{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/125680"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/125680","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Content creation as writing: Exploring the work of YouTube video essayists","abstract":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-08-01","abstract_html":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-08-01","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lafond, Bri"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Moussawi, Ghassan","Mortensen, Peter L","McKinney, Charlesia","Beauchamp, Toby"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-06-28","date_published":"2024-06-28","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:02Z","subjects":["Social Media","Multimodality","Content Creation","Social Media Platforms","Composition"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2024 Bri Lafond"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125680","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Moussawi, Ghassan","Mortensen, Peter L","McKinney, Charlesia","Beauchamp, Toby"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lafond, Bri"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2024-06-28","2024-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Social Media","Multimodality","Content Creation","Social Media Platforms","Composition"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2024 Bri Lafond"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125680"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-08-01","The student, Bri Lafond, accepted the attached license on 2024-06-28 at 09:31.","The student, Bri Lafond, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-06-28 at 09:32.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-06-28 at 14:16.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20893 on 2025-02-04 at 21:16:11","Many scholars (Turkle, 1984; Haraway, 1991) have characterized Web 1.0—the early age of the internet, spanning roughly the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s—as a virtual playground for creative self-expression beyond the limits of embodied reality. In contrast, Web 2.0—marked by the introduction of social media platforms in the mid-2000s to today—has seemingly recast that creative expression as “user-generated content” circulated through social media. Creative labor (Duffy, 2017) is increasingly commodified through this “platformization” (Helmond, 2015) of the internet, leading to normativized forms of expression that are “advertiser-friendly.” Further, creators are encouraged to market themselves in “authentic” ways that will make them legible to potential audiences, including non-human audiences like algorithms. Drawing from writing, media, and queer studies, my dissertation examines these evolving writing practices and dynamics. Through interviews and content analysis, I focus on YouTube video essayists as a case study to explore how creators shape their self-presentation for audience consumption, navigate algorithmic surveillance mechanisms, and perceive their relationality to both corporate power and audiences. I argue that writing studies must expand its scope to consider the impact of social media platforms on creators' composing practices, acknowledging how creators negotiate corporate imperatives and their own ideals. I explore how creators navigate platform-driven ecologies, both conforming to and challenging corporate pressures, to assert their individual agency and foster queer possibilities in multimedia texts."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Content creation as writing: Exploring the work of YouTube video essayists"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Moussawi, Ghassan","Mortensen, Peter L","McKinney, Charlesia","Beauchamp, Toby"],"dc:creator":["Lafond, Bri"],"dc:date":["2024-06-28","2024-08"],"dc:description":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-08-01","The student, Bri Lafond, accepted the attached license on 2024-06-28 at 09:31.","The student, Bri Lafond, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-06-28 at 09:32.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-06-28 at 14:16.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20893 on 2025-02-04 at 21:16:11","Many scholars (Turkle, 1984; Haraway, 1991) have characterized Web 1.0—the early age of the internet, spanning roughly the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s—as a virtual playground for creative self-expression beyond the limits of embodied reality. In contrast, Web 2.0—marked by the introduction of social media platforms in the mid-2000s to today—has seemingly recast that creative expression as “user-generated content” circulated through social media. Creative labor (Duffy, 2017) is increasingly commodified through this “platformization” (Helmond, 2015) of the internet, leading to normativized forms of expression that are “advertiser-friendly.” Further, creators are encouraged to market themselves in “authentic” ways that will make them legible to potential audiences, including non-human audiences like algorithms. Drawing from writing, media, and queer studies, my dissertation examines these evolving writing practices and dynamics. Through interviews and content analysis, I focus on YouTube video essayists as a case study to explore how creators shape their self-presentation for audience consumption, navigate algorithmic surveillance mechanisms, and perceive their relationality to both corporate power and audiences. I argue that writing studies must expand its scope to consider the impact of social media platforms on creators' composing practices, acknowledging how creators negotiate corporate imperatives and their own ideals. I explore how creators navigate platform-driven ecologies, both conforming to and challenging corporate pressures, to assert their individual agency and foster queer possibilities in multimedia texts."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125680"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2024 Bri Lafond"],"dc:subject":["Social Media","Multimodality","Content Creation","Social Media Platforms","Composition"],"dc:title":["Content creation as writing: Exploring the work of YouTube video essayists"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:02Z"}