Booked up

I returned a stack of six books to the library today. And I left with another seven. All to be read and reviewed over the next week. And I’m sure there will be dozens and dozens more in between now and the completion of my master’s dissertation.

The current stack of books, in fact, is to aid me in the completion of my dissertation proposal – a 2,000-word piece of academic writing that will serve as the foundation for my 12,000-word dissertation that is due in August.

So, since this blog is all about me and how fantastic I think I am, I’m going to share with you my dissertation topic. You know, since I’m sure you care.

My dissertation will look at social media – specifically, how Facebook users determine the legitimacy of news and information shared on the social networking site.

I’ll bore you more on the details of that exciting topic later. (Actually, I do find it exciting!) But for today, I’m just going to bore you with my books. You know, as an attempt at academic snobbery and all that…

• Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler
• The 21^st Century Media (R)evolution by Jim Macnamara
• The Information Society by Robert Hassan
• Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
• The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society by Manuel Castells
• Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production by Axel Bruns
• Personal Connections in the Digital Age by Nancy K. Baym

Yeah, so I’ve got a bit of reading to do. And hopefully I can keep my spirits up and can manage to get the term behind me with a decent grade!

Oh, and in the interest of research: What do you think? Do you want to hear more about my studies and details of my dissertation and social media research, or would you like me to keep it to a minimum? (There is no wrong answer!)