Reading Response No. 17

Summary:
Inher article "Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces," Wardle attemps to show writers the problems that can arise when someone enters a new enviornment such as a school or workplace. She argues this by giving her readers and example. She tells the story of someone who is put into a discourse community that he does not belong to. He does not feel apart of this community, and Wardle therefore uses this as a way to tell her audience that it takes more than aquiring the skills of a discourse community to belong to it.

Synthesis:
This article can be related to all of the texts we have read about discourse community. It can be related to Gee because both articles use discourse community as a way of defining one's self, or a way to form identity. Wardle also agrees with Swales with the six characteristics of discourse community, but also puts in her own thoughts about identity into the argument. In the Devitt et al. article, the authors define discourse community based on genre analysis, which one could relate back to Wardle because of her argument that a discourse can exist so long as all members have simalar ideas.

Project 3 Proposal

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

The discourse community that I would like to study and analyze is the Fine Arts discourse community. (In other words, people who paint, draw, sculpt, and so on.) The public goals of this discourse community are to express their ideas, values, and thoughts to those outside of their discourse community.

 

2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.

Not only can artists communicate between each other with art lingo; things such as technique and medium, but they also share the feelings that they feel when they create art. They share the knowledge of what goes into a painting as well.

3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.

Artists do this by receiving feedback from other artists and also art critics. Sometimes they hold events where their art is displayed where people can buy their art; feedback and information usually takes place at such events. While art may seem like a private and personal thing, artists have many opportunities to receive feedback and information about what other artists are doing at the ti

 

4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.

Artists have more than one genre of communication. They can obviously give and receive feedback by verbally stating their opinions, but one artist can critique another through art itself. In the realm of street art, one artist can talk to another by creating a picture. For example, if one artist paints something on a wall, another artist can answer them by painting something or even finishing the original picture. It only seems fitting that artists can communicate and give feedback with art itself.

5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.

Artists have lexis because if they are speaking to another artist, they can probably speak more freely about a piece, rather than if they were speaking to someone who does not do art, they might have to explain terms or ideas or say “how do you not see what I’m seeing?” However, if two artists are talking about a painting, they might pick out the same characteristics and therefore are able dig deeper into the meaning of a piece of art.

6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

I think that artists do have a threshold level of members. One could think of artists like Van Gough or Picasso as masters of their craft and therefore expert painters. One who is involved in art could only dream of reaching their level of skill and prestige. Therefore, this discourse community has relevant content and obviously contains discoursal expertise.

I am interested in studying this discourse community because I am interested in art but also came across a couple articles that a friend of mine had from her art class and read them because I had nothing better to do at the time. I was captivated by the articles’ discussion of painters as a community and the feeling that goes into a painting. The articles also described how one can tell if the painter was sitting or standing or what mood they were in when they were creating the piece. I found this very interesting and want to know if this is actually true among artists I know.

I have a couple friends who are art majors, so I could interview them. If both of them do the same type of art, perhaps they could refer me to someone who works with different material than they do. This would give one or two different perspectives, which would be a great asset to the project.

I think the biggest text that will help me with this project will be the interview. Since most of this is based upon what an artist feels, their answers will probably be the most relevant resource I can use. However, I could also find more articles like the ones I previously read that put emphasis on artists as a discourse community.

Reading Response No. 16

Summary:
In the article "Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities," DeVitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff attempt to show the audienece how genre relates to the study and definition of discourse community. They argue that studying genre can help one understand the concept of discourse community.

Synthesis:
One can relate this article to a few of the articles we have read. The articles written by Gee and Swales both deal with what a discourse means by definitions that they created. This article defines discourse community based upon genre.

Personal Response:
I thought that this article was helpful becasue it opened my eyes to yet another way to define a discourse community. This comes in handy as I think of discourse communities to choose for project three. It gives me a few more options to choose from, I guess.

Reading Response No. 15

Getting Ready to Read:
Two activities that I participate in are my classes in school and playing music. I do not have an instrument here at school, so these two things stay separate. The only I can think of school influencing my musical abilities is if i had an instrument here, studying may get in the way of practicing, but other than that the two activities would remain separate.

Summary:
In his article "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics," Gee attempts to explain to his audience the difference between discourses and language and grammar. Gee explains discourses as ways of being. He argues by stating the discourse can define someone, and that we move from a initial to a secondary discourse due to our life experiences.

Synthesis:
One could compare this article to the Swales article we read. Both articles try to touch on what a discourse is. Both also deal with definition. Using the six characteristics, Swales defines the term discourse community while Gee says that we can be defined by a discourse community.

Questions for Disscussion and Journaling:
When Gee says this, he is saying that context matters with grammar. Perfect grammar to one person who doesn't speak well obviously isn't the same as perfect grammar to a person who does. In school, we are not taught this. We are taught that one should speak and write with good grammar all the time.

Personal Response:
I found this article interesting because it made me look at discourse communitites in a new way and also look at grammar in a new way. I think that it will be useful when I have to pick a discourse community for project three because I view discourse communities as something that can exist outside of academia, which is something I've never done.

Reading Response No. 14

Before you read:
One time that I have felt of place recently was when I started getting involved in a Christian organization on campus. Being new to not only the group but also to the group's brand of faith, I felt out of place at most events I attened with the group. Watching others worship with such ease confused me and made me feel very out of place. To watch people praise and understand seemingly without effort discouraged me to go back because I could not fit in with many of the group's members.

Summary:
In his article "The Concept of the Discourse Community," Swales attempts to shed light on the definition of discourse community to readers and wiriters. He argues by saying that the defintion of discourse community needs or be separate or different from the definition of speech community. He says that this can be done with six methods such as a set of common goals within the community, methods of communication among members of the discourse community, using group communication for feedback, using multiple genres for understanding, use of a vocabulary within the community, and members who are counted as qualified.

Synthesis:
Obviously, one could compare this article to the Porter article "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community." The article uses the concept of discourse community to discuss intertexuality. While Swales goes more into discourse community, both articles explain the concept of discourse community.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling
5. I think one discourse community I belong to would be the realigous group I mentioned previously. For example, one way that it posseses the six characteristics of discourse community is a set of common goals, which is to share our faith with others. Obviously, there is a lexis between members, and the group also uses different genres to accomplish our goals.

Personal Response:
I thought it was interesting that Swales used certain characteristics to define discourse community. I feel that these are a great way to separate speech and discourse communities, one of the things that the article wanted to accomplish.

My Literacy History Narrative Draft

Having a first grade teacher who still made her class sing "God Bless America" after saying the pledge of allegiance, my first memory of reading were old Dick and Jane like books. These included readings about animals and other things children enjoy. My first memory of writing is your standard learning how to shape letters with the dotted lines on paper. I think I learned to write well quickly, however it wasn't until second or third grade that a teacher corrected me for always using a capital A at the end of my name instead of  lowercase A. In grade school, we were given short story assignments in which I would usually give the teacher four pages on Friday when the assignment was two pages on Wednesday. I also learned to read well quickly. I usually read the same things as everyone else until about the sixth grade; when everyone was reading The Magic Treehouse or American Girl books, I was reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Now that I think about how quickly I learned how to read and write, it kind of makes me sound like a freak who could read and comprehend literature in grade six. However, I wouldn't have been able to do these things if I hadn't had the sponsorship I had. I'd like to say that I learned to write the way I did because it's something I enjoy doing, and while this is true, I also learned to write mostly because of my sister not wanting to play with me, therefore making me come up with things to do when I was bored. This is the same case with reading. My sister is an avid reader, she would either read to me, give me books to read, and so on. We used to hold contests of who could read the same page of a book the fastest, in which I always lost, but things like this helped us grow as readers and get better at reading. Another sponsor I had were my teachers. The thought to read The Scarlet Letter in grade six wouldn't have even entered my mind if the teacher hadn't had the book on her shelf for me to read in the first place. She had more advanced books that I eventually read and understood before my peers. As I continued through school, both of these sponsors continued to challenge me with both reading and writing, and have helped me reach the level of skill in both of these areas.

Reading Response No. 13

Getting Ready to Read:
Since my internet never works and I can't provide a picture of the ad I'm about to describe, I'll do the best I can. the ad that I chose was the Microsoft ad that aired in 1984 during the superbowl. It was to promote a new computer that was coming out that year. I liked the ad because it alluded to the novel 1984, which I loved, but I didn't like it because I didn't because I didn't understand why a new microsoft computer would prevent 1984 from becoming like the book 1984, as the ad states.

Summary:
In her article "The Sticky Embrace of Beauty," Wysocki attemps to show readers how art and or pictures can affect people and their perceptions. She argues that either our or society's notions about beauty can spur different feelings within us as we look at a picture. She also states that this happens with everything we see; not just art.

Synthesis:
This piece could technically be related back to the Berger article we read about nudes, but also I think you could relate it back to the sponsorship articles we read as well. Like how sponsors shape our view of reading and literacy.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:
2. This would qualify as a low-visual text, due to the few diagrams it contains. Other than these, I thought that visually, it was like any other essay that I have read.

3. This adverstisment doesn't really work for me as a consumer. The ad indeed catches my eye, but I don't feel the need to purchase the book or learn more about the erotic photos it contains.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:
2. I do believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is because everyone has different ideas of what beauty actually is. I agree with Kant in some sense of what she is saying because no matter how much people diagree about beauty, there is still a general idea of what is at least visually pleasing and what is not.

Meta Moment:
I think that that statement fits this article quite nicely because Wysocki's arguement could be applied to many different types of art, or anything visual, really.

Personal Response:
As I do with most articles, I found this article interesting. However, I didn't understand most of it. So, I guess the parts that I could comprehend were good, but I had trouble wrapping my head around a lot of this article.

Reading Response No. 12

Getting Ready to Read:
While my parents were in school, the typewriter was the dominant wiritng tool. This tool could be compared to the computer, which is the dominant wiritng tool now. With typewriters, it is much harder to fix a mistake than it is on a computer. When I used to use our old typewriter just for fun, I remember thinking about what I was going to put down much more than I do with a computer; since errors were almost unerasable.

Summary:
In his article "From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literary Technologies," Baron discusses different technologies that can be related to writing and how writing is a sort of technology as well. He argues that all wiritng technologies take time to be accepted by society, noting that even lead pencils were once a new technology, and therefore opposed at one point. However, Baron also states that each new technology, wether it is pencil, typewriter, or computer, has infiltrated the writing world and have been embraced by all wiriters.

Synthesis:
This article could be related back to the literary sponsors article by Brant that we recently examined. It says that we become literate by way of sponsors. In this case, when new technology comes about, we have to become literate with that as well, and sponsors can play a key role in that as well.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:
4. One technology that may not be considered technology anymore is the typewriter. When one thinks of technology they probably think of something that runs off of a rechargable battery or electricity. Since typerwriters use niether of these and have been replaced with computers, they don't seem as high-tech as they did when they first came out.

Personal Response:
I thought that the way Baron compares technologies that could be related to writing and writing itself wsas interesting. Also, I liked how much he related technology with the way things are written; how changing technology can change the way we write.