Micro-Autoethnographies of Influencer Creep in the Academy Christine H. Tran(1), Nelanthi Hewa(1), Brooke Erin Duffy(2), Jessica Maddox(3), Carolina Are(4) 1: University of Toronto; 2: Cornell University; 3: University of Alabama; 4: Northumbria University
Against the backdrop of wider systems of self-branding and self-optimization configuring contemporary work, this roundtable considers the particular impact of platform logics on academic labour. Universities (not unlike platforms) have long been considered cultural sites of struggle as participants vie for the legitimation of their work, their communities, and their systems of value. Terms like “invisible universities” (Wellman et al., 2006) “academic influence” (Stewart, 2015) and “networked celebrity” (Turner & Larson, 2015) have underscored some of these uneasy couplings--if not contestations--about the production and dissemination of knowledge amid marketplace constraints. Yet such tensions surrounding academic visibility have come to the fore in recent years. During the pandemic, the demand for educational connection elevated the "platform" as an anti-heroine as academics were forced to reckon with new digital connections while navigating harassment. At the same time, universities are encouraging academics to engage in public scholarship in earnest. Such new demands raise questions about where to draw the lines between research for public consumption and what Sophie Bishop (2023) conceptualizes as influencer creep, wherein influencer cultures made inroads into various domains of cultural life. Can we draw these lines when academics are increasingly exhorted to be visible, marketable, and build their own self-brands? Recognizing traits in ourselves and practices that we see mirrored in the influencers we study, we propose a roundtable to discuss the promises, perils, and pitfalls of influencer creep in the academy. This roundtable builds upon autoethnographic work about academic navigation of discriminatory moderation practices (Are, 2022; 2023), Zoom-bombing (Tran, 2021; 2023) and more by the participants, all of whom are public-facing scholars across platform governance, journalism, games, and influencer labour. Together, this roundtable explores what happens when self-branding, scholarly vulnerability and digital visibility converge.
