Becoming a media activist : linking culture, identity, and web design

This dissertation explored two facets of media activism. It used a Life History research methodology to understand how someone becomes a media activist, and it employed a textual analysis to explain the visual interface choices made by a media activist on the Internet. Throughout, the study is informed by theories of social identity, authorship, visual culture, and agency. The results that emerged offer insight into four areas of media studies: digital resistance, media education, digital aesthetics, and the use of social psychology to understand new media production.