My name is Douglas Brunton and I'm a PhD candidate in the department of Communication and Media. Prior to joining the Department, I earned my MA in New Media and Society from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, a course of study that launched my research agenda. In my own research, I focus on media, culture, and identity in global contexts which in turn informs another related strand of research into surveillance studies. Drawing on postcolonial theory and critical race theory, this work is in the main concerned with the role online performance of self plays in the interpretive constructs of identity – particularly for people of color. These two strands of research converge in my dissertation project: The Creole Web: A Dasein for the Digital that uses the construct of the creole, rooted in the Latin creare (to create) as both a practice and lens to answer the question: How can the creole help us make sense of online performances of identity?