Clay Murphy's Blog for 1302

[valyrian-and-quenya]

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

The castle that feels like home. Harry Potter is a magical story and rightly so deserves a grand castle at the center of the epic adventure. Hogwarts has its own story and its own tales. Any fan of the Harry Potter fandom knows all of the rooms, the secret tunnels, the events that happened in what places, and where the different parts of the story are told. This picture is a beautiful rendition of the magical Hogwarts Castle, a home away from home for Harry Potter and fans alike. 

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Surveys

For this unit, we had to create a survey that would garner information for our ethnographic paper. It was interesting to see how my inquiry would be received in my Facebook group, my community of practice. I asked pretty directed questions and had to change a little bit as I posted and received some feedback. All of the feedback was positive, and my volunteers were eager to offer their help. It shows how much the same word (s) can mean something to one person and something entirely different for another individual. My community was gracious, and I had several members complete my survey. I was slightly worried no one would participate and I would have to go back to the drawing board. It is always encouraging to have participation when doing something relatively new and foreign to you. I'm glad that our instructor gave us the tools to move forward in this unit and get the information we needed.

[sophiecowdrey]

⚡️

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

The main character of this magical story is depicted here and any fan can look at this and know exactly who it is. This amazing drawing incorporates a few aspects of the story. 

[oksanas-astankova]

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

This graphic shows the main characters as we progress through the story being told. Everyone knows these three by sight, and we have loved watching them develop and grow. Each of these three characters plays a pivotal role in the story, and the story wouldn’t be the same without them. 

[the-boy-with-the-yellow-umbrella]

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

These images represent some pivotal moments in the Harry Potter series. They contribute to the story, but fans understand exactly what they signify. 

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Survey

This unit involves us doing our survey within our fandom. It was fairly simple to come up with my questions. The instructor has provided us with the proper tools and preparation up until this point to easily understand what we need to ask. I have decided to post my survey in my Facebook group, after approval from our instructor. I also got the approval from the admins of the Facebook group to be able to post my survey on the page to see if I could elicit responses. I received some feedback from some of the group members on how to make the survey more user-friendly, which doesn’t surprise me as this house is known for its wit and intelligence. I feel confident that I will get enough responses to be able to create a cohesive paper and provide the needed information to answer my research question. Questions and constructive criticism are always welcome.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Writing Assignment #3

This unit’s assignment took everything we have learned so far and required us to set up our intent. We were instructed to layout our plans for research in this class and how we plan to carry out our research expedition. Putting together my research plan was pretty straightforward, and I feel more prepared to carry out my research. I am excited to share the Harry Potter world with my classmates and see what fandoms they hold memberships Even if two or more of us focus on Harry Potter, it means something different to everyone and no two experiences will be alike. My community of practice is a fandom facebook group where I am a member. It is a large community with members all over the united states and the world. We all come together in the Harry Potter world, and we support each other. I feel that I will get some interesting information from this group and be able to use it in my research.

[sanellycarmens]

you might belong in gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart, their daring, nerve and chivalry set gryffindors apart; you might belong in hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal, those patient hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil; or yet in wise old ravenclaw, if you’ve a ready mind, where those of wit and learning,will always find their kind; or perhaps in slytherin. you’ll make your real friends, those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends. 

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

This graphic is a stunning display of the 4 houses in the Harry Potter world. Each house is unique in its member's characteristics, and this graphic eloquently portrays that. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor are the four houses that each student at Hogwarts gets sorted into. The Sorting Hat takes many things into consideration about the person, including which house they secretly want to be a part of. This representation of the four distinct divisions is a perfect example of the literacy text that is specific to the world or Harry Potter and Hogwarts. 

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Harry Potter related questions!

1: Do you consider yourself more muggle or more wizard?

2: What Hogwarts house are you in?

3: Which Harry Potter character would be your best friend?

4: Which spell would you use the most?

5: Is there a scene from the books that you wish had made it to the movies?

6: If you weren't in the house you are in now, which other house could you see yourself in?

7: What is your favourite Harry Potter related memory?

8: Your favourite subject at Hogwarts?

9: Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Salem Witches Institute or Hogwarts?

10: Favourite song off the Harry Potter soundtracks?

11: Who is your least favourite character and why?

12: A Hogwarts house you don't think you belong in at all?

13: A spell you would never use?

14: Who is the most badass character?

15: If you could talk to JK Rowling, what would you tell her?

16: What are your favourite character's worst qualities?

17: When you think of your favourite book from the franchise, what could they have made better in the film?

18: Would you like to own a house-elf?

19: What would be your job after your time at Hogwarts?

20: A subject that seems absolutely pointless to you?

21: Your favourite Quidditch team?

22: Which wizarding family would you like to belong to?

23: Cloak, stone or wand?

24: If you could date any of the characters, who would you date?

25: Is there something you've always wanted to know about the wizarding world, but absolutely could not figure out by reading the books?

26: Have you ever noticed something that doesn't make sense to you while reading the books?

27: Fancast (insert character name here)!

28: Your favourite scene from the films?

29: Character X or Character Y?

30: What's your patronus?

31: Would you have fought in the Battle of Hogwarts?

32: An unpopular opinion about the world of Harry Potter?

33: Write a letter to the character you hate!

34: What was your thought when you finished the first book?

35: What motto would you give the school?

36: Who is your favourite founder?

37: A Harry Potter ship you absolutely cannot stand and why?

38: Your OTP?

39: Your thoughts on Voldemort?

40: What animal would you bring to school with you?

41: What names would you have given Harry's children?

42: Which death was most painful?

43: A character you wish were more famous?

44: Have you ever played any of the video games (whether PS, PC, XBox, etc)?

45: What position would you play in Quidditch?

46: A character everyone hates that you love?

47: A character everyone loves that you hate?

48: The funniest character?

49: Favourite magical creature?

50: Your favourite quote from the books?

51: Roughly how many times have you read the books?

52: Describe what Harry Potter means to you?

This list of questions is outstanding to any Harry Potter fan. You can get a sense of who the person is reading this artifact and the person with these answers. This artifact uses loads of the literacy text that goes with the story and Harry Potter fans can understand. It takes a deep look into what you loved/hated/wanted to change etcetera about the story and what it means to you. There is lingo there that is specific when talking about fandoms as a group as well. This post is a great resource for finding out more about the fan, behind the fan.

[harrypotterfandomunite]

Personal favourite

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

These quotes are an integral part of the Harry Potter fandom. These are universally recognized and undoubtedly among some of the most well known out of the series. Two of the pivotal characters in the story share these sentences, and yet they mean so much to the whole story. This piece of artifact is significant to any Harry Potter fan, from casual interest to the die-hard fan. And any Harry Potter enthusiast will tell you that it means something different to them, but still means the same thing to every Harry Potter fan. This artifact has a forest background, which is where the scene took place. 

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Field notes

This week, we dive deeper into our chosen units of practice. We start incorporating field notes which should be super easy for me to find. I will have my pick of items to reblog for the assignments moving forward, so much is out there that I will have a hard time narrowing it down! Harry Potter is all over Tumblr. There are fan fiction submissions, artwork, quotes, memes, still frames from the films, and so much more. The Harry Potter fan world is large and very welcoming. It brings many different people together who all share the love of the story and the fantasy world that it created in front of our eyes. I can't wait to do my survey in my community of practice to see what other fans answer about this topic. It will give a good perspective to see others interpretations and be able to compare them to my own and others in the same community of practice.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are everywhere. There are sub-communities within these larger communities. We have our kid’s school community, dance community, swim community, work communities, and many many more. Each of these teaches us something that the others possibly can’t, but together they make us who we are. Different people have access to different communities of practice that instill the same information; they just may go about it in various manners. If you want to get somewhat philosophical, these communities of practice are everything around us at all times. That billboard reminds me to fasten my seatbelt, that road sign tells me there is a sharp curve ahead, this book taught me how to cook meals, this friend showed me Crossfit. All of these things make up me and my everyday life. We all have a different community of practice. Sometimes we might share a community of practice, but we each have our individual experiences from it.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Group work

I went into this week with a little anxiety. My wife is in graduate school, and she has horror stories from working on group assignments online. She has had group members ignore requests to discuss the division of labor and even one who turned in very subpar work for a graduate school class. I was very relieved when I logged into the communication tools and saw my usual peer review partner was in my group and someone that I have given feedback to was the other person. I felt like we would work together well. The ethnographies we could choose from were very diverse and informative. They all told a different story. I believe that we worked together well as a group and accomplished the task the teacher was intending. Everyone was supportive and carried their weight to complete the assignment. We didn't have to wait or worry that one person would lag and slow the rest of us down. I was very grateful for my group.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Peer work

My peer partner for this assignment placed a bet with her husband that I was a military veteran. I’m not, though I was honored that she thought that. She told me that I wrote like one. While I don’t know really what she meant by that, it brought home the point that people in this class are from all walks of life and circumstances. We work together to bring new experiences into each other’s lives and learn from one another’s writing styles. The peer review aspect each unit gives us insight that we may not even think of when writing our papers and broadens our learning. Some people in this class are fresh out of high school, and there are those like me, who are returning later in life to finish their degree to further their career or change them completely. While we are at different stages of learning, we each bring something new to the table.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

WA2 difficulty

This assignment was hard. I had trouble figuring out what the instructor wanted us to write about. I read the assigned readings a few times to try to get a better understanding, but I still felt lost. My peer partner sent their paper and while it gave me some direction, I still seemed at a loss for direction. Finding the community of practice I am a part of was simple. I belong to an amazing Croasfit gym. We are like a small family and my coaches as teammates are amazing. The assignment had us imagine an outsider stepping into the gym and what they would encounter. I remember my first day in “the box”. It was very intimidating, to say the least. The workouts are still intimidating. But the coaches and others working out work together to make sure no one is left behind. I decided to do my essay on this group as I thought it was inclusive enough to be able to gain information from, yet different from anything else.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Ethics

This unit’s writing assignment is about ethics and informed consent. When I first think of informed consent, I thought of the consent I signed for my son to have his tonsils taken out. In reality, that is only one type of consent. The consent applies to research, medical treatments, everyday activities, even allowing my son to watch a particular movie in class. We don’t realize how much around us we have to give permission or approval of and how much that permission or approval can be violated or misappropriated. When involving anyone other than ourselves, and sometimes even ourselves, it is critical that we look at all sides and understand what is being asked. We need to consider all participants in any research or studies that we are conducting. Even the person we are asking one simple question to is required to have a consent to make sure they understand what they are doing.

[murphymanhpfan-blog]

Writing Assignment #1

Writing assignment #1 gave me some pause. Relearning how to cite my references and formatting was a little bit troublesome. Just when I thought I was doing it correctly, there was punctuation out of place. But I think I finally fo the hang of it. I found a great resource online called Purdue OWL. It helped me in plain terms understand how to format in the actual text and how to format my citation references correctly. It even provides examples to help me know exactly where everything goes in the correct order. Finding a peer was relatively easy, thanks to the discussion area Ms. Phifer made available. That took some of the worries about trying to contact others through email or other routes to set something up. And the abilities to share through google docs and edit through google docs is exceptionally convenient and a time saver for us in this class. It will be helpful to see my peer's comments and suggestions to make constructive changes.