Dr. Erika Sparby
Assistant Professor
English
Office
Stevenson Hall - STV 421B
Office Hours
Spring 2021: Wednesday 2-3pm and by appointment (Zoom)
Office Phone
Email
Website
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Research
Biography
Digital, feminist, and cultural rhetorics, including social media, memes, and online aggression; gender and identity in digital public discourse; ethics and participation
Current Courses
249Technical & Professional Writing I
351Digital Rhetorics
599Research And Dissertation
497Research Methods In Composition Studies
Teaching Interests & Areas
Digital technical communication; digital, feminist, and cultural rhetorics; digital aggression, web design, information architecture, usability/UX, social media, identity, and ethics
Research Interests & Areas
Digital, feminist, and cultural rhetorics, including social media, memes, and online aggression; gender and identity in digital public discourse; ethics and participation
Ph D Rhetoric and Composition; Technical Communication
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL
MA English Studies
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO
2019 Distinguished Book Award
Computers and Composition
2020
Alice and Fannie Fell Trust
Illinois State University
2020
Teaching Innovation Grant
CTLT, Illinois State Unviversity
2020
Exceptional Teacher of the Year Award—Assistant Professor
English Department
2019
Sigma Tau Delta Outstanding Faculty Member Award
Sigma Tau Delta
2019
New Faculty Initiative Grant
Illinois State University
2018
Outstanding Dissertation Award
Northern Illinois University
2018
Pre-Tenure Faculty Initiative Grant
Illinois State University
2018
Hugh Burns Best Dissertation Award (2017)
Computers and Composition
2018
New Faculty Startup Support
Illinois State University
2017
Book, Chapter
Lukowski, A. A. & Sparby, E. M. (2016). Breastfeeding, Authority, and Genre: Women’s Ethos in Wikipedia and Blogs. Establishing and Evaluating Digital Ethos and Online Credibility. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Book, Edited
Reyman, J., & Sparby, E.M., eds. (2019). Digital Ethics: Rhetoric and Responsibility in Online Aggression. London, Routledge.
Journal Article
Sparby, E. M. (2017). Digital Social Media and Aggression: Memetic Rhetoric in 4chan’s Collective Identity. Computers and Composition, 45,. Pp. 85-97.
Presentations
"YouTube, Haters, and Reading Mean Comments: Testing a Rhetorical-Ethical Approach to Studying Online Aggression" as part of a co-organized panel on “Questioning the Commonplaces of Digital Aggression: New Approaches for Researching and Teaching Productive Response to Online Hate Speech and Harassment” at Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 2020, Milwaukee, WI
"Digital Rhetorics and an Ethic of Responsibility in Online Aggression." Invited presentation for the English Department Faculty Lecture Series. November 2019, Normal, IL
"Meming Ethically." Invited keynote address for Language and Rhetorical Studies symposium. October 2019, Ann Arbor, MI
"Online Aggression and What We Can Do About It," with Jessica Reyman, NIU STEM Cafe, March 2019
Sparby, E. M. Political Memes and the Party Divide: A Case Study of Kim Davis and Hillary Clinton Memes. Accepted for presentation at the Digital Rhetoric/Digital Media in the Post-Truth Age symposium, March 2019, Tuscaloosa, AL.
“Toward a Theory of Digital Aggression and Memetic Screens” at Computers and Writing, June 2019, East Lansing, MI
“Toward an Ethic of Self-Care and Protection When Researching Digital Aggression” as part of a co-organized panel on “New Ethical Frameworks for Researching Digital Aggression” at Computers and Writing, June 2019, East Lansing, MI
Sparby, E. M. Behind the Scenes of Digital Aggression Research: Identity, Method, Action, and Self-Care. Roundtable given at Computers and Writing, May 2018, Fairfax, VA.
Sparby, E. M. When Trolls Become Technical Communicators: A Case Study of iOS8 and Wave, presented at the Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing Conference, March 2018, Kansas City, KS.
Sparby, E. M. Meming/Counter-Meming: Remixing Negative Memes to Deconstruct Stereotypes, presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 2017, Portland, OR.
Sparby, E. M. Anonymity, Design, and Identification: The Rhetorical Construction of Identity on Digital Social Media, presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, April 2016, Houston, TX.
Sparby, E. M. Fake Geek Girl, Remixed: Resisting Negative Stereotypes through Counter-Memes, presented at Cultural Rhetorics, October 2016, East Lansing, MI.
Day, M., Sparby, E. M., Lukowski, A. A., & Marquis, D. Digitizing Analog Networks to Share and Reflect on Student Writing, presented at Computers and Writing, May 2015, Menomonie, WI.
2017-06-08T13:05:11.458-05:00
2017