I am officially home from the conference, and I am so exhausted. But, my overall fatigue is well worth it.
This morning we woke up and broke into our small groups for our last break out session. I was finally able to hear the last two papers of my group mates. I promised that I would blog about the information they presented; so, I will give a quick rundown of the best paper, in my mind, from the past two days.
Niki Charter, a senior from St. Mary’s College, wrote about Tinder and its application as a dating tool. I found her paper to be very interesting because it was on a relevant topic that many people talk about, and her data is the first ever collected about this particular kind of media, according to our lead professor.
She surveyed eight students from both Notre Dame and St. Mary’s and collected research by use of a qualitative method called, in-depth interviewing. At Augustana, communication majors or any majors for that matter can take a class in this area of discipline.
I won’t ramble on about the intricate details of her study because I don’t think that is necessary. However, I do want to point out that new and innovative research like Charter’s could eventually be published one day.
I would encourage Augustana students that want to publish their senior inquiries or be directed in the next steps with academic publishing to attend the DePauw honors conference or a working conference that is similar.
I have attached a photo of my small group; so, one could get a feel of our size and of the overall atmosphere. With this tiny of a group, everyone got a chance for her voice to be heard, which I liked. Sometimes, large groups can be overwhelming, and this conference strayed away from that ideal, focusing on small group interaction for its participants.
This is a written account by Augustana junior multimedia journalism and communication studies major Katie Canning as she takes us on her journey of navigating an undergraduate honors conference at DePauw University.