Theresa Senft sat on the floor during the afternoon blog sessions at AoIR in September. The room was full, conversation was vibrant, and though she said several things, the comment I remember was a counter to someone wanting to use more critical theory to understand blogs: “I think it would be far more interesting to use blogs to interpret critical theory”, she said. Of course I had to speak to her after the session was over, and hearing about her dissertation on camgirls, I begged her for a copy. It arrived promptly, by email, and I read: intelligent, amusing and sexy writing about women showing their faces bodies online. I haven’t finished reading it, but I know that if I were in New York next Friday I’d go to her dissertation defence.

As it is, I think I’ll make a point of watching the webcast. Yes, of course a girl who’s written about camgirls will have a webcam at her defence!

Her LiveJournal has details.