Dr. Riki Thompson

My talks and workshops draw on the latest research about digital communication, language and power, online dating, representing the self online, and teaching in digital environments.

You can expect to learn about timely concerns related to communicating and connecting in the digital world and get helpful tips for navigating different environments on topics such as these:

• Cultivating Connection through Technology
• Searching & Swiping to Find Connection in the Digital Age
• Selling the Selfie in the Online Dating Marketplace
• Online Dating for the Non-Monogamous
• From Plenty of Fish to Survival Dating in the Pandemic
• Social Media & Mental Health
• Strategies for Healing through Digital Communication
• Improving Student Learning through Digital Feedback
• Cultivating Belonging in Online Classrooms & Communities

Talks and workshops are customized and can be either virtual or in person.  

Upcoming Events

Panel “Communicative practices in online dating”

Gender & online dating: Matching, messaging & making the first move on Bumble

IPrA July 9-14, 2023 – Brussels, Belgium

Gender, Sexuality, & Shifting Styles: Codifying Language Use in Style Guides (with Meg Robertson, UC Boulder)

Lavender Linguistics Conference. March 9-11, Boise, ID,

public speaking

January 12, 2022. Growing pains: Expanding human connections in the new year. The Whole U and UW Work-Life Series, Seattle, WA.

December 14, 2021. The politics of women making the first move on Bumble: Online dating, gender norms, and managing women through online talk. Grit City Think and Drink Series, Tacoma WA.

October 11, 2021. Gender & Sexual Normativity, (Dis)Empowerment, and the Digital Dating Paradigm. Scholarly Selections Series, Washington History Museum, Tacoma, WA. WATCH VIDEO HERE

August 11, 2021. Dating in the digital age across the generations. Franke Tobey Jones Educational Series. Tacoma, WA.

January 27, 2021. Connecting digitally: Using social media to connect during the pandemic. Franke Tobey Jones Educational Series, Tacoma, WA.

May 21, 2020. Researching the quest for love, lust, and connection during the time of COVID-19. SIAS Brown Bag Speaker Series, Tacoma, WA.

May 25, 2019.  The Constructed Self of Online Dating. Washington State Library Series at the Washington Corrections Center for Women, Gig Harbor, WA.

December 7, 2018. Dating in the Digital Age: Swiping, Liking, and Selling the Selfie. Grit City Think and Drink Series, Tacoma WA.

February 28, 2018. Championing Critical Conversations about College, Culture Goal: Lightening Talk, UW Tacoma, WA

February 1, 2018.  Drinks & Dialogue: Bridging the Divide. UW Impact: Common Ground Series, Seattle, WA.

July 8, 2019: Steilly Con. Workshop Facilitator, Making Mini Comics. Steilacoom School District, WA

March 3, 2008. (Re)Gendering depression as a problem for “Real Men”: Narrative & governing mental health through public service announcements, IAS Research Talk. UWT, Tacoma, WA

academic presentations

2022 – Shifting Attitudes, Shifting Styles: Codifying Gender Inclusive Language Use in Style Manuals. Attitudes towards gender-inclusive language. A multinational perspective. London, UK. (With Meg Robertson)

2022 –  Digital Dating Beyond the Gender Binary. Sociolinguistics Symposium 24, July 13-16, Ghent, Belgium.

2022 – Digital Dating, Discourse, Design, & Normativity. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines (CADAAD), July 6-8, University of Bergamo, Italy.

2022 – Reflective Approaches to Analyzing Digital Discourse. Approaches to Digital Discourse Analysis (ADDA 3), May 13-15, St. Petersburg, FL.

2022 – Gender, Sexuality, & Shifting Styles: Knowledge Production and Codifying Language Use in Style Manuals. Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA). April 6-9, Boulder, CO. (With Meg Robertson)

2022 –Gender, power, and making the first move on the dating app Bumble. Invited Speaker: Language, Ideology and Power Research Group. March 3, Lancaster University, UK

2021 – Dating in the Digital Age: Searching, Swiping, & Selling the Selfie. Sociolinguistics Symposium 23. 2020 June 7-10, University of Hong Kong, China.

2018 – Telling the story of me & we: Online dating and identity construction for the non-monogamous, CADAAD-Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines International Conference, Aalborg University, July 4-6, Aalborg, Denmark.

2018 – From the medieval to the digital, and back again: Multimodality, innovation, and adaptation, CADAAD-Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines International Conference, Aalborg University, July 4-6, Aalborg, Denmark. (With Matthew Collins)

2018 – Telling the story of me & we: Online dating and identity construction for the non-monogamous, PCA/ACA – Popular Culture Association · American Culture Association, March 28-31, Indianapolis, IN.

2017 – Transformation of Interdisciplinary Teacher Educators: Collaborating to Develop Online Teacher Training for the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards, AERA – American Educational Research Association, April 13-16, Chicago, IL. (with Louie, B, Thompson, R., Rios, J., and Zhu, M.)

2014 – Looking for acceptance: Negotiating online community through selfie-bios,
Social Media & Society Conference, Ryerson University, September 27-28, Toronto, Canada.

2012 – What not to wear: Governing women through fashion, CADAAD – Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines International Conference, University of Minho, July 4-6, Braga, Portugal.

2010 – Considering the digi: Questions the writing class faces in the Digital Age, Oregon Rhetoric & Composition Conference, Portland State University, May 10-12, Portland, OR.

2009 – Virtually thinking out loud in the electronic classroom:  Metacognition and issues of audience, frequency, and medium for reflection, CCCC- Conference on College Composition & Communication, March 25, New Orleans, LA. (With Katherine Anderson)

2008 – The good, the bad, & the ugly of writing in the web 2.0 world: Negotiating writing & technology in the digital age, Thomas R. Watson Conference- The New Work of Composing, University of Louisville, October 16-18. Louisville, KY.

2008 – Responding to the online journal interest form: Screwed up, but working on it, Rhetoric Society of America, May 23-26, Seattle, WA.

2008 –(Re)Gendering depression as a problem for “Real Men”: Narrative & governing mental health through public service announcements, GURT – Georgetown Linguistics Department Conference on Narrative, March 29-31, Georgetown, DC.

2007 – Picking up the thread: Answering the call to converse on mental health forums, NZDC –  New Zealand International Discourse Conference, The University of Auckland, December 6-9, Auckland, NZ.

2005 – Resisting traditional self-help: Discursive constructions of (un)wellness & healing online, Western States Rhetoric & Literacy Conference, October 10-12, San Francisco, CA.

2004 – Personal names & transnationalism: Identity construction in the lives of Korean-Americans, AAAL – American Association for Applied Linguistics, May 1-4, Portland, OR.

2002 – Genre analysis in the “extracurriculum”: The healing journal as the site of genre evolution in discourse community, Western States Composition Conference, University of Washington, October 24-26, Seattle, WA.

Call for Papers!

Special Issue: Discourse, Context, & Digital Dating

See CFP for details

Abstracts due by January 15, 2023

Scholarly Work

Thompson, R. (2022). “Reflective Approaches to Analyzing Digital Discourse.” In C. Vasquez (Ed.), Research Methods for Digital Discourse Analysis, Bloomsbury Press. 257-276.

Thompson, R. (2022). More than the selfie: online dating, non-monogamy, normativity, and linked profiles on OkCupid.  Journal of Language and Sexuality. 11 (1). 1-30.

Thompson, R. (2021). Using Social Media as a Source of Data and Community Building. Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World, edited by Trena M. Paulus and Jessica Nina Lester, 1st edition, SAGE Publications, Inc.

Thompson, R. (2020). English Language and Multimodal Narrative. In S. Adolphs & D. Knight (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of English Language and Digital Humanities. Routledge.

Thompson, R., & Collins, M. (2020). Disruptive practice: Multimodality, innovation and standardisation from the medieval to the digital text. In C. Tagg & M. Evans (Eds.), Message and medium: English Language Practices Across Old and New Media (pp. 281–305). De Gruyter Mouton.

Thompson, R. & McIlnay, M. (2019) Nobody Wants to Read Anymore! Using a Multimodal Approach to Make Literature Engaging. CLELE Journal, 7 (1).

Thompson, R. & Furman, R., (2018) From Mass to Social Media: Governing Mental Health in the Digital Age. Sinchronia. 22(73). 398-429.

Thompson, R. (2017). Writing through Comics. In A. Burger (Ed.), Teaching Graphic Novels in the English Classroom: Pedagogical Possibilities of Multimodal Literacy Engagement. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Thompson, R. (2012). Screwed up, but working on it: (Dis)ordering the self through e-stories. Narrative Inquiry. 22(1), 86-104.

Thompson, R. (2012). Looking healthy: Visualizing disorder & wellness online. Visual Communication. 11(4). 395-420.

Thompson, R., Furman, R., Enterline, M., & Sharfi, N. (2012). Poetry, masculinities & disability. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 25(3). 105-114.

Furman, R., Enterline, M., Thompson, R., & Shukraft, A. (2012) Poetry matters: A case study for poetry in social work. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory & Practice 21(1), 5-17.

Thompson, R. & Lee, M. (2012) Talking with students through screencasting: Experimentations with video feedback to improve student learning. Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy 1(1).

Thompson, R. (2006). Bilingual, bicultural & binominal identities: Personal name investment, (bi)cultural identity negotiation & the imagination in the lives of first generation Korean-Americans. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 5(3), 179-208.

Thompson, R. (2004). Trauma & the rhetoric of recovery: A discourse analysis of virtual healing journals of child sexual abuse survivors. JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory- Special Issue, Part 2: Trauma & Rhetoric, 24(3), 653-677.

Interviews & Podcasts

Nolan, S. (Host). (2022, November 16). An Academic Perspective on the Online Dating Industry.[Audio Podcast]. The GDI Podcast: Global Dating Insights.

Penna, S. (Host). (2022, March 14). More than the Selfie: Research Methodology with Online Dating Apps (No. 39). [Audio podcast episode]. NVIVO Podcast: Between the Data.

Cattanach, R. (2022, January 26). Social Media & Mental Health. (No. 33) [Audio Podcast Episode] In Learning More.

Moagi, T (Host). (2021, October 5). Relationships, Polyamory, & the Pandemic [Radio interview]. On POWER Up 98.7 South Africa.

Cattanach, R. (2021, June 2). Pandemic Dating & Online Dating. (No. 7) [Audio Podcast Episode] In Learning More.

Segran, E. (2020, November 6). Love, delayed. Vox.

Jackson, L. T. H. (2020, August 13). Exploring How Covid-19 Shifts Our Relationships [Webinar]. In Keeping it Real.

Goodwin, T. (2020, May 14). He’s Just Not That Into Zoom: Dating In Boise During COVID-19. In Boise State Public Radio News. Boise State Public Radio.

Interview with John Carlson. (2017, November 22). Fostering divergent opinions and encouraging free speech on campus. [Talk Radio KVI 570].

Articles & Blogs

What’s a polycule? An expert on polyamory explains. The Conversation. November 30, 2022

Powerful women heading up dating apps are framed as young and sexy. Orchard, T. & Thompson, R. The Conversation. October 17 2022,

Does it really empower women to expect them to make the first move? The Conversation. January 26, 2022.

Polyamorous Relationships under Severe Strain during the Pandemic. The Conversation. February 11, 2021,

Online dating and the politics of sharing explicit pics. Medium. April 11, 2020

Pandemic dating, humor, and selling the selfie in the online market. Medium. April 23, 2020

Pandemic Dating Practices & COVID-19. Medium. May 14, 2020.

From Plenty of Fish to Survival Dating. Medium. May 29, 2020

What pandemic dating can teach us about connecting during the time of Corona. Medium. August 11, 2020

College campuses are vital for critical conversations. The Seattle Times. November 10, 2017

Creative work

Thompson, Riki. (2017, October 27). Along the Way: A Digital Travelogue. Story Center.

Childhaven. (2014, August 29). Have You Met Olivia?