Introduction

Hi, I'm Sara Loughran. I'm a Sophomore from Austin, Texas. I'm majoring in International Studies and Media Studies with minors in English (Creative Writing) and Theatre. I write for the DU Clarion and I'm a member of DU's improv comedy team, Skintight Outrage. I really enjoy both writing and performing.

I've been using the Internet and social media for as long as I can remember, and it's helped facilitate my passion for writing by allowing me to join communities with other people who also enjoyed writing, and we would sometimes create collaborative pieces together. I'm also a fan of a lot of different video games, and I've joined communities for other fans of those games online. I prefer RPGs and games that allow me to create an entire world and/or persona that I can mold to my liking.

I use Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube most often to create and share content with others, usually under an alias/screen name, because I feel more comfortable expressing myself that way because I don't have necessarily have preexisting identity attached to my work and posts. So I mostly prefer media experiences where I can be anonymous or go by an alias, so I can separate my real life self from my creator/online self.

In terms of general media, besides video games, I enjoy lots of different movies, films, books, and music. My taste in all of these things is super diverse, and I don't like to limit myself by saying I'll never get into a specific genre of music/film/television/book/video game, because I feel like that's pretentious. Recently I've been getting into K-pop and other types of non-English music, and I've been introduced to a whole other world online full of different communities and creators with similar interests.

My goal for this class is to learn as much about emergent digital practices and cultures as I can. The whole idea and definition of "emergent digital practices" is kind of abstract and vague to me, and I don't completely understand it. I'm not sure if it solely focuses on new technologies or explores current evolving ones, but I hope to get more clarity on the subject, especially because I'm a Media Studies major. I would also like to learn about the differences between digital practices and cultures around the world, since I am also majoring in International Studies and I'm interested in how certain things affect us globally.