No Class on 3.8 (Spring Break 3.7-11)
This week, you will research and draft the first review copy of your Discourse Analysis. The first draft should be no fewer than 3 pages, but no more than 5 pages. Share this document with me via Google Documents (entitled: Discourse Analysis 1st Draft) at least an hour before class starts.
Carefully read the rest of this post. As part of your research process, you will consider how Twitter (and LinkedIn and Facebook) play a major role in how your occupation constructs and performs its discourse and identity. Thus, in the beginning stages of drafting, I am requiring you to complete a research activity that should offer some useful primary source material that will assist you in the development of your draft. It also contains some reminders and suggestions that should be useful to your work.
You will share your research process with me via Google Documents (see step 4), which will count as next week’s 4th hour justification.
3.15: A Method for Researching Discourse via Twitter
Step 1: You received an email with your hacker name. Create a gmail or yahoo account that you can associate with the hacker name.
Step 2: Go to Twitter.com and create an account with your hacker name. When you are creating your account, DO NOT ADD ANY OF TWITTER’S SUGGESTIONS! The point of this account is to experiment with the use of Twitter as a source of “discourse intelligence,” which means only adding accounts that provide you with “insider knowledge” and evidence of discourse communities engaged in the process of making themselves “socially recognizable” identities.
Step 3: After you have created your account, add the following users:
@spelmanenglish and @techneliving
Step 4: Create a Google Document entitled, “Twitter Research Notes,” in which you will keep track of your observations and reflections about what you are learning about your occupation’s discourse. Instructions for note-taking are specified in the ‘tips.’ Share this document with Dr. Lockett ([email protected]).
Step 4: Browse Twitter to discover and follow the following individuals and organizations that represent a mixture of professional organizations in your field, well-known professionals in your field, well-known institutions/organizations affiliated with your profession, publishing outlets for your field/career, and government organizations that regulate your field/career.
* Fifty of the most “well-known” professionals in your field/ideal career choice.
* Several major professional organizations in your field/ideal career choice
* Several trade or scholarly journal publishers that publish work about your field/ideal career choice.
* A few to several government organizations that regulate your field/career
Note-taking tip: Briefly acknowledge how you discovered these individuals, organizations, and media.
Step 5: Interact with these accounts by browsing through their tweet content, who they follow, etc. while noting each accounts visual design and bios.
Note-taking tip: Explicitly discuss similarities and differences between how these accounts use discourse to make their occupation “socially recognizable” via Twitter. How does Twitter, which is a discourse community, enable that “recognition work?”
Step 6: Pay close attention to how adding certain people and organizations brings you into contact with others. Feel free to add the most useful accounts to your Research Twitter. As tempting as it may seem, avoid connecting to your favorite celebrities, shows, etc.
Note-taking tip: Were the connections between accounts obvious? How does Twitter connect individuals and organizations representing your occupational interest? Is your occupation well-represented? How much? What do you think accounts for your occupation’s representation via Twitter?
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