Research

Works in progress listed here.

Research accolades, publications, presentations, service, and press under the RESEARCH tab above.

For pre-prints email crystalabidin[at]gmail[dot]com.
Academia.edu here.
PhD dissertation abstract and outline here.

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UPCOMING TALKS

[guest professor] Senft, Theresa M., and Crystal Abidin. 2017. “Digital Living: Identities and Complexities Summer School.” Aarhus University, Denmark. July 31-August 11, 2017. <Link>

[paper] Abidin, Crystal, and Tama Leaver. 2017. “From YouTube to TV, and Back Again: Viral Video Child Stars and Media Flows in the Era of Social Media.” Digitising Early Childhood International Conference, Novotel Perth, Perth. September 11-15, 2017. [via video-conferencing]

[paper] Abidin, Crystal. 2017. “Here, There, and Nowhere: Mixed race East Asians and corporeal placeness in Australia.” Mixed Race in Asia and Australasia: Migrations, Mobilities and Belonging, Asia Research Institute Workshop, Singapore. October 12-13, 2017. [via video-conferencing]

[keynote] Abidin, Crystal. 2017. “Attention whores and internet mores: The lifecycle and labour of Influencer affects and moralities.” Affective Politics of Social Media, University of Turku, Turku. October 12-13, 2017. <Link>

[paper] Ask, Kristine, and Crystal Abidin. 2017. “My life is a mess: Self-deprecating relatability and the memefication of student publics.” AoIR 2017, Association of Internet Researchers, Tartu. October 18-21, 2017.

[fishbowl] Hendry, Natalie Ann, Paul Byron, Crystal Abidin, and Brady Robards. 2017. “A Tumblr and young people fishbowl.” AoIR 2017, Association of Internet Researchers, Tartu. October 18-21, 2017.

[panelist] Abidin, Crystal, Theresa M. Senft, Alice E. Marwick, and Elizabeth Wissinger. 2017. “Re-theorizing microcelebrity ten years on: Perspectives and projections from key scholars in the field.” AoIR 2017, Association of Internet Researchers, Tartu. October 18-21, 2017.

[paper] Abidin, Crystal. 2017. “Towards a theory of cross-media networked microcelebrity: Of bedrooms, blogsites, broadcasts, and boardrooms.” AoIR 2017, Association of Internet Researchers, Tartu. October 18-21, 2017.

[panelist] “Queer youthscapes.” Youth, Digital Participation and Citizenship in the Asia Pacific’ Workshop, Deakin University, Melbourne. November 8-9, 2017.

[paper] “Hook ups, Break ups, Make ups: Influencer couples as digital estates.” Digital Intimacies: Connections and disconnection, RMIT, Melbourne. November 13-15, 2017.

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WORKS UNDER REVIEW

[journal article] Grief hype-jacking: Influencers, Attention Economies, and the Commodification of Grief

[journal article] Si Gin Na (“Brat”): Social Media & the juvenile insolence in Singapore – with Liew Kai Khiun (Nanyang Technological University)

[journal article] History of the digital camera in Singapore 1994-2006 – with Connor Graham (Asia Research Institute)

[journal article] #nofilter, #inreallife: Influencers and Porous Authenticity on Instagram

[journal article] Privacy for Profit: Influencers, Personae and the Lifecycle of Commoditized Privacy

[book chapter] Practices, Privacy, and Privileges: Conducting Research on Tumblr – with Akane Kanai (University of Newcastle) and Matthew Hart (La Trobe University)

[commentary] Leisuring labour: A feminist critique of mommyblogging – with Renee M Powers (University of Illinois Chicago)

[commentary] Switching ‘On’ – Lifestyle bloggers’ imagery of class and intimacy

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CURRENT PROJECTS

An oral history of punk in Singapore – with Liew Kai Khiun (Nanyang Technological University) in partnership with The Substation

Digital folklore in Singapore – in partnership with the Asia Research Institute

Cultures of YouTube in Asia

The commodification of weddings and aspirational housing

Aspirational tensions: Young couples and homemaking in a tightly regulated ecology

Young people and grief in digital spaces

Not just a pretty boy: Male Influencers in a hyper­feminized economy

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WORKS IN PROGRESS

[monograph] Buymylife.com: Vernacular commerce, creation, and culture in Singapore blogshops

[edited book] Fame and microcelebrity on the web – with Megan Lindsay Brown (Arizona State University)

[special issue] Private messages from the field: Moral confessions and ethical dilemmas in digital ethnography – with Gabriele de Seta (Academia Sinica)

[journal article] Understanding Travelogues: An Orientalist Imaginary of South East Asia? – with Connor Graham (Asia Research Institute)

[book chapter] Gruesome intimacies: The anatomy of plastic surgery advertorials