Project 3 Prposal

I would like to study the discourse community of Wookiepedia and those that use it. I feel that this would be an interesting topic because of my deep connection with said discourse community. It qualifies under Swales 6 characteristics. It has a broadly agreed upon set of public goals; to try and inform people about the Star Wars universe and to organize all of the information therein. It has mechanisms of intercommunication; forums and other online chatting, but also conversations between fellow users face to face. It also uses mechanisms to provide information and feedback; the whole purpose is to provide information, and if you information is wrong it can be removed from the site by other people fixing it, in other words feedback. All kinds of people are present in the discourse community, since Star Wars is such a far stretching audience. This allows for a broader influx of different genres assist in the furtherance of its goals. In no other area of fiction than that of the science variety is there more lexis specific to the community. Since it is all based around fiction, there are alot of events, names, and other such lexis that are unique only to this community. While many people know somethings about Star Wars, there are many things that only someone who used Wookiepedia would know, which then includes them in the discourse community. Finally there are members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise, since it is constantly updated by the administrators of the site to keep everything as factual as possible; factual to the universe that is. My one weak spot is I don't have any idea who to interview. I feel that a face to face interview rather than a chat with a random person online would be better, so I will have to find another person on campus who uses Wookiepedia. A set of texts that could be analyzed would be for one, any article, to show how they make sure that information is being passed, and two, a discussion board to show how all of the information is debated upon to prove it's validity

Reading Response 16

Devitt et al – “Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities”

Summary

In their articles, “Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities,” the authors attempt to redefine genre as it applies to the discourse community. They argue that genre is what defines the differences between each discourse community

Synthesis

This being the first compilation article, it is obviously different from the rest of the articles we’ve read. However, it does go along with the Swales piece nicely, taking what he had stated on discourse communities and adding their own spin to it.

Thoughts

This piece was if-y, if that’s a word. While it had some good points, there wasn’t much to talk about, as seen by my short parts above. The whole third article was quotations by people who use even bigger words than the authors do, which was slightly aggravating. All in all a very modest piece.

Reading Response 15

Gee – “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction”

Summary

In his article, “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction,” Gee attempts to define his concept of “Discourse” and to show it is separate from “discourse.” He argues that you learn a primary Discourse, and then all of your secondary Discourses that you learn throughout life are only imitations; you aren’t truly a member of that secondary Discourse.

Synthesis

This piece is similar to Swales’ piece, because they are talking about the same topic, albeit they each make their own definitions that are basically the same. The difference is that they are on different sides of the issue. Gee doesn’t feel that you can full master one Discourse, let alone more than one, and thus because of this different parts of different Discourses transfer back and forth. Swales has his little formula you plug into, and by it you can be in infinitely many discourse communities.

Pre-reading

Two or three activities that I participate in are college, reading Star Wars books, and socializing with friends. College influences how I participate in the other two things, because I always try and get my class work done first, so that will influence who I can socialize with and when I can read. There aren’t totally separate, but not inseparable either.

QD

1. Gee means that there are situational obstacles when communicating, as well as cultural ones to take into account. In English class they try to get rid of all of this when they teach grammar, but sometimes improper grammar has an extra meaning that isn’t in the “textbook.”

Thoughts

This piece was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be – I thought it was going to be a repeat of Swales. Instead, it was a thoughtful piece that was almost a key to Swales, and allowed me to understand not only his points, but the differences between the two.

Reading Response 14

Swales – “The Concept of Discourse Community”

Summary

In his article, “The Concept of Discourse Community,” Swales attempts to explain to the reader the concept of the discourse community, and the various permutations that exist among the various scholars. He argues that there are differences between several different concepts and gives his criteria for what he calls a discourse community.

Synthesis

This piece isn’t really like much of the rest of the pieces we’ve read, even his intro piece we did. This is very organized and structure, like a couple of the more scientific pieces, but he jumps around too much to be compared to them. Same for the vice versa. His topic is similar to several others, but he takes his own, rather dry, angle so it’s hard to compare.

Pre-reading

I feel out of place whenever there are sports on television and I’m forced to stay in the room. This is because I don’t find sports to be entertaining or exciting like many of my male counterparts.

QD

5. A discourse community that I belong to is the one that contains followers of the Star Wars continuum. It is connected to all of its members through all of the different media, be it media, books, comic books, video games, ect. The main setters of the rules are George Lucas himself and Leland Chee, the Continuity Database Administrator. The goals are the expansion of the continuum and its maintenance. Because of the large number of authors in this discourse community, there is lots of different ideas, so lots of different material to bring to the table.

Thoughts

This piece was so boring the framing the reading section warned me that it was boring. If a frame of a piece of literature takes two pages just to sum up that the piece is boring, then maybe we should fine a more interesting piece that says the same thing, I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere, that’s what Google’s for.

Reading Response 13

Wysocki – “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty”

Summary

In her article, “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty,” Wysocki attempts to analyze the concept of art and how it has different effects on people and their perceptions based on details held within pictures. She argues that our predetermined notions of beauty can both give us pleasure as well as anger from a picture. She breaks it down into a very descriptive analysis of what you feel when you see anything

Synthesis

This doesn’t really have much in common with anything that we’ve read. It discusses literacy a little, such as in how your experiences influence what you see in art, as well as how position, shading, and other factors influence what you receive from a picture. It relates to Berger in that it analyzes art, and the one that Wysocki looks at a lot is about a nude, basically. However she widens her approach beyond just nudes and applies her concept to all art.

QD

2. Visually, it is a low-visual text because other than the picture in question and the following diagrams, there are very few pictures or any defining features to the article to help convey anything more than “essay.” Aside from her longer quotes that are indented from her main essay, it flows like any other essay.

3. No it doesn’t work as a consumer. It interests me on a purely biological level, but it doesn’t make me want to either purchase the book or learn more. I have much better things to spend time on, such as finishing this reading response.

A&E

2. Beauty is most definitely in the eye of the beholder, as some people find some things appealing whiles others don’t, and vice versa. I don’t agree with can’t because there are very few things that are truly universal. Based on culture and your own personal experiences, you come up with your own idea of what beauty is. Wysocki was correct by saying that it is subjected to social forces.

MM

This statement fits her article well, because although she refers back to her original argument about the Peek article, her reasoning can be applied to a plethora of different art types. Her deductions could be applied to anything with  a picture in it, such as her statement about the difference between placements, as well as discussing how when you make something it becomes more universal.

Thoughts

I didn’t like this text much, though I did agree with her final statements on the subject. My tiresome complaint of the argument being stretched is coming back again. Her sources are reference in a way that she expects us to know what she’s talking about, and her vocabulary is excessively complex. I honestly didn’t fully understand what most of her article was about til I reread the Framing the Reading section of the apparatus.

Reading Response 12

Baron – From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies

Summary

In his article, “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies,” Baron attempts to show that the computer is just another addition in a long line of new writing technologies. He goes about this by showing how writing itself was a new technology in its day, and spends a lot of time describing how the pencil, something we take as granted, was originally something invented not even for writing, but evolved over time.

Synthesis

This piece has a lot of characteristics of the Malcolm X piece as well as Lamott and Diaz, because it has a much more personal feel. It relates it’s topic to themes that we as the audience would understand and relate to. It also has a little hint of Berger in it because it analyzes everything in a historical order, which not many of the other articles do.

Pre-reading

A list of the technologies I use for writing:

·         Computer

·         Pencil and Paper

·         Verbal Communication

·         Music

·         The Internet

·         Written Sources (such as novels or reference materials depending upon what I’m writing.

A&E

2. There are many writing technologies that could be improved, but I think what needs improved would be grammar check. Most word processors have it now, and it’s nowhere near as helpful as spell check. Most of the time its corrections don’t even make sense or are just blatantly wrong. Not only do I think this, but teachers will mark of when I listen to it, so it seems a pointless addition at the present moment, but it would be good if someone were to update it.

Thoughts

This article was much more engaging than I went into it thinking it would be. The author does a very good job capturing the reader’s attention with a meaningful topic as well as helpful sources that don’t bore the reader. The points that the author bring up to prove his point of view are different from the stock sources used by scholars, and I learned new historical facts on top of being convinced of his point. It was engaging and interesting. Very impressed.

Reading Response 11

Brandt – Sponsors of Literacy

Summary

In her article, “Sponsors of Literacy,” Brandt attempts to show us her new definition of literacy and show how her concept of sponsors that she has developed through all of her research into literacy. She states that these sponsors teach us how to be literate, in turn showing us to be who we are, almost molding us with key characteristics of themselves.

Synthesis

 This article is much along the same lines as those whom dealt with studies that they had done, such as Kantz and Klein. However, Brandt is analyzing something she noticed while studying so1mething related, but different.

Pre-reading

List of ways reading is promoted: learning to read is an achievement early on, reading contests in elementary school, most popular forms of media are text (i.e. newspapers and magazines), writing contests with various organizations, college applications, ect. Reasons for being a better reader and writer are that you will do much better when you are older and are trying to get a job and have a family to support. This advice is usually given by adults, especially close relatives or older friends, and the occasional teacher.

A&E

1. I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI till the age of 9, then moved to Defiance, OH. Moved from suburbia to the middle of nowhere. Had several dozen times as much yard, as well as chores. When I got to Defiance, I didn’t know anyone, so I read a lot because I was by myself. This stayed this way till high school, and I still keep my love of reading to this day. I’ve always liked to read, but it was honestly the bullying of my fourth and fifth grade classes that led me to love reading. It’s almost like a default activity for me. Because of my voracious appetite for books, I became very literate, vocabulary wise. However I did a lot of pleasure reading, so come high school, I did not like many of the novels we read for class. I had friends who were into my kind of books by then though, so I didn’t entirely die of boredom.

Thoughts

The piece was interesting enough, and presented a lot of neat points that I had never thought about. However, my chief complain of it needing shortened still stands, and after going over my paper on stereotypes, I think some authors write long passages just because they can. While this one isn’t the case, I think, it could’ve been shortened or consolidated without any loss of meaning.