By Megan Sherry
For Dr. Susan Herring, an invitation to be the keynote speaker at the Conference on Computer-Mediated Communication and Social Media Corpora (CMC2024) in France was more than an honor; it was the chance she had been waiting for. After a car accident two decades ago, travel had become very difficult. “I hadn’t flown in 20 years. I hadn’t been able to leave the country in 20 years, but it was on my bucket list,” Dr. Herring said.
Academically, CMC2024 directly intersects with Dr. Herring’s research. Her studies have evolved over time—from gender differences in online communications to how video and photo filters affect self-presentation—but they remain centered on the human use of technology to communicate.
Dr. Herring also has a deep personal connection to Nice, France—the location of CMC2024. When she was younger, she traveled there frequently, studied French in college, and was even engaged to a Frenchman for some time. “It was like my second country for a while,” Dr. Herring reflected, “and I really missed going there.”
Between the long flights and wheelchair accessibility concerns, she knew the trip was not going to be easy, but she was determined to make it work. Fortunately, with the help of an assistant, an old friend, and a well-placed tram system, no logistical challenges could stop Dr. Herring from making the conference a success.
She gave her keynote presentation on the potential impact of AI on computer-mediated discourse analysis, a research paradigm she developed that has relied primarily on manual methods of analysis up until now. Dr. Herring emphasized how historically, the adoption of technological advancements often results in both losses – for example, of memorization skills – and advancements – for example, the development of higher order cognitive abilities, asking the CMC researchers to consider what we might lose and gain as the use of AI to assist in CMC research becomes more prevalent. While she believes the overuse of AI could result in the loss of the human insights and creativity that comes with working closely with data, Dr. Herring also emphasized that her lecture was not an indictment of AI but a request that researchers pay attention to its effects.
Dr. Herring was happy with CMC2024, calling it productive, not only in terms of her presentation but also because of everything she learned and the connections she made with European CMC researchers.
After the conference, she made the most of her time abroad. Dr. Herring enjoyed traveling to Provence to reconnect with colleagues from her time doing historical linguistics research. “I hadn’t seen them for decades,” she said. “We stayed out there for three days, and that was just wonderful.”
Dr. Herring then had another adventure: “My assistant and I rented a car, and we drove around another area in France … looking for traces of his ancestry.” Their quest took them to town halls and archives, cemeteries, villages in the mountains, and even a castle. While they were unable to find some of the specific information they were looking for, they did find evidence of her assistant’s family in the region back through the 1770s.
Reflecting on her trip, Dr. Herring encourages students to get involved with research, pointing out that their institution can often help fund any necessary travel. Her own experiences—especially her recent time in France—demonstrate the academic achievement, personal joy, and lifelong connections that can come through research.