#Hashtag Activism - Research Findings

#HashtagActivism is the use of social media by participants in contemporary social and political debates. In this seminar, researchers explore some of the fundamental questions around the use of these media in the contexts of gender and national identity.

• How do participants use these media?
• How do they allow new forms of political expression?
• What are their limitations as communications tools in the political domain?

Dr Natalie Krikowa is a media scholar and practice-led researcher at the University of Technology Sydney. Her research discusses issues surrounding media representation and identity politics in screen studies, popular culture, and transmedia, with a feminist, Queer, and gender studies focus. She works as the Creative Director of Zenowa Productions, writing and producing queer female focused works including The Newtown Girls (2012) and All Our Lesbians Are Dead! (2017).

Dr Tisha Dejmanee is a Lecturer in Digital and Social Media at the University of Technology Sydney. Her research is in the field of feminist media studies, with a focus on contemporary feminist theory, food studies and digital platforms. Her work has been published in Television and New Media, Feminist Media Studies and International Journal of Communication.

Pamela Fransen-Taylor is an Information Management professional with over 20 years of experience in enterprise content management, and taught as a sessional academic in the Master of Digital Information Management programme at UTS. Pamela is a PhD Candidate in Digital Social Media at UTS researching hashtag activism, and her research interests include Social Media, Internet Activism, and Human Information Behaviours.

Bhuva Narayan is Associate Professor, Digital Social Media, at UTS, and is the Graduate Research Coordinator for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Bhuva’s background is in Library and Information Science, Digital Media Studies, and Communication, with additional expertise in Computer-Human Interaction and User Experience, and her research revolves around social justice issues.