Dissertation Defended

My journey at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville that I started in August 2014, successfully ended on May 3, 2017, when I defended my dissertation. The title of my dissertation is: "Uses and Gratifications of Digital Media: The Case of Live Blogs." Specifically, the dissertation employs a uses and gratification approach to investigate users' motivations for reading live blogs, their attitudes toward this journalistic format, and participation in live blogging.

Defending this piece of my research was an amazing experience. I enjoyed it is as much as I've enjoyed writing the dissertation. This is not only because of the work I've invested in it, but also because of the help and encouragement from my extremely supportive adviser Dr. Erin Whiteside and my amazing committee members, Drs. Ronald E. Taylor, Catherine Luther, and Jennifer Ann Morrow.

Words can hardly express my gratitude to my friends and professors who came to my defense. Thank you Khaled Alk, Iman Tahamtan, Whitney Tipton, Cassandra Huang, Monique Freemon, Michelle Parker, Lindsey Bier, Laura Lemon, Dawn Corwin, and Michelle Violanti.