Dr. Michelle Ferrier presented on making the invisible visible in hypertextual spaces. She discussed her research on digital story quilts and using tactics like fragmentation, condensation and juxtaposition to communicate community knowledge online. She also discussed her media deserts project that maps areas lacking access to news and information using GIS tools. Additionally, she presented on her work with TrollBusters, which uses technologies like natural language processing and online community support to counter cyber harassment targeting women journalists.

1.  Making visible the invisible in the
hypertextual space
Social Media Conference, Howard University, October 1, 2015
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Associate Dean for Innovation
Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University
ferrierm@ohio.edu; @mediaghosts
The View from Here…
…And Here

2.  Associate Dean for Innovation |
Associate Professor , Journalism
Scripps College of Communication,
Ohio University, OH;
ferrierm@ohio.edu;
Twitter: @mediaghosts
 Vice President, Journalism That
Matters
Founder, Create or Die Startup
Gatherings
 Founder, TrollBusters | @yoursosteam
 Mother of Google Maps
Educator
Entrepreneur
Mentor
Scholar
New Media Innovator
Dr. Michelle Ferrier

3. 
My WorldView

4. Innovation Activities What was it?
BBS/Fax on Demand (Intrapreneur) Early technology adoption with members
NEAOnline (Intrapreneur) Developed first web presence for National Education Association on
AOL
SimSchool (Intrapreneur) Development of school system simulation at NEA
Education Insider (Entrepreneur) Magazine startup for parents of school-aged children
EHCWired.com (Intrapreneur) First independent online college news site; first online course at the
college (2002).
Media Power Lunch (Entrepreneur) Short, online learning for beginning journalists (MediaBistro
predecessor)
Highlands Family (Entrepreneur) Hyperlocal, hybrid online/print news for families in Appalachia
CopyWash.com (Entrepreneur) Online copy editing services
Digital Identity/Reputation Management
(Entrepreneur)
Patent pending technology on managing identity from one platform
MyTopiaCafe.com (Intrapreneur) Online community for newspaper nonsubscribers
LocallyGrownNews.com (Entrepreneur) Hyperlocal online news franchise
Media Deserts Project (Researcher) Uses GIS technologies to make visible the media ecosystem.
TrollBusters Natural Language Processing and Positive Messaging System

5. My Research Agenda
 1. Digital Story Quilt: Creating identity and
community online using quilters’ tactics.
 2. Media Deserts Project: Way of "seeing" that
provides high-level view of the ecosystem.
 3. Media Entrepreneurship: Creating pathways to
innovation inside and outside the classroom.
 4. Digital Identity and Reputation Management:
TrollBusters and addressing cyberharassment.
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University, @mediaghosts

6. Digital Quilt: Defining Question
How can you make visible
the knowledge and stories
of a community?

7. The Digital Story Quilt
 Alan Kay, an interface designer, poses the
question:
“What kind of thinker would you become if
you grew up with an active simulator
connected, not just to one point of view, but
to all the points of view of the ages
represented so that they could be
dynamically tried out and compared?”
Alan Kay,“User Interface: A Personal View,” The Art of Human-Computer
Interface Design, 1990.

8. Practice:The Quilters’ Space
 Reflexive, poetic,
interpretive practice
 Kind of rootedness
 Quilts communicate in
an intimate fashion
across generations
 Offers tactics for
agency

9. Practice:The Quilters’ Space
 Through quilt text(iles), women used their
constraints – to create a way of knowing
that expanded their domestic rhetoric into a
public realm.
 Contrary to patriarchal rhetorical styles, this
femmage or female collage uses fragments
to work in a conductive fashion – a
hyperrhetorical movement.

11. The Digital Story Quilt
Users then search the
interface using a variety
of search tools. They
create a visual quilt top
that may be
manipulated or
“read” to reveal the
multiple dimensions of
each patch.

12. Tactics for Digital Advocacy
 Fragmentation: Tearing apart that which is seemingly
whole into pieces to create place of liminality
(in between).
 Condensation: Reduction of ideas to icons or symbolic
narratives; at level of family unit.
 Juxtaposition: Destabilizing, relational nature of
narratives, images display complexities.
 Improvisation: Kairos; the right suggestion at the right
time; yielding to the creative process.
 Endurance: Persistence over time.

13. Postfeminist Research, HypertextTheory
 Participatory Action: Everyone can speak for
themselves and constitute their own subject position.
 Dismantling Genres: Shift distinctions between
“received categories” so they may be questioned and
redefined.
 Communal Authorship: Politics of hypertext that is
polyvocal that overturns dominant mythology of
solitary author.
 Recombinant Materials: Creative appropriation of
symbology of a culture.
Diane Greco, “Hypertext with Consequences: Recovering a Politics of Hypertext,” ACM,
1996.

14. Digital Quilt: Defining Question
How can you make visible
the knowledge and stories
of a community?

15. Media Deserts: Defining Question
How have communities
been affected by the
changing media ecosystem?

16. Media Deserts Project
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University, @mediaghosts
 Using GIS tools, we
map “media deserts”
-- places where fresh
news and
information is
lacking.
 Modeled after the
USDA Food Access
Locator Map

17. What is a “Media Desert”?
Working Definition
 A media desert is a
geographic area that is
lacking fresh news and
information.
 This condition may be as a
result of a lack of content,
access, language barriers
and other issues.
Framework of Analysis
 I use Lawrence Lessig’s concept
of communications
architecture:
 CODE: Language, spoken or
written or computer languages
 CONTENT: News, information,
images
 CONDUIT: Newspapers, radio,
mobile.
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Elon University, @mediaghosts

18. Newspaper Layoffs and Buyouts
Year
 2007
 2008
 2009
 2010
Layoffs and Buyouts
 2,256+ (partial data)
 15,992+
 14,783+
 2,828+
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Ohio University, @mediaghosts
120+
newspapers
More than 120 newspapers have ceased operation in the United States since 2008.

21. Findlay in Hancock County,
Ohio
State Maps: Ohio

22. The Media Deserts Project
Awareness Action
• Audit of Community Information
Sources
• Visualization of Current
Information Sources
• Content Analysis of Existing
Sources
• Assessing Community
Characteristics for Sustainable
Media Enterprises
• Community Engagement
through Focused Gatherings
• Engaging Key Stakeholders in
Developing Sustainable Media
Enterprises
• Developing Face-to-Face and
Virtual Public Spaces for
Engagement/Community
Conversations

24. “Under Threat” International News Safety Institute, 2015

25. “Under Threat” International News Safety Institute, 2015

26. Online Harassment: 40% and growing
 Women publishers
experience cyberbullying
on their sites.
 General news sites have
struggled with
moderating online
commenting.

27. Women Live Online
andThat’sWhereThey Find Us

28. Women Journalists AreTargeted Online

29. Our Solution

30. What We Offer
 S.O.S. Team: Countering cyberattacks in real-time
with online community support and positive
messaging.
 RAID: Finding and outing trolls online and tracking
where they operate using network analysis
technologies and natural language processing.
 SUPPORT: Providing technical, legal services and
psychological services; resources for publishers
under denial of service attacks.

31. RAID: Community Clustering
Using a
proprietary
technology for
network analysis
developed by Ohio
University
students, we find
and aggregate
communities of
trolls and identify
who else is a
subject of attack.
C.A.T.S.: Clustering Analysis and Targeting System, Ohio University

32. Our Goal: Fighting Hate with <3
TrollBusters provides just-in-time rescue
services for women journalists, bloggers
and publishers who experience online
harassment.
We use our virtual S.O.S. team to send
positive messages into online streams
at the point of attack. We dilute the stings
of trolls and other online pests to support
you, your voice, your business and your
reputation.

33.  Process Flow
(High Level)

34. Tactics for Digital Advocacy
 Fragmentation: Tearing apart that which is seemingly
whole into pieces to create place of liminality
(in between).
 Condensation: Reduction of ideas to icons or symbolic
narratives; at level of family unit.
 Juxtaposition: Destabilizing, relational nature of
narratives, images display complexities.
 Improvisation: Kairos; the right suggestion at the right
time; yielding to the creative process.
 Endurance: Persistence over time.

35. For additional information:
Dr. Michelle Ferrier | @mediaghosts
TrollBusters | @yoursosteam