Proposal for Project 2

The "othered" community I have chosen to examine is the poverty community. Those in poverty have been looked at in a negative light. What has driven me to take a further look into poverty was a film from the "A Path Appears" series, here is the link to the episode that opens your mind to really think about those in poverty, http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/path-appears/episode-cycle-poverty.html. We all have our idea about people in poverty and it is not always the best idea. I think I will look at texts about the group, just so we can see how others perceive those in poverty, but also look into texts that the group represents themselves. In general I will use articles of any kind and I want to really focus in on this film "A Path Appears" that talks about breaking the cycle of poverty.  Right now I don't really know what direction I will be going with this project and input is welcome! 

Social Construction: Blog 5

When looking at Hanfler’s explanation of “social construction” we this another ‘meaning’ of how social construction can be represented. Hanfler talked about 4 assumptions about the theory symbolic interaction. These assumptions talked about the ‘meaning’ we pull out of everyday experiences. One solid example of meaning was a cow. A cow to Americans is dinner, but to Hindus a cow is sacred, two meanings for one thing. Gender can also find many meanings and interpretation behind it. In the Tedx talk The gentleman talking was trying to help us understand the complexities of gender. Hanfler’s third assumption was that, we learn meanings. We learn that boys wear blue and girls dress in pink.  During the Tedx talk, there were three main topics that helped him talk about gender. The three were, “gender identity, who you know you to be, gender expression, how you present gender through actions and biological sex, physical characteristics you are born with,“ (tedx talk). Gender is what is in your head. We conformed this idea that boys are to have the hard working jobs and girls stay home to have babies. We teach this from birth, by putting a pink blanket on a girl and giving her dolls and him trucks. Social construction is how we think towards others, how we interact with others based on what we think about them. Social construction is the overall meaning that has been placed in our heads, just like gender. No matter what we will always see gender as pink and blue, even if we believe something different, when you go to a boys birthday party you will be attracted towards the trucks.

My thoughts on social construction are all over the place at the moment. We are socially constructed to think a certain way, its almost like we are being brainwashed. This brainwashing isn’t always negative, but it doesn’t give you the opportunity to fully decide for your self. For example, when we were in class and we saw all those pictures, we were given the opportunity to pick out adjectives to describe what we saw, but even that was questioned.  We couldn’t just have an opinion with out it being questioned, for the good or the bad.  Which is why I’m torn when it comes to social construction. We are in a generation where we want to make a name for our self and be unique! But no matter how much we are like “who cares what others think” about X, Y or Z, we do care. So I agree and disagree at the same time about social construction. I recognize that we have this general idea and its okay that I form my own idea, but there will always be that “skeleton” idea.  Lorber stated, “Gendered roles – change – today fathers are taking care of little children, girls and boys are wearing unisex clothing and getting the same education, women and men are working at the same job,” (Lorber article). As you can see we can change, but we still know the original roles and we go them daily.

For me I know that everyday I have mental battles about things, sometimes they are dumb battles, but they are mostly about social construction even if I’m not directly thinking it is social construction. When I was interviewed for the job I am currently employed at I was asked about stereotypes and things that I might have troubles with in my day-to-day life I was honest and did not lie. A lot of it had to do with race.  I come from a very bland background, meaning I grew up solely with white people around me. I told them if I saw a black man on the street and he was coming toward me I would be cautious and feel uncomfortable and think negatively towards that man in the moment. That didn’t mean I was a racist, but that I have been socially constructed to think that a black man wasn’t safe. I’m happy today to say that I actively try to learn about others and their backgrounds, because we are all different, so for me to let society guide my judgment would just make me ignorant. Race is one thing, but there are so many more ways society guides our judgment.

Blog 4

Introduction: 
"For Ronnie, social network sites are intricately woven into the tapestry of his daily literacy practices; they play a large role in how we interacts with others in his personal and professional life as well as how he presents himself to different audiences." (pg. 9)
-Buck is realizing that for Ronnie social media plays a big role in how he interacts with others. For my paper I have seen that my partner uses social media to interact with the photography role. 


"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?" (pg. 10)
-This quote from the Buck article gives me an idea as to what I need to focus on while I am collecting data for my paper, kind of gets my ideas flowing. 

Methods: 
"The information discussed in the profile tour gave me an overall sense of how Ronnie perceived his own identity representation online, some history behind that representation, and his perspective on what those representations meant to him." (pg. 13)
- Before I was able to watch my partner's profile tour I wasn't able to grasp the entire idea of his social media use. So this quote's wording is spot on to how I felt after I watched the tour. 

"Collecting data from these various sources allowed me to develop a multifaceted picture of literate activity in connection with social network sites." (pg. 13)
- This quote is true, I needed various sources to get a better idea/picture to figure out what direction I was headed for the paper and how I wanted to share my partners information I gathered. 

"Ronnie described himself as a "publisher," someone who creates content online for others." (pg. 14)
- In this section of Buck's article he talks about how you are a consumer or a publisher on social media, and my partner is a publisher for sure! I never thought about users on social media as a publisher or consumer. 

Results: 
"Representing or cultivating one's identity through social network sites is an activity that happens through every tweet and every message sent." (pg. 14)
- This is worded beautifully and very true! Each post we share is a part of our identity.

"For Kirkland, social network sites like MySpace allow young black women space to tell their stories and represent their perspectives through narrative. Sanderson argues that computer mediated communication also allows writers to shaper the message presented about them in online spaces." (pg. 15)
- Social media is a way to share who we are and who we represent. During this writing process and gathering of data I have been able to see my partners identity shine through the simple messages on his posts. 

Discussion: 
"I guess it's some sort of a statement. So many people just kind of go with what's on Facebook and trust it. There's really no basis other than assuming people are honest." (pg. 31)
- This was interesting to read, because not being understood can be one of the worst things. And if you post something with the idea its a good thing and other interpret it as a bad thing you can't change their minds unless they comment on your post. 

"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." (pg. 31)
 -My partner uses his Instagram to post images that are on his blogs and tells his followers to go to his blog link to in his bio to get more of the story.  So seeing this quote in Buck's article guides me to the idea my partner uses his Instagram  to promote his blog.

"Content on social network sites is restricted within the parameters of their limited templates, which gives some scholars the sense that rhetorical expression on these sites is confined to filling out forms...specifically the Facebook profile, describing the possibilities for design, and also the design literacies, that these sites limit." (pg. 32)
- My partner described Instagrams filters as garbage and that he uses a different phone app to get better filters. So he found a way around the sites limitations. 

Conclusion: 
"For students like Ronnie, spending time on social network sites means developing digital literacies to negotiate the new rhetorical situations they encounter, where one status update is broadcast to many different friend groups..." (pg. 35)
- Social media is a place where we can connect with different friend groups. And different is the key word in the quote, because we do have different communities and individuals we are friends with on social media. These different groups will respond differently to each post. 

"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." (pg. 34)
- Seeing this extreme case of social media use is crazy! I have never really thought about one person having so many different identities on social media. 

Social Media Q&A

Q's:

1. How long have you been using Instagram? And what was the reason behind your first post? 
2. Some people see themselves as a 'creeper/consumer' or a 'publisher/creator' on social media, how do you see yourself on social media? Why? 
3. Seeing that you post numerous photos per day/week, what does it take to be the picture you post? How do you determine which photo you post (how many pictures does it take to get 'thee shot')? 
4. What parts of your life do you enjoy posting about? Why? 
5. What communities do you see yourself apart of on social media? 
6. How do you contribute to the communities you are apart of on social media? 
7. Do you struggle with any constraints on social media? If yes, what are the constraints and how have you overcome these constraints? 
8. Do you have a social media "alter ego"? Do you see a difference between your offline self vs. your online self? Why or why not? 
9. What has social media done for your career as a photographer? Has social media helped promote your career? 
10. What would you say are the three most important things in your life?
11. Do you portray these importances on your social media? If so, how do you portray them? 
12. Why do you post so often? Is there a reason behind a lower amount of posts one day verses a higher amount of post on a different day? 
13. Bonus question: If you could described social media in one word, what would that word be?

*I'm assuming I will have more questions that will follow some of the answers I am given! 

Blog #2

     These three online articles describe an individual community the writer belongs to or another individual belongs to. Writer Kima Jones, in the first article, talks about poetry and poets. She describes her poet’s community as a colored community, and that they need to write to a white or universal human community. Kima did not like the idea of not being able to write how she truly feels through her eyes. So Kima found twitter, a social media sight where she and many other poets could find their voice and share it to their community. She talks about how a simple re-tweet can spread a piece of poetry to many individuals. The second writer, Erin, was a mom and she was talking about how posts on social media can be fake, she called this “fakebooking”. This is very clever and very true. Erin was speaking to a mother’s community. She talked about how she wanted to post a beautiful picture of her happy smiling kids, but it would give the wrong message to other moms who would see her post. She would be giving the message to other moms in her community that she was having a blast with her kids, but in reality the kids were being terrors. In the end she decided using social media to post the pictures, but write about the truth. The final article was hosted by Audie Cornish, but had a guest speaker Beverly Gooden. This article talked about hashtag activism, something I have never heard of, but had seen trending hashtags, not seening this as activism. The hashtag gone viral, came from Gooden, as she posted on twitter #WhyIstayed in her domestic violent relationship. What struck her to start that hashtag was the Ray Rice video and how everyone felt okay to start in on the woman who is the victim, but still stayed. Well not only did the domestic violence community respond to #whyIstayed, they started a two new hashtags, #whyIleft and #whenIleft. Just one simple hashtag on a social media sight got a whole community together for the world, or anyone who was on twitter to see this message.

            In Harris’s writing a few quotes stood out to me about the discourse of a community. One was “what ‘discourse community’ means is far less clear," and “thus while community loses its rooting in a particular place, it gains a new sense of direction and movement.” With social media in mind, Harris would say these three communities are creating a discourse in a new way and that is so the public can directly see what they are doing, without getting out of their seats. Social media is a community within itself and each sight has many different communities within. I am apart of Facebook and instagram, these are my social media drugs of choice. But I have made my own discourse community for myself within each of these social media sights. I get to pick my friends who I want to follow and who can follow me, and I can block users and set up my security any way I like.  Each of these sites became communities the moment I made my account. I then allowed myself to decide what I wanted my community to look like.

Blog #1

Hello, my name is Taylar, I am currently a senior psychology major at the university and I will be graduating this spring. I have grown up in Lincoln, NE and lived here for 22 years. Currently I work as a woman’s advocate at Friendship Home, our local emergency domestic violence shelter for women and children. I have worked and/or been involved with Friendship Home for the past 2 and half years. I love my job as an advocate, but have found a different calling and that is to work with children with behavioral disorders, such as ADHD, anxiety, etc. I plan on returning to Miami, FL this summer to work as a counselor at a camp and I will be responsible for applying behavioral modification treatment to adolescents with ADHD during an 8-week program. Although I’m not a writer nor do I really enjoy writing for grading purposes, I enjoy writing my feelings and emotions down on paper. Writing helps me cope with my own anxiety.

I write for many reasons and no reason at all. I write to explain my pain. I write to express. I write for those who cannot pick up the pen. I write for the victims of our community. I write to dream. I write so I don’t explode. I write so I can speak the truth to those who will not listen to the words I have to say. I write for others to see. I write because a voice can be stopped, but words on a page cannot. I write to right the wrongs of all the ignorant people in this world, but if they can’t read I’ll just tell them!

Within any type of community there will be things you like and don’t like. After reading Harris’s work about communities there were a few things that stuck out to me about communities. In the beginning he stated something along the lines that no matter how many communities you are apart of you are never wholly involved in a single one of those communities. One community does not define who you are, but only helps shape you into the person you will become. I am from many communities. I am from a small Lutheran school, a huge university, a domestic violence shelter, my family and many more.  They are communities, because they have one common interest within themselves. However, the little things within the communities I do not always agree with fully

I want to skip the writing role of the community and go straight to the language role that was discussed in Harris's work. Within my domestic violence community, which I am an advocate for victims of domestic violence, there is a whole different language used, than what I use with my friends or family. Every single employee is different and has a different way of thinking. You are praised for having a different outlook on every situation and you are not shamed for your different way of thinking. We grow together as a community and help open each other’s minds a little each day, through our differences. This is not the same for my small Lutheran school community.  I have to stop and think before I speak at times, because with some of my ‘friends’ from high school I can’t be completely honest with them when I disagree with something they have to say. I just bite my tongue and move along, because I know that what I say will only strike an argument. This is where I don’t fully belong in this community, but I still remain. Before I graduated and found a voice within myself, I sadly went along with what they had to say. Which these were negative things about others culture and way of life.  Harris touched on the topic of “common” and “privileged” ways of thinking. I believe we all need to find a “privileged” way of thinking within our communities. Otherwise it will be the same thing day in and day out.  Community is a strong term, but can be loosely defined in many different ways.