Blog 6

            For my writing assignment, I am thinking I want to write about people with disabilities. I want to keep it that broad in order see what is out there about this community. It is crazy to me how some of us take things for granted and don’t really think about having a disability, so it would be interesting to write something that would open peoples’ minds, including mine. I think texts by the group representing themselves could be interesting to use in order to gain perspective from their point of view. I also want to look at a variety of texts so I’m not limited to one type of writing or similar stories. I would like to learn about how the language people without disabilities use affects those with disabilities. It would really be interesting to learn more about how people with disabilities feel about themselves and their community in relation to other communities. It would also be interesting to look at different kinds of disabilities, such as physical disabilities versus speech disabilities, and how their feelings differ. I’m not sure if I open it up that much if I would then need to include all disabilities, so I may stick with just physical disabilities so it’s not all over the place.

Article example:

Duluth News Tribune – Choice words can mean a lot for people with disabilities

Blog 5

          Social construction is a broad concept that can be defined many different ways and related to a variety of subjects. Ross Haenfler’s article discusses social deviance and how it is portrayed. In relating that to social constructionists theories he states, “social constructionist theories treat deviance as subjective rather than objective.” He explains this to mean that deviance is not automatically understood, but it is constructed and is subject to change (Haenfler). This is one explanation of social construction, but it is varied throughout different texts.

            Judith Lorber writes about social construction in relation to gender in her article Night to His Day. She states, “Most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life.” In other words, the social construction of what is normal can change, which is a concept that is typically unfamiliar. She also states, “These odd or deviant or third genders show us what we ordinarily take for granted – that people have to learn to be women and men...” It has been socially constructed that females are raised as females and males are raised as males and that is it, but people are beginning to learn that this can change throughout life. In other words, this social construction may be beginning to change.

            In the TED Talk, “Understanding the Complexities of Gender” by Sam Killermann, he speaks about gender and sexuality and how they are two separate ideas. He begins by explaining how the gender construction began, in school, separating groups of boys and girls and enforcing what each group should be interested in. He describes the absurdity of this by stating, “7 billion individual identities, simplified into two,” and, “gender isn’t really that simple, it’s true, in fact there are as many version of gender as there are number of you.” People have typically viewed gender as the physical parts that you were born with, so this has been the social construction of what gender is. Throughout these different texts, we can see that this is beginning to change.

            Each of these texts has something in common; that social construction is subject to change. Whether they are talking about deviance or gender and sexuality, they all can be created and re-created, and learned throughout social life. I completely agree with this because I have seen these changes. While reading the texts, I was really interesting in Lorber’s article and Killermann’s TED Talk, because I can relate to them. I have lived with two gay roommates for almost two years now and have been influenced by many different situations that I had never experienced before. They are friends with a few individuals who were born male, but identify as female and are making the transition. Because of the social construction that has been put in place, this is not considered normal. I believe that if more people started taking into consideration that social construction is subject to change, then it wouldn’t be so different when these changes started occurring. This would include less pressure and harm for individuals going through those changes.

             

Haenfler, Ross. "Chapter 2 Skinheads-The Symbolism of Style and Ritual." Goths, Gamers, Grrrls. 2nd ed. 13, 14, 23-25. Print.

Blog 4

Introduction (p. 9-12)

            Amber Buck’s paper, Examining Digital Literacy Practices on Social Network Sites, includes many important details in each section that lead to an ultimate conclusion. These details help to prove why her paper matters. In her introduction, Buck states, “Rather than leaving a paper note for them in the kitchen, Ronnie visits their private group page on Facebook” and, “For Ronnie, social network sites are intricately woven into the tapestry of his daily literacy practices; they play a large role in how he interacts with others in his person and professional life as well as how he presents himself to different audiences.” These quotations really show right from the beginning how important social media is to a person like Ronnie. From communication to his roommates to connections to a professional career, social media is becoming a crucial concept.

Methods (p.12-13)

            Buck’s Methods section begins with saying, “As Porter (2007) notes, research on digital writing cannot rely on the same methodologies, simply translated to digital environments.” This starts the methods section out by stating that this section is going to be different from normal methodologies sections. It is a different type of research so different methods are going to be used. She also stated, “Collecting data from these various sources allowed me to develop a multifaceted picture of literate activity in connection with social network sites.” This describes exactly why she uses the methods she used and what she is ultimately trying to do.

Results (p.13-30)

            Throughout her results section, Buck includes results that will help her to make a conclusion in her discussion section. One quotation stated, “For Ronnie, Twitter represented a ‘stream of consciousness,’ as he described it in an interview; he updated Twitter several times per day and connected primarily with close friends and roommates through the site.” This particular result was important for Buck to include since it really shows how important Twitter is to Ronnie. Buck also says, “Through these tweets, Ronnie showed himself to be an overcommitted and engaged college student, preoccupied with a busy schedule and sleep-deprived in the first and last tweets, always online, and managing school and leisure tasks online through projects and side activities like fantasy hockey.” This sets up a view of Ronnie to the readers. She will also be able to go through this view in the discussion and talk about if it is accurate or not.

Discussion (p.30-34)

            Buck touches on one point that was hinted at throughout the results section. She states, “…he went back to listing Alison as his girlfriend and added fake siblings. He changed his high school to Hogwarts’ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and his current employer to the Ministry of Magic.” This discusses how social media sites can portray a person to be anything they want, and it might not be accurate. This is an important conclusion to make when discussing social media use. She moves on to discuss this fact and how Ronnie handled his information being so public, “In the six months after Facebook changed its privacy settings he migrated most of his information off the site.” Ronnie is considered to be an “expert” user, but this is an important point to discuss since so many people are likely to be naive when on social media sites.

Conclusion (p.34-36)

            Buck’s conclusion tells why she is writing this paper and why studying Ronnie was useful to her topic. She states, “Ronnie’s everyday literacy practices are embedded within an ecology of practice that is shaped by social and technological influences on his writing and his self-presentation on social network sites.” Even Ronnie, an “expert” user, is affected by different influences within social media sites. This concludes that everyone is susceptible to being influenced by social media and it is important to be aware of these facts. She points out that social media not only represents you as a person, but is also considered influence you in the real world. She says, “Students like Ronnie develop sophisticated rhetorical and literacy skills through these environments.” This is another important conclusion she makes. A look into students’ social media use can give an idea of how they use these sites to communicate and use digital literacy practices.

Blog 3

1.  Why do you chose to post things on Facebook instead of other social media sites?

2.     How do you pick the photos you upload to Facebook?

3.     How do you think your Facebook page portrays you and is it accurate?

4.     How do you use Facebook to connect with others?

5.     Are you apart of different groups or conversations within Facebook?

6.     Do you use Facebook to express your different hobbies or things you enjoy?

7.     How long have you been using Facebook?

8.     Have you always used Facebook the same way? How has your use changed since you started?

9.     How often are you active on Facebook and in what different ways? For example, how often do you post things vs. how often do you just check groups or the newsfeed?

10. How do you decide who to accept friend requests from?

11. Have you made connections or friendships merely through Facebook?

12. How do you think your life would be different without Facebook?

13. What is your main focus as soon as you log onto Facebook?

14. What aspect of Facebook do you believe you use most?

These questions for my partner during the interview will hopefully be able to identify exactly what ways she uses Facebook and why. These questions may also be answered during the tour of her page.

Blog 2

Social media is a rapidly expanding method of communication and expression. Many trends have started because of social media and it has even proved to be a successful outlet for different movements, such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge or the hashtag on twitter, #whyIstayed. The #whyIstayed was created by someone who was just looking for a way to explain why people might stay in abusive relationships to those who may not understand. This hashtag started to give others an outlet to explain their situations and give hope to those that may still be in those relationships. This hashtag created a community. A community of people struggling with abusive relationships who had their own way of talking about the subject, or their own discourse.  This hashtag is just an example of how communities can be started through social media. People can be involved in any number of communities, each having their own discourse. As Joseph Harris states in The Idea of Community in the study of Writing,  “Rather, one is always simultaneously a part of several discourses, several communities, is always already committed to at number of conflicting beliefs and practices.” The people that were involved in the #whyIstayed all came from different communities, but joined together in this common community because they all had something in common in that particular instant.

As an individual who uses social media regularly, I am apart of many different communities. I have a group on Facebook for my sorority, a group chat with a couple friends, and I have even participated in popular hashtags on twitter. Each of these online communities has a different discourse. Each different community has a common interest and uses a common language. Communities such as these can be started by a few people who have common interests, coming together and discussing this in their own way. The more people who share these things, the more people that will join the community. Within these different communities there are people who think alike about a certain topic, but then think differently about another topic. This is why there is so much community overlap. As Harris describes it, “We do not write simply as individuals, but we do not write simply as members of a community either.” Everyone has their own beliefs and interests, which may agree with many different communities. Social media has proved to be an inspiring way for individuals to join communities and express things they may not otherwise.