Their name liveth forevermore

I wonder whether Clay Barrett kept a diary.  Mr Barrett, to whom a bench outside the Mabo Library is dedicated, died in 1999 at the age of 34 and is described on the plaque as "one of the last true humanitarians". The epitaph shocked me, implying as it does that a) the world no longer produces humanitarians and b) the last of them were gone before the 21^st century began. Is this another facet of posthumanism? I searched Clay Barrett, "Clay Barrett" Townsville and "Clay Barrett" JCU, and all I found was a photograph of the bench in a website of memorial pictures. Perhaps Krogerus and Tschappeler (2012) are right in saying: "Today the most interesting people are those that we can’t find on Google" (p88).

Uncommon Forum (UF) members can grab attention with the naming of their threads. "Molested by a five-year-old" ran to eight pages, in which it soon became clear that the title was deliberately misleading. Van Luyn (2013) said no text exists in a vacuum and that academic text is a response to previous work in the same genre. UF members generally demonstrate the reading method described by Di Yanni (2004): "observing, connecting, inferring, and concluding" as well as "respond[ing] with questions that echo in their minds as they read" (p9). However, some thread-starters on UF receive no response, which surely must feel like a vacuum to the authors.

Russian semiotician Mikhail Bakhtin (cited by Van Luyn, 2013) said all language fitted a genre. UF rules ask that people not start arguments or attack, but this is rarely enforced. One member communicates almost exclusively in images while another writes in what he considers academic style, despite many members disputing his claims. Many write the filter-style posts McNeill (2011) describes; some promote products but the majority are disinterested. Those whose style particularly pleases the site owners have the Most Valuable Poster emblem under their usernames.

REFERENCES

Di Yanni, R. (2004) Introduction: Reading and Writings Essays. In Twenty-Five Great Essays (1-30). New York: Pearson Longman.

Krogerus, M. & Tschappeler, R. (2012). The Change Book: Fifty Models to Explain How Things Happen. London, UK: Profile Books Ltd. 

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2:0?: A Genre Moves from Page to Screen. In Language and New Media (313-323). New Jersey: Hampton Press Inc.

Van Luyn, A. (2013) BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 6: Genre and Identity.

Main picture: Vicky Seal 

Inset: http://beta.ingress.clamburger.org/portals/1027/unclaimed  

Fame or Invisibility?

Blog Four: Fame or Invisibility?

Sophie Boden

Image From: http://gingersnapworks.com/measuring-social-media-facebook-likes/

Proof of our need for social acceptance is evident by a simple Google search. How do I write Facebook posts to get more likes? The Facebook post can make us famous or invisible. Those at the top of our network hierarchy receive hundreds of likes. Whilst I may receive a mind-blowing three. This got me thinking what makes a good Facebook post? (Ayres, n.d.).

Interestingly the Facebook post is not like traditional forms of genre like the essay. Di Yanni (2005) writes that a key characteristic of the good essay is ‘clarity’ meaning “[r]eaders can follow and understand it easily” (p. 15). Contrastingly, it is a lack of clarity in the Facebook post which fosters dynamics of power. Hence, unless you were ‘at the party’ or ‘at the ice-cream parlour’ this post may have no relevance to you. This McNeill (2011) eloquently describes as “in the know” (p. 321).

So not unlike the diary 2.0 those that have this ‘shared knowledge’ are empowered by the post (McNeill, 2011). Whilst those not invited to the ‘party’ or ‘ice-cream parlour’ feel left-out and disempowered. Of course there is always the flip side, those posts which are simply of a funny joke, or cute picture which any layman can understand.

So one asks the question if the goal of the post is to achieve the most likes then what does that mean for our virtual identity. When you post or blog you are shaping that discourse (Van Luyn 2013). By attempting to be popular and achieve ‘likes’ through posting we are also contributing to this discourse and perhaps creating a false sense of identity. Is the real me reflected in my posts?

 

Reference List

Ayers, S. (n.d.). 7 No-brainer Tips to Write an Awesome Facebook Post. Retrieved from http://www.postplanner.com/7-no-brainer-tips-to-write-awesome-facebook-post/

Di Yanni, R. (2005). Introduction: Reading and writing essays, in Twenty-five great essays (pp. 1-30). New York, NY: Penguin Academics.

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen, in Rowe, C. & Wyss, E.L. (Eds.) Language and new media: Linguistic, cultural, and technological evolutions (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 6 notes. [Lecture].

Image Credits

Nowacoski, A. (2012). Measuring Social Media – Facebook Likes. Retrieved from http://gingersnapworks.com/measuring-social-media-facebook-likes/

 

 

#Twitter

Out of the social networks I have come across, Twitter’s language conventions are the most bewildering. Because Twitter places emphasis on social interaction, the language used is to directly attract the attention of other users. This is done by using an “@” symbol and writing their username. 

The other most recognizable symbol in twitter is the hash tag named for the “#” symbol before a keyword, these are used to find tweets on similar topics. In use of these symbols, participants are expected to know all about what they are reading. “Assuming information as common, the diarist fosters a sense of intimacy in the text: he or she assumes that readers (imagined or real) are “in the know,” (McNeill, 2013)

These language conventions are a reflection of change over time. “A way of expressing something that is a characteristic of a particular person, discipline or time period.” (Van Luyn, 2013)

The most interesting thing is how “diaries” or “journals” have in a sense changed over time. From being extremely personal and hidden, to, as McNeill states, “internet diaries” (McNeill, 2013) The traditional diary today, wouldn’t come close to fully representing that is created on sites such as Twitter, because nearly all of that content is created outside of Microsoft Word. Does the development of apps and of course social networking, make a diary less important?

 References:

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Week 6, Genre [Lecture Slides]. Retrieved From: www. learnjcu.edu.au

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen, in Rowe, C. & Wyss, E.L (Eds.) Language and New Media: Linguistic, cultural and technological evolutions (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton

Add Twitter Followers: A Basic Twitter Dictionary 

Image Retrieved from: http://addtwitter-followers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/twitter-dictionary1.png 

Lines of Communication

Lines of Communication

Image 1 retrieved from: http://savgrr.com/facebook.jpg

Facebook is very specific in the conventions and form of self-narratives they allow their members to employ. Aspects of an individual are broken down into text boxes and have a limited number of characters. However, the online profile is reminiscent of the traditional diary form. The reader of a profile is always presented with the most recent and immediate happenings of that individual’s life. Additionally, the writer uses first person, emotive language and dialogue that are context specific (McNeill, 2011). Unlike traditional diaries, Facebook encourages the reader to interact with the writer and influence the ‘diary entry’. This appropriation of the traditional form exhibits how particular genres are dynamic and thus, allow the development of a new age narrative (Van Luyn, 2013).

Although the network does alter the characteristics of the diary form, language used throughout the network remains generic to the text type. For communication to occur within the network, members must be privy to the language used with the genre. Facebook has developed a new language that is often represented via acronyms (think: laugh out loud; lol or next in line; nil). Network specific language creates community identity and empowers members on the site because they are able to communicate and express themselves according to the conventions of Facebook. Also, this type of expression becomes the expected and appropriate way to interact within the network. This, in turn, illustrates the power of Facebook over members, as it clearly dictates how members are supposed to interact within the online community.

It can be seen that Facebook, although borrowing text characteristics from the traditional diary form, has created its own conventions for language use and expression for its community members.

References:

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen, in Rowe, C. & Wyss, E.L (Eds.) Language and New Media: Linguistic, cultural and technological evolutions (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.

Savagar, (2009). Facebook. Image retrieved from: http://savgrr.com/2009.html

 Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Week 6, Genre [Lecture Slides]. Retrieved From: https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_312_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_42849_1%26url%3D