Me giving a presentation at an academic conference
In this edition of my blog, I want to talk about ways that I have brought my academic life, and the rest of my life together.
My academic background includes a Bachelor's Degree in Theater Arts (Upper Iowa University '77)...thus my penchant for costume running, a Master's in Library and Information Studies (University of Wisconsin, Madison '88) and a Ph.D. in Information Studies (University of Texas, Austin '06). I then taught for the next 13 years in the field of Library and Information Studies (LIS) as either a full-time tenure track assistant professor (University of Rhode Island) or an adjunct, part-time or per course instructor online or in person (San Jose State, Sam Houston State, UT-Austin, Drexel, University of Southern Mississippi, University of Alabama). Throughout that time I conducted research (required or not) mostly in the general area of the intersection of information and recreation.
I'd like to share and talk about and share three of my projects having to do with how serious recreational athletes get their information, the gamification of fitness and the reasons why people run in costume.
HOW DO SERIOUS RECREATIONAL ATHLETES GET THE INFORMATION THEY NEED?
My first research had to do with virtual play spaces and video games...but it wasn't long until I encountered the idea of Serious Leisure and the work of Robert Stebbins. From there I interviewed people who run or biked or swam or triathlon, etc .... basically people who chose an event to do and trained for it. I asked for how they got all kinds of information...how they found events, planned workouts, chose clothing, etc. etc. I found that in one community (Austin, TX) the same names came up over and over. These people were "gatekeepers" of information and another ethnographic research study was born as I interviewed as many of these folks as I could get to talk to me about how they got their information. What follows is a link to a class lecture I made about my results, which were also presented at the Information: Interaction and Impact Conference, June 2011 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
My question to you....do YOU have a gatekeeper? How did you find them? Are YOU a gatekeeper? How do you get your information?
If you don't get audio...copy and paste this link https://voicethread.com/share/5545236/
THE GAMIFICATION OF FITNESS
A few years ago, there was a boom in all kinds devices and websites to measure, keep track of, and reward fitness activities. Although I was fairly early on the bandwagon and enjoyed having the data on pace and distance etc. I began to wonder about rewards. Wasn't doing this a reward in itself? I remembered all the stuff I had learned years before about intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation...and began to wonder if sometimes the "rewards" didn't do more harm than good. So I found myself doing a review of gamification literature, as well as what little work had been done to that point in looking at motivating fitness.
I came away unconvinced one way or the other. This still is of interest to me...and I wonder if my readers use any of these devices or websites...and what your thoughts are on their motivational effects. The VoiceThread linked below is from a conference presentation (SW/TX Popular Culture Association. February 2014. Albuquerque, NM) on the topic.
If you don't get audio...copy and paste this link https://voicethread.com/share/5467881/
RECLAIMING THE JOY: MAKING PLAY OF SERIOUS RECREATIONAL ATHLETICS THROUGH THE USE OF COSTUME
If you know me at all you know that I love to run in costumes and themed outfits. I know what I love about it, but I wondered about other people. I am also a big believer in deliberately bringing play and joy into adult life...so this little side project was born, and eventually presented at The Association for the Study of Play conference at Rutgers University in 2016
Have you ever run in costume? Why?
So that's enough academic nerdiness for one day...thank you for letting me share!
