Skills

Expertise in:

• Analyzing social media culture, branding and marketing, platform design, and platform moderation

• Interdisciplinary, qualitative, and humanities research methods

Experienced with the social media data collection tools Orange Data Mining, TAGS Twitter data scraping tool, and the YouTube Methods tool

Experienced with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, and CSS

Moderate experience with PHP, MySQL, Gephi visualization software, Python, and WordPress

 

Publications

Tarvin, Emily and Mel Stanfill. 2022. “‘YouTube’s predator problem’: Platform Moderation as Governance-washing, and user resistance.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. doi:10.1177/13548565211066490.

Tarvin, Emily. 2021. “YouTube fandom names in channel communities and branding.” Transformative Works and Cultures, 36. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2021.1879.

Tarvin, Emily. 2018. “‘You Look Disgusting’: A Case Study of the YouTube Beauty Community,” Studies in Popular Culture, 41(1): 35-62.

 

Professional Experience

Instructor of Record of ENC 4415 “Digital Rhetorics & the Modern Dialectic” | Department of English at the University of Central Florida

• Adjunct Instructor, May 17, 2021 to June 30, 2021 | 10 hours a week | Summer 2021: 25 students

• Graduate Teaching Associate, August 24, 2020 to May 7, 2021 | 20 hours a week (considered full time) | Fall 2020: 2 sections with 24 students each and Spring 2021: 45 students

• Created a unique online curriculum to help students improve their research and writing skills

• Taught students to critically analyze and interact with digital content

• Created and provided feedback for weekly discussion posts that gave students low-stakes writing practice and opportunities to engage with the course material

 

Graduate Research Assistant | Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida | May 11, 2020 to August 5, 2020 | 20 hours a week (considered full time)

• Worked on a three-person team to create a “Programming Bootcamp” online course for students entering the Digital Media BA program at UCF

• Created tutorials for social media data mining tools

• Developed modules other instructors could incorporate into their own courses
   

Instructor of Record for ENG 3073 “Cultural Studies” | Department of English at the University of Central Florida

• Graduate Teaching Associate, January 8, 2019 to May 3, 2019 | 10 hours a week | Spring 2019: 31 students

• Adjunct Instructor, September 11, 2018 to December 2018 | 10 hours a week | Fall 2018: 34 students

• Developed a unique curriculum to introduce students to Cultural Studies

• Created reading quizzes, in-class group work, and paper assignments

• Helped students improve their writing skills and research methods

 

Sales Associate | Vera Bradley (Disney Springs) | June 20, 2017 to July 21, 2018 | 15-30 hours a week

• Welcomed guests into the store and answered any questions about Vera Bradley and Walt Disney World

• Engaged guests and enhanced their experience through product awareness and team selling

• Met sales goals for average dollar amount, transactions per shift, and units sold per transaction

 

Museum Archive Digitization Intern | Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida | August 21, 2017 to December 1, 2017 | 10 hours a week

• Researched artifacts for a virtual collection for the Holocaust Center

• Worked closely with the Program Coordinator to restore lost information about various collection items

• Worked on creating a digitized and interactive version of a letter written by a WWII soldier for readers to learn about concentration camps

 

Graduate Teaching Assistant | Department of American Studies at the University of Alabama | August 19, 2015 to May 7, 2016 | 20 hours a week (considered full time)

• Assisted with AMS 150 “Introduction to American Studies: Arts and Values” in Fall 2015 and AMS 151 “Intro American Studies: World Nation & Region” in Spring 2016

• Ran PowerPoint, music clips, and videos for professors

• Recorded lectures through Tegrity software and held review sessions for students

• Created test questions and constructed tests using School House Test Software

 

Museum Collections Internship | Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park | September 10, 2015 to December 3, 2015 | 10 hours a week

• Researched and documented relevant information about donated and loaned items in the museum’s collection

• Handled, labeled, photographed, and recorded collection items

• Prepared objects for long term storage at the museum

 

Conference Presentations

Tarvin, Emily (March 2021). “The Adpocalypse: Examining YouTube’s Façade of Democracy and Platform Design.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Virtual Conference Presentation.

Tarvin, Emily (November 2020). “‘Broadcast Yourself’: American Narratives of Democracy and Authenticity in YouTube’s Platform Branding.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Conference canceled.

Tarvin, Emily (May 2020). “Is Democracy on YouTube Advertiser-Friendly?” Cultural Studies Association. Virtual Conference Presentation.

Tarvin, Emily (November 2019). “The YouTube Democracy.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Honolulu, HI.

Tarvin, Emily (June 2019). “Can Watching Violence on YouTube Be Ethical?” Computers & Writing. Michigan State University in East Lansing, ML.

Tarvin, Emily (March 2019). “Beasts, Swamps, and Nerds: How Fandom Names on YouTube Contribute to Channel Branding and Community Building.” Southeastern American Studies Association Conference. Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

Tarvin, Emily (October 2018). “Beasts, Swamps, and Nerds: How Fandom Names on YouTube Contribute to Channel Branding and Community Building.” The Popular Culture Association in the South and The American Culture Association in the South. New Orleans, LA.

Tarvin, Emily (November 2017). “‘You Look Disgusting’: A YouTube Beauty Guru’s Response to Comments About Beauty and Ugliness.” Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC) Conference. University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL.

 

Education

Doctorate of Philosophy in Texts & Technology | August 22, 2016 to August 7, 2021 | GPA 4.00

University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

            Area of Specialization: Digital Humanities

Dissertation: “From Screen to Shining Screen: Representations of YouTube as a Democratic Platform for a Community of Authentic Creators” | https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/771

 

Master of Arts in American Studies | August 17, 2014 to May 07, 2016 | GPA 4.00

            University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

Comprehensive Exams: High Pass
 

Bachelor of Arts in American Studies and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics | August 17, 2010 to May 02, 2014 | GPA 3.987

            University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

            Minor in Computing Technology & Applications

 

Awards

Presidential Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Central Florida | Fall 2016 to Spring 2020

• College-nominated and selected by UCF Graduate Fellowships Committee

• Second highest award offered to doctoral students by UCF

NAA License Tag Fellowship at the University of Alabama | Fall 2014 to Spring 2015

Department of American Studies “Louise B. Tate Memorial” Scholarship in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama | Fall of 2013 to Spring of 2014

Department of Mathematics “Comer Foundation Scholarship” in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama | Fall of 2013 to Spring 2014

Collegiate Scholarship at the University of Alabama | Fall of 2010 to Spring 2014

Carol Sloan and Ernest Fite Endowed Scholarship at the University of Alabama | Fall of 2010 to Spring 2014

Member of the University of Alabama Honors College | Fall 2010 to Spring 2014