Rebecca Roach is a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC-funded project, “Ego-Media: The Impact of New Media on Forms and Practices of Self-Presentation” (2014-2019). Her current book project draws on theories of life writing, the public sphere, linguistics, information theory and history of the book/material culture to explore communication and collaboration in digital literature.
A further project on online identity in patients with epilepsy also explores these issues around identity, representation and narrative within the growing field of e-health. She is also creating an ethnographic archive of online self-presentation.
Prior to joining Kings, Rebecca completed her doctorate at Oxford University in March 2014. Her thesis, entitled “Transatlantic Conversations: The Art of the Interview in Britain and America” assesses the role of the interview form within Anglophone literature from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The project argues that the interview has been a key site for negotiating conceptions of authorship since its inauguration. Rebecca has been the recipient of numerous fellowships in Britain and America and has publications forthcoming with Textual Practice and OUP.
Dr. Rebecca Roach's Projects
I examine how writers and literary critics have since mid century, drawn on conceptions of, and advances in, Cybernetics, programming, AI, language processing, and lately the area of Human Computer Interaction in their work.
This portion of “Ego-Media” is dedicated to designing an ethnographic study of online identity practices.
This project will study a group of patients with epilepsy, a chronic condition with profound social and biographical implications, and their use of social media and the digital environment more broadly.
Dr. Rebecca Roach's Blog posts
Check out my blog post about ‘The Computer Poetry of J. M. Coetzee’s Early Programming Career’ for the Harry Ransom Center here.
PARTICIPATE! We are exploring the relationship between online activity and diary keeping. Would you like to participate in this research by contributing to our DiaryBox? DiaryBox – How do you document your life online – and how do you feel about doing it? – How have digital and social
I’m giving at talk at the Science Museum Late on October 28th. Come learn about Chatbots and Margaret Masterman! Chattering Bots and Computer Poetry: Margaret Masterman and Computer Talk since 1955 Fifty years before Google Translate appeared on the market, a pioneering linguist was trumpeting the possibilities of Machine Translation.
In June Rob and I went to the annual Digital Humanities (DH) conference, held this year in Sydney. Not only did we have some fascinating discussions with people from around the globe at the DH New Scholars Seminar – on which more to follow – but along with Tom Apperley
Over the last few weeks I have been travelling the country interviewing volunteers about their social media usage. At the moment I am talking to people who have epilepsy, a condition that affects around 1 in 100 people in the UK. The research is being undertaken in partnership with neurologist
