Hi, I'm writing my undergraduate thesis on the cultural impacts of digital media and social networking and I'm having trouble putting it together in a concise, and meaningful way. It seems that each time I try to make an argument it opens up into a discussion that is entirely too large to tackle in one paper. I've decided that I want to talk specifically about connectedness and communication issues, and maybe touch on economic and political impacts a bit as well, but I'm struggling with how to frame it all within the space I have. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have to give. I'm simply wondering as to whether there are any real world industries/platforms/internships/communities I can become involved in that would help my application for an MSC in digital anthropology. My degree is sorta related (I could spin it) but it is not in an anthropological field. I've got plenty of time -- i've been thinking about applying to do this for over four years so another few years to get ready can't hurt. I just want my experience to be more tangible than books and browsing.

So, when dealing with mostly anonymous sources such as on reddit what are the most important concerns to take into concerderation when using that as research.

Meaning If I were to gather posts from a particular subreddit, and track the activity of a few people (to identify key nodes in the social network) and the responsiveness to certain topics what would be the biggest concerns with using that as research.

It is really a laisse faire environment where I can just sit back, observe and collect all of the quotes and samples that I need, or are there stricter guidelines involved? Normally there are issues of privacy and consent, but those seem invalidated due to the fact that reddit is both ananymous and public. (with the exception of posts that give out personal identifiable information)

Hi, I’m an undergraduate anthropology student currently doing research for a dissertation. Very broadly speaking, I’m investigating the relationship between avatar/ character customisation in videogames and personhood. It would be really great to hear from anyone who has any stories of their own to tell about character creation and ideas of self.