Events in April and May.

Posted on by wishcrys

Moshimoshi folks!

I am finally back on the continent where the sun is perpetually glorious (and sometimes threatening to kill you but at least everything is beautiful).

This April and May, I am Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University, thanks to a competitive grant awarded to the imitable Kath Albury.

At Swinburne, I will be keynoting at the Selfie Subjectivies Symposium and launching my forthcoming book alongside Katrin Tiidenberg, speaking at a colloquium on The Influencer Industry, and teaching a masterclass on Internet Paralanguages.

I’ll also be visiting RMIT to guest lecture in the Global Communication in a Digital Age Masters’ Programme thanks to an invitation from media-anthropology-brain-hub John Postill.

Between Melbourne happenings, I’ll be making quick trips to the Media Industries conference (London) to speak on a panel on “Global Developments in Social Media Entertainment”, to the Theorizing the Web conference (New York) to speak on a keynote panel on “The Next Generation”, and to the International Communication Conference (Prague) to give a paper on “Cultures of Celebrity and Labour within Tumblr’s Architecture”.

If you’re based in Melbourne and would like to chat, please beep! Otherwise, I plan to spend all my time harassing all my friends for all the hot chocolate and margarita dates.

/C

Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018.

Posted on by wishcrys

Hi folks,

I am super honoured to be named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018 list for Media, Marketing & Advertising.

Representing academia is your friendly neighbourhood anthropologist: “Crystal Abidin, 29, Anthropologist, Jönköping University & Curtin University”.

Browse through the full lists of lists here.

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And here is a round-up of young Singaporeans who have made the list this year. Majulah, anak anak di Singapura <3

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I will also now have to live with the consequences of these vital nuggets of information being on public record forever.

PS: Mr Dick Lee, on the off-chance you happen to be reading this, I really admire and love your body of work. (notice me, senpai (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧)

PPS: Long live the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993).

/C

Podcast with The Human Show: Influencers and Youth Online.

Posted on by wishcrys

Hi folks!

I was invited to be on a podcast with the good people over at The Human Show, shedding light on what it is anthropologists actually do. Here is 35:32 of me dishing some brain foods on Influencers, youth cultures online, the place of platforms and traditional media in the age of internet celebrity, and the value of anthropology.

Highlights include:
–04:39 on how we can practice participant observation on the internet
–06:17 on the value of Influencers beyond commerce
–10:30 on how Influencers and platforms impact each other
–18:36 on the relationship between Influencers and traditional media
–26:46 on whether young internet celebrities are just being exploited online
–28:23 on truth bombs about whether you should sign up for a PhD or work as a practitioner anthropologist

Includes gold nugget streams-of-consciousness such as:
“if you do decide to pursue academia, by doing a higher postgrad study, always keep your doors open. Don’t be the type of person who’s really confident that you’ll finish your PhD and be a professor and retire and then die, because those things do not exist anymore. At the same time, don’t be too despaired by all the quit lit that academia is a crazy space, because there are people who have found communities, who have found like-minded people who enjoy the work you do. And we do find ways to call out insecurities and inequalities as we see it to make this environment better for all of us who are living in it.”

I hope you enjoy it (and not hate my voice as much as I do).

/C

Keynote paneling at Theorizing the Web, New York

Posted on by wishcrys

Friends! I am super duper excited to finally be attending my first Theorizing the Web conference <3

This is undoubtedly the fanciest and most attractive conference programme I have ever seen, and so full of on-point goodness about internet culture at that.

Registration is open till 26th April 2018 here, and operates on a pay-what-you-can policy.

With utmost gratitude for the kind invitation from David A Banks and Nathan Jurgenson, I will be speaking on the keynote panel on The Next Generation. I am also oozing with joy at the prospect of finally meeting with some of the crew from Cyborgology and Real Life in the flesh for the first time… you know, to verify that we are not secretly just holograms with brains.

This will also be my first time in New York and I have no plans apart from hanging out at Central Park all day while reminiscing the glory days of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. So if you have any pro-tips or recommendations, I would greatly appreciate some travel tips.

With smelly cats and unagi and moo and pivots and lobsters,
Baby Kangeroo Tribbiani

Keynoting at the Instagram Conference 2018, London

Posted on by wishcrys

Hi folks!

I’m honoured to be keynoting at a conference dedicated to Instagram cultures on 01st June 2018 in London – Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies: Instagram Conference 2018. CfPs close 30th April 2018.

I’ll be sharing excerpts from my forthcoming book, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online (2018, Emerald Publishing); drawing on my milestone work on Influencers on Instagram (Abidin 2014, 2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2017); and sharing some new findings from a forthcoming book, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures (Polity Press) being co-authored by Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield, and yours truly. Keynote abstract below.

Many thanks to Alessandro Caliandro for putting this together 🌟🌟🌟 Continue reading Keynoting at the Instagram Conference 2018, London