Biography
I am an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, where I have the pleasure of teaching coursework in new media, culture, and communication, including digital journalism. I earned a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Iowa in 2004, and an M.A. in Communication, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University in 1999.
My research analyzes the intersections of online media, gender, and identity, and in 2007, I published a book titled Instant Identity: Adolescent Girls and the World of Instant Messaging (Peter Lang) that was based on my dissertation research on adolescent girls' use of new media with regard to gender identity negotiation. Even though the field of digital media continues to evolve, I find a lot of similar identity negotitation happening through social networking sites and elsewhere online. Although much of my research looks at how girls use media, I also am interested in how the media represents girls and their use of new media. That is in part, the subject of a book that I'm working on, which concerns news media-generated moral panics about adolescent girls in recreational spaces (like Facebook now, or sports in the 1960s, or dance halls in the 1910s...).
A second strain of my research focuses on women online journalists and their narratives over the past ten to fifteen years. Again, issues of gender and identity are paramount in this work, and it is a particularly personal body of research because I previously worked as an online journalist myself, serving on the team of producers and editors that launched washingtonpost.com to the Web in 1996 and numerous other publications and dot coms.
You might also see my name listed as Shayla Thiel (my maiden name), Shayla Thiel Stern, and Shayla Stern. Be assured, these are all me but Shayla Thiel-Stern is what I prefer for publication and work purposes.
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