For years I have had an interest in becoming further involved in the traditional publishing industry, now through my experiences over the last semester I have come to understand how we are all publishers. The book reviewing, I have been doing for many years, across many different platforms was online publishing. Throughout the past semester, I shaped my own online publication and grew my own public. While my publishing journey was occurring my views on what publishing is evolved and I am left at the end of the semester with a desire to continue the growth of my online self. I struggled with seeing myself as an online publisher. Publication…

The existence of social media has brought a sense of democracy to the internet. Never before has there been a place where we can be seen as an equal, where a university student can talk directly to celebrities and corporations. This democratic dialogue has become twisted, and in places such as Myanmar what was being used for just a tweeted complaint from a consumer to a company has turned into state actors inciting violence through social media posts. This democratic dialogue that existed in the first place, was born out of widespread access to social media. John Suler writes on the online disinhibition effect, and how it presents itself in…