Strange Blog 6

Jake Strange

ENGL 254

February 22, 2015

Blog 6

For the second project of our class, I have identified a group that is involuntarily "othered" that may be both unique and interesting to research. After reading Mairs' "On Being a Cripple" and listening to the Invisabelia podcast "How to Become Batman" -- both of which I found to be insightful pieces -- I gave a lot of thought to different forms of impairment and the preconceived notions directed at those who are affected by them. Stemming from this, I believe examining amputees as an "othered" community would yield enough quality information for analysis.

Even from memory, I can think of several "underdog stories" of individuals who defied and exceeded others' expectations, learning (and relearning) to play instruments, compete athletically and live healthy, active lifestyles. That being said, I am sure I finding enough timely texts, both about the group and by the group, to offer a comprehensive understanding of my project will be simple. I am not sure exactly how many different types of texts I will examine at this early stage. I anticipate having a better estimate of this once I begin writing my first draft.

Strange Blog 5

Jake Strange

ENGL 254

February 19, 2015

Blog 5

For the purpose of this blog post, I will be relating Hanfler's explanation of "social construction" to Vershawn Ashanti Young's "Should Writers Use They Own English?" and Judith Lorber's "Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender." To give this nebulous term a concise meaning, "social construction" is -- to me -- a set of both overtly and subversively communicated behaviors and identifiers that are defined as either normal or deviant by a larger society. Under this theory, ideas such as class, gender and race are machinations that are "constructed by society."

Vershawn Ashanti Young relates the concept of social construction to language and writing in her unique essay "Should Writers Use They Own English?" Most of what she writes is a rather scathing criticism of the philosophies of literary theorist Stanley Fish, who holds that in order to get ahead in life and succeed as a writer, one must suppress their individual voice and adhere to the style of what he calls "standard English." Fish contends that certain voices and dialects make people "subject to prejudices," to which Young responds, "It’s ATTITUDES. It be the way folks with some power perceive other people’s language. Like the way some view, say, black English when used in school or at work. Black English dont make it own-self oppressed. It be negative views about other people usin they own language..."

In my experience as a student, an unfortunate truth is that this notion of "standard English" is a fairly common expectation in the classroom. To be fair, I have had some teachers and professors who urged encouraged students to write more for style and novelty, rather than following a predetermined format. But more commonly I have been required to adapt an almost "checklist mentality" with my writing in order to earn recognition or a high grade on an assignment.

On the other hand, Judith Lorber effectively relates this idea of social construction to sex, gender and the societal roles of men and women in "Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender." I found it incredibly interesting that on page 59, transgender subject Jan Morris adopted the socially constructed idea of "learned helplessness" that is associated with women.

"And if other's responses shifted, so did my own. The more I was treated as woman, the more woman I became. I adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars, or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself."

I particularly enjoyed the chapter from this larger piece, as the "gender gap" between men and women that Lorber discusses is something I make a concerted effort to discredit. I am dating an -- as she puts it oh-so-eloquently -- "loud and proud feminist," who has introduced gender-equal initiatives on our own campus. I think what she is doing is great!

It is my belief that an individual's worth, be they man or woman, should be determined by their abilities, character and merit. For example, if a man is more capable than a woman in a shared workplace, the man deserves the opportunity to advance more than the woman. The opposite absolutely holds true as well; if the woman is better than the man, she should be recognized and rewarded for it. Sadly, the world we live in isn't so cut-and-dry. To be, for lack of a better word, "lumped" into an underrepresented category from birth as a woman is an injustice. While society is far from where it ultimately needs to be, it is rewarding to see equal opportunities being encouraged and -- to a degree -- afforded for both sexes.

Strange Blog 4

Jake Strange

ENGL 254

January 27, 2015

Blog 4

My first project for our Writing & Communities course is starting to materialize. As I am writing this post, I have submitted by first draft for review from my workshop group. I am confident their feedback will help me greatly in shaping my nebulous initial thoughts into a polished, final product.

Another way to help refine my first draft is to reexamine Buck's article on digital literacy. In the following sections, I have pulled out particular passages that I believe will be of use in creating further drafts of my own analysis.

Introduction

"According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, as of August 2011, 83% of 18–29 year-olds used a social network site (Madden, 2012). Their interactions on these sites were also purposeful, as Pew reports that this age group is that most concerned with online identity management: 71% of them have changed the privacy settings on the sites they use (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010)."

I have done a bit of ground-level research to take a similar approach in my first draft of this assignment. In order to establish relevancy and convince the reader that my project is important, a good rule of thumb is to pull quantitative statistics about spcial media use.

"I approached this case study with three research questions: 1) How does this writer integrate social network sites into his everyday literacy practices? 2) How does this writer use those literacy practices to represent his identity for multiple audience groups on social network sites? 3) How does this writer negotiate site interfaces to represent his identity and communicate with others?"

While writing my first draft, coming up with an overarching research question to give my writing direction in later sections was incredibly difficult. I'm not satisfied with what I settled with on my first draft, so paying close attention to Buck's research questions and how she ties her findings back to them should help me build on this section.

Methods

"In order to study Ronnie’s literacy practices on social network sites, I followed his online activity for two semesters, Spring 2010 and Fall 2010, and I collected data from the following four sources."

I need to dedicate more of my writing to contextualizing my methods of information gathering. Here, Buck gives the reader a detailed walkthrough of her methodology through research interviews, online texts, a time-use diary (I doubt I will use something like this, given my subject's very limited use of Facebook) and a profile tour.

"Collecting data from these various sources allowed me to develop a multifaceted picture of literate activity in connection with social network sites. The research interviews, for example, allowed me to gauge my own interpretations of comments Ronnie posted online, as well as to gain background information unavailable in the textual activity I recorded. Through the time-use diary, I was able to track literate activity as it was embedded within Ronnie’s daily use of social network sites. The profile tour greatly assisted in my overall view of how Ronnie represented himself online and how each of these different sites worked together within this ecology of practice."

An expansion from the first quote from this section, Buck specifically details how each method assisted in her study. I'd stand to benefit from taking a similar approach, showing how each contributed to a holistic understanding of my subject's digital identity.

Results

"Through Twitter, Ronnie presented himself as a connected techie, a social college student, and a music fan."

Though brief, this sentence does a great job at summarizing Ronnie's portrayal of his self-brand on Twitter. I plan to write a similar concise statement about my subject in a later draft.

"Ronnie’s quotes were populated by writers about writing but also included philosophers like Nietzsche, mathematicians like Paul Erdös, composers like Dmitri Shostakovich and Leonard Bernstein, actors like Bruce Lee, and politicians like Theodore Roosevelt. Coming from almost all men, these quotations speak to the nature of writing, work, music, life, and ambition, portraying Ronnie as thoughtful, well read, and with wide-ranging interests."

I dedicated a large portion of my first draft to one major aspect of my classmate's identity on Facebook. Although his profile is limited due to the fact that it's only been active for a couple of months, he does "like" a wide variety of musicians. I could add something similar to this to give my subject more dimension.

Discussion

"Because Ronnie used social network sites to organize different aspects of his life, he was particularly attuned to the different ways in which his information was dispersed and used, and this was a process that he wanted to have control over."

In my subject interview, I asked a question pertaining to Facebook's data collection practices. My subject gave an answer that differs from Ronnie's, but seeing Buck discuss his thoughts on Facebook's privacy policy encourages me to do the same with my subject.

"Facebook used to include certain default fields on one’s profile where individuals defined themselves primarily by the consumption of various media, listing favorite music, movies, television shows, and favorite quotations and writing an open description in the About Me section. Ronnie declined to fill these sections out, finding these boxes too limiting to explain, for example, his musical tastes."

My subject's "About Me" section is pretty minimal as well, but for what I expect to be a different reason. I should ask my subject why these sections are so bare-bone on his profile.

Conclusion

"Ronnie represents a rather extreme case of social network site use, both through 

the number of sites he used and the amount of activity he engaged in on each site."

The first sentence of this section brings everything together from the preceding sections. It will be incredibly important for me to craft a "catch all" statement relative to my subject in later drafts.

"For Ronnie, social network sites index a nexus of information through which he manages and organizes various aspects of his life."

Buck crafts the ultimate purpose of Ronnie's utilization of social media in this sentence. This gives Ronnie's identity on social media a concise purpose.

Strange Blog 3

Jake Strange

ENGL 254

January 24, 2015

Blog 3

My partner for the first major project of our Writing & Communities course is Mason Mabin. After taking a brief look at his Facebook profile, I have compiled a list of questions I think would be of use to gain a greater understanding of how Mason represents himself on Facebook.

1. In your Screencast-O-Matic, you said you used to have a Facebook profile that you ended up deleting. What kind of differences exist in how you used Facebook back then compared to how you use it now?
2. What is the purpose of the Young Americans for Liberty group of which you are a part?
3. How do you personally contribute to the Young Americans for Liberty at UNL?
4. When posting political materials to your own Facebook wall, are there any particular sources you go to regularly for content?
5. What is your motive behind posting materials that are critical of American government and law enforcement?
6. What are your thoughts on the "data mining" practices that Buck references on page 34 of her study?
7. How do you feel data mining impacts the autonomy of users of services like Facebook?
8. How does the collection of data about you impact your use of Facebook?

In addition to these questions, below are a few points of interest I would like to focus on in my analysis of Mason's presence on Facebook.

• Mason's critiques of American government. His analysis transcends bipartisan loyalties. There is content on his wall that is critical of both Democratic and Republican leadership.
• Mason's interests outside of politics. Although his page "likes" are fairly limited due to how new his second profile is, he does advertise his support of a couple TV shows and several classic and contemporary musicians.
• Mason's tendency to be highly selective of the people he connects with on Facebook. According to his profile tour, he makes an effort to keep his friend base limited to people he keeps in touch with frequently.
• How Mason represents himself within the UNL community in regards to organizations he is a part of.

Strange Blog 2

Jake Strange

ENGL 254

January 18, 2015

Blog 2

The advent of social media platforms within the last decade has forever changed the communal capabilities of the Internet. Now, through services such as Facebook and Twitter, it is easier than ever for people to collaborate and explore ideas with others from all around the world. As is evidenced by the three articles from which this blog post derives from, social media can be used myriad ways. When social media is used to its full capacity, it can be used as an education tool, a creative space open to all or as a metaphorical soapbox, from where one can call on others to act.

Authors Kima Jones and Erin Zammett Ruddy and radio host Audie Cornish all offer unique perspectives on how and why to use social media purposefully. Jones uses Twitter as a collaborative space and tool to connect with fellow poets and writers that may have never encountered her work otherwise, lauding simple features such as the retweet; Zammett Ruddy offers a critical analysis of the idea of spinning one’s life by only sharing misleadingly perfect photos and memories; Cornish has a compelling conversation with the originator of the activist hashtag #WhyIStayed. Those are but three examples in a horizon of many others; can you think of any instances you have personally witnessed where social media has been utilized to foster community?

In Joseph Harris’ The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing, the idea of discourse community is discussed in great detail. As Harris puts it, the idea draws from both philosophies of “interpretive communities” and “speech communities.” The former, according to Stanley Fish, “refers not so much to specific physical groupings of people as to a kind of loose dispersed network of individuals who share certain habits of mind” (14). After reading these three pieces, I drew a line between this partial definition of discourse communities and Audie Cornish’s discussion with Bev Goodman, concerning the #WhyIStayed hashtag and its educating and unifying purpose that brought fellow victims of domestic abuse together over digital platforms.

Later in Harris’ essay, he references how John Swales “has defined ‘discourse community’ so that the common space shared by its members is replaced by a discursive ‘forum,’ and their one-to-one interaction is reduced to a system ‘providing information and feedback’” (15). This supplemental definition coincides nicely with how Kima Jones utilized Twitter to engage fellow writers and encourage collaborative work.

When examining my own social media use in relation to belonging to a larger community, one example comes to mind that resonates with Stanley Fish's interpretation of the discourse community. I belong to a certain Facebook group that is 30,000 strong titled "Guitar Addiction" (creative, I know). This is a community page where musicians can easily request feedback, opinions and constructive criticism from others. It is my belief that the driving force behind this group, the one that shaped it into an online community, is a shared love for music and "nerding out" over all things guitar.

Strange Blog 1

Jake Strange

ENGL 254

January 14, 2015

Blog 1

Hello, my fellow classmates! My name is Jake Strange and I am senior advertising and public relations major. I’m a future dog owner (see also “Alaskan Klee Kai”), self-proclaimed music connoisseur and a person who truly enjoys meeting and interacting with new people.

It’s hard to comprehend some days, but this will be my final semester as a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Come May, I will graduate with a Bachelor Degree of Journalism. From there, I plan to work in an ad agency setting, specializing in account services, client relations and project management. Chances are good I’ll relocate somewhere where the winters aren’t as cold!

Outside of my classes, I work part-time as a project manager at Agent, an advertising agency down in the Haymarket/Railyard area (just a few doors down from Blue Sushi, to put a blip on the map). When I do get some free time from of classes and work, I greatly enjoy playing guitar and writing music, expanding my collection of vinyl records, spending time with the people who are close to me and getting the occasional video game session in.

I listen to a wide variety of music – it depends on the day – but my biggest influences that translate to my own style are individuals like Jack White, John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr. and groups such as the Arctic Monkeys and Band of Horses. Collecting records also affords me a fun way to get a healthy dose of old talent like Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Frank Sinatra as well!

Writing has always been something I’ve gone to great lengths to improve at, both academically and independently. One of the lines I shared with everyone in the first-day popcorn activity was “I write because it holds great weight in everything.” I stand by that. It is my belief that being able to write effectively directly correlates with such ideas one’s own professional skillset, intellectual capacity and overall well-being. In order to make something of yourself, you must write well.

So, yeah, that’s a bit about me as a writer and a person. On to the reading!

After reading Joseph Harris’ The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing, I drew some parallels between what he had to say and my own understanding of what a community is. Harris did a much better job of trying to wrest a finite definition out of the term, but, to me, a community is a group of like-minded individuals who dedicate their time, energy and skills to the pursuit of either a) a common end result, or b) a unified vision or goal.

So, for example, we (the students of this course) and the rest of the student body at UNL can be considered a community. We are all working toward the common end result of obtaining a degree and ensuing our viability and security in the job market. By being a part of a community, one opens themselves to experiences and people you may have never encountered otherwise. But that principle of working toward the same thing really drives home the ideas of solidarity and support that come with being a part of a community.