Portfolio

Research & Event Highlights

These highlights focus on my academic research interests regarding geospatial analysis and biosensory technology, as well as my commitment to publicly available (“open”) education.

Research Highlight: Waiting in Wake Case Study (ArcGIS)

This case study aimed to understand socioeconomic disparities within Wake County, specifically with regard to accessibility issues in the networks of public transportation. The main research question was: “Is median household income directly or indirectly correlated with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant full-shelter GoRaleigh bus stops in Wake County?” The theoretical framework employed came from Riffe et. al. (2019), wherein they used codified visual content analysis to gain a better understanding of human behavior and decision making processes. I used this framework in order to nominally and dichotomously codify each GoRaleigh bus stop and its contents. This data was then entered as a statistical crosstabulation within the SPSS Statistics software. Results showed that only 31 (27.2%) full-shelter GoRaleigh bus stops are also ADA-compliant. This data was then overlayed with median income data on ArcGIS for continued visual analysis, which showed that 100% of these 31 bus stops fall in areas that are below the highest median income bracket of $135,395 – $232,955. These results leave room for analysis and interpretation regarding social issues and barriers of access, which can also be used in future case studies where more quantitative and qualitative data can be collected.

Research Highlight: “I closed my rings!”: An Interactive Journey Through the Datafication of Fitness Tracking (collaboration with Margaret Baker, Ph.D.; interactive narrative and biosensing)

This work aims to explore the nature of smartwatches and fitness trackers in terms of data privacy and surveillance, and is paired with an interactive video for additional information regarding options individuals have when protecting their data in order to communicate these skills to a large audience. In the article, the problematic infrastructure of data gathering and surveillance is explored, creating a discussion as to how we can protect our most vulnerable users of these devices. Individuals who lack data literacy skills are often targeted by major companies who are tracking their data, as these users do not understand their options when it comes to protecting their data. In this interactive video, the concepts from the article are explored in a narrative format, and the audience can engage with the video to learn more about how to protect themselves against companies and other individuals who are preying on their current lack of data literacy.

For the 2024-2025 academic year’s events, I would like to highlight the following:

1. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Forum on Sustainable Models for Open and Equitable Systems of Education.
   • This is a multi-year, grant-funded research project by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the University of North Carolina System. Grant funding is also provided by the Open Knowledge Center in the NC State University Libraries through a private grant.
   • I am working as the project coordinator with the University of North Carolina System Office and Open Knowledge Center.
   • In April 2025, we convened top thought-leaders in the field to create scalable, high-impact, values-driven recommendations and responses to the rise of commercial tools and content models in higher education. This aims to help institutions implement concrete solutions locally and share them widely.
2. The Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina’s Digital Humanities Institute.
   • As president of the Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina, I lead this year’s Digital Humanities Institute, which brings interdisciplinary humanities scholarship to the forefront of academic, industry, and public conversation.
   • This year’s topic was Digital Humanities as a Tool for Resiliency: Analyzing and Addressing Crises through Innovative Digital Practices.
   • It examined the pivotal intersections of risk and crisis communications, as well as digital humanities (DH).

A significant event of note in the ’23-’24 academic year was my talk at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association conference in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2023. This introduced a variety of scholars to geographic information systems, and showed how they can utilize it in their classrooms and research.

Prior to this, I gave an invited talk for East Carolina University, which was a presentation for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the general public. I discussed ArcGIS and data storytelling, which created new avenues for inquiry for scholars with regard to collaboration. My talk spurred interest in further related discussions, which has led to productive meetings and talks on GIS and data scraping.

March 2023 CRDM Research Symposium focusing on smart city technologies and locative media.