This document discusses the author's PhD journey exploring the participatory web and digital identity in academia. It describes starting the PhD part-time in 2008 while working to understand established practices and champion new uses of web technologies. The author found value in creating an online presence through blogging, Twitter, and networking tools to develop routines for researching in a digital world. The document also references sociological concepts like symbolic violence and how technology intersects with traditional scholarship and shaping new practices in the field.