. If you’re not subscribed, then this is just another random post from me 🙂

Please feel free to leave any thoughts on my argument, or gg in general, or really anything else, in the comments on any of the posts. This is not, however, an invitation for harassment of me or a take down of me as a person. I love debating the ideas; I will not debate me as a person. I also will not debate any deconstruction of another person. I will entertain debating other ideas, because that’s the whole purpose of getting a PhD. Comments here are held for approval by me as a default (always). Anything that looks as though it will move the conversation on my site to a debate or take down of a person, will not be approved. Feel free to create your own site, if you feel I am somehow infringing on your right to speak. But I recommend re-reading the U.S. Bill of Rights as you take on the endeavor.

And now, here we go 🙂

Writing schedules

I have been terrible at keeping a writing schedule.

This is a bit of a confessional, because I feel guilty at my lack of discipline of committing words to paper (or screen). My excuses for not following through (and completing what are currently best described as writing dreams) are legion. You’ve heard them all before; you may have used them all yourself; my, let’s call them, reasons are not new.

But I need all this to stop. Of course, the only way that I will stop them myself is by following Patrick Rothfuss’ writing advice. (He’s not the only one with great advice, but he’s so succinct).

So now it’s time to put fingers to keys and throw some pixels in the form of words onto the screen. My treat will be a solid editing session in the afternoon!

Thanks for the encouragement! I hope you complete whatever you need done as well!

Oh, hello!

The last wall...The thing about the being in a PhD program is that there is a ton of thinking and a ton of writing, and it’s interesting; it just takes over your entire existence. And all the thinking and writing makes it difficult to have a life outside of the realm of school, which I’m finding even includes keeping up here.

Some of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about – comic books, video games, critical pedagogy, the non-monolithic-ness of popular culture, and how much I love the coffee shop that has opened in the neighborhood (though I wish it was open later in the day, because I have a hard time making it there before it closes at 7:30 L ). I’ve also been toying with the idea of re-structuring the layout of the site, because I would like to start sharing the reading responses that I’ve been writing. I think it would be more helpful to think of the writing as having to be more for an audience I don’t know. And then I could potentially get feedback that would be helpful, if I decide to take the plunge to revise the writing for potential article submissions…. But I also want to write silly reviews for all of the movies that I’ve seen, and I’m not sure that academic-type people would be as interested in the silly reviews (though I’m sure some would).

Basically, right now, my head is full of dreams and ideas that might turn into plans at some point in the near future. And I needed a study break from writing the early draft of 1 crazy end of the semester paper, so I decided to stop neglecting the site.

This, too, shall pass

blossoms framing Alice in Wonderland sculptureThe title is a reminder to myself. It’s family mantra, much like the Stark’s “Winter is Coming” (and at times equally as tragic). It’s an affirmation that nothing is permanent, as well as an encouragement to endure the rough patches and embrace the moments of joy, because both are fleeting and will be gone in another breath.

Tonight was night 2 of First Day of School for my new Ph.D. program (sidenote – I’m beginning a Ph.D. program in Education with an emphasis in Curricular and Cultural Studies. This will probably come up again over the next 4-ish years, just a guess). And the class for this night is basically “Welcome to this Ph.D. program in Education! Here’s everything you’ll be expected to know!” This is a great class to have; tonight I am overwhelmed, though, because I feel terribly behind in my base knowledge for my new discipline.

A large reason for this feeling grows from switching fields. I have a M.A. in English, which means I know how to read very well, and I can write well in the MLA format. Education is an entirely different beast. My reading skills transfer over, but the discipline uses APA, which is in many ways opposite to MLA, so I will have to re-learn how to write somewhat. And my experience with The Canon will only be mildly helpful.

I was sitting in class tonight, listening to the professors go over the expectations and the assignments for this class and realized how large the gaps in my knowledge are for this field. And I started to panic a bit.

So I’m doing what I always do when I know that I am spiraling into a dark pit even Hamlet would avoid, I’m writing. And I’m writing here, because if I’m getting a Ph.D., I have to get more comfortable with the idea of people reading me.

I have similar concerns and doubts with every degree. The rational part of me knows that I will succeed, and that Future Chandra will look back on Current Chandra and laugh at how stressed out I am in this moment. But I’m still Current Chandra, which means I have a tremendous amount of reading to catch up on so that I can stand in a place where I can be Future Chandra laughing at this moment some day. Because this, too, shall pass.