Digital Commons Network^™

Telling The Atypical Truth: Disability Community-Building Through Podcasting, Erica Stearns

Honors Theses

The community of disabled and/or medically complex individuals represents a relatively small demographic worldwide; therefore, it is difficult for community members to find and build relationships with others directly within the local community whose lived experiences reflect their own. As a result, many individuals within the disabled and/or medically complex community experience isolation and depression. Social media and other digital resources often serve as a mechanism for community-building in such situations. Atypical Truth is a podcast that episodically explores a variety of topics that relate to life as caregivers, disabled individuals, and/or individuals with complex medical conditions.

I used …

Built On Friendship: A Study Of Formal And Informal Business Culture In Carbondale, Illinois, Sarah E. Depuy

Honors Theses

Business practices in urban centers have garnered much of the research and interest by anthropologists, sociologists, and economists with very little focus on small business communities in rural areas. In this paper I explored the social connections and relationships between business owners in the region of Southern Illinois and their communities and the ways in which they integrate their public and private lives. To do this, I interviewed members of the formal, semi-formal, informal, and online business communities in Carbondale, Illinois. For my analysis, I used a variety of sources including Claudia Strauss' Partly Fragmented, Partly Integrated: An Anthropological …