Keep up with what I have done and what I am currently doing.
I am excited about many things. I enjoy examining and addressing accessibility, bias, equity, and inclusion. I am a skilled science communicator, methodologist, and qualitative analyst.
Want to collaborate? Have me host a workshop or solve complex problems? I look forward to it!
Contact me and we can get started.
Current Projects
Studying blocked and banned users
I am currently in the design phases of a study I have wanted to do for years. I will engage with blocked and banned users in order to identify actionable items online communities can take to prevent situations from arising.
Co-editing an upcoming MIT Press publication
Wikipedia is turning twenty! Joseph Reagle wanted to capture the experiences and insights of people involved with Wikipedia’s first twenty years. I am glad to be co-editing this collection of essays with him. The book is out now. Go grab a copy!
Ethnographical study of contributors with disabilities
For several years I have been curious about the experiences of Wikipedia contributors with disabilities. This work is related to my dissertation work, An exploration of the lived experiences of college students with disabilities.
Developing a Wikimedia user group in the midwest
I plan events to grow a community of people who contribute to Wikimedia projects here in the Midwest.
Promoting authorship in marginalized groups
History has been told using an anthropological lens, which has traditionally been white and male. I actively work to challenge barriers that perpetuate the exclusion of people and their culture and history. I encourage people to contribute to Wikimedia projects when they otherwise do not feel empowered to do so.
Future Projects
Examining the impact of implicit bias on English Wikipedia
Implicit bias is a problem for Wikipedia. This is because implicit bias affects the range of available content and inhibits contributor retention. The full details of my investigation can be found in the grant proposal from 2017 or this proposal from 2020. This grant was not funded through the Wikimedia Foundation Grants program in either round, but if you can fund this critical work, let me know.
Traveling the US doing Wikimedia outreach
I plan to travel around the United States, reaching out to small towns and marginalized communities to teach information literacy and authorship. This project is a collaboration with my husband and an equally awesome education advocate.
Expanding Coverage of North America on Wikimedia Projects: Wiki Loves Your Community
I was inspired by a story told by one librarian who lives on the Texas-Mexico border. A patron asked for information about this small border town. The librarian had two choices: collect some information and educate one patron about this town, or do the same amount of work, publish it on Wikipedia, and educate more people. She chose the ladder and ended up educating over 400 people within a month about that small town. I want to document the places in North America for fear they might be soon forgotten or face the potential of not being known.
Past projects
Improving community health in the Wikimedia movement
As part of the Wikimedia 2030 Strategic Direction, I worked on the Community Health Working group developing ways to improve community health for the Wikimedia movement. The work resulted in released recommendations with one major one already moving forward: a universal Code of Conduct.
Visiting Scholar with San Francisco State University’s Longmore Institute on Disability and the Wiki Education Foundation.
I edited Wikipedia to include disability history and culture, and change the impact of systemic bias on Wikipedia.
Hosting a roundtable discussion at Wikimania with my fellow visiting scholars
It is an impressive program with a real impact. We want to get more organizations to support scholars of their own. Want to be a visiting scholar? Come to Wikipedia Visiting Scholars: Developing a Model for Educational Institutions and Associations to Support Editing and find out more.
Presenting about implicit bias at Wikimania, WikiConference North America, and Wikipedia Day NYC
Bias impacts our every move. I want others to know about bias and how it affects contributions to Wikipedia. Coming to the conference? I’m presenting this session twice, and I would love to see you at Birth of Bias: implicit bias’ permanence on Wikipedia.
Attitudinal bias in disability and career
I collaborated with two colleagues to examine how bias affects the careers of people with disabilities on higher education campuses. We presented our material at an international conference for educators.
Mourning a Dissertation
I presented a Pecha Kucha at an international college educator conference about life after the dissertation, titled Mourning a Dissertation. This was adapted from my original piece published on my blog, Mourning a Dissertation.
An exploration of the lived experiences of college students with disabilities
For my dissertation, I authored a phenomenological study regarding the experiences of college students with disabilities during their time in higher education.
Examining veterans sense of belonging on campus
Veterans are a unique population of college students. They are not the typical 17-24 college age, and even if they are, they have different needs. I studied how they connected or didn’t on campus.
Investigating the adoption of wikis in higher education
After finding a lot of time in student services was spent double-checking policies and verifying content on the website, which, at the time, only marketing could update, I suggested we use a wiki. I studied the successes and challenges of the implementation.