Monthly Archives: April 2014
Prezi
Code of Ethics
Part One: Code of Ethics
I am working with an online site because fans are spread out across the country so fans better communicate with each other online. I hope to better understand how online forums work and fan fiction. Also to see what pushes fans to write fan fiction. http://aoir.org/documents/ethics-guide/ is the code of ethics I will be using for assistance in my research. I will be conducting this research on my own but will be assisted by my professor Rachel Cantrell. I will go to several sites that cater to my research once a week. I not gonna visit everyday because the participants work and will not be able to post daily. The site is open to the public but I will get a membership so I have all the extra luxuries. I am old enough to go on the site without permission. I will be researching this site for the remainder of the spring 2014 semester. I plan on observing my site online. I am an outsider to my site This will change how I observed because I can recognize langue or characteristics that would be consider out of ordinary. I am going to interview everybody at first I was just going to interview young people in the LGBT community. I changed my mind about this because it would give a bias view. I will present my information ethically by including all information found and being respectful in all interviews conducted. There is no risk to any participants. Data and research will be kept on a harddrive as well as stored on my google drive.
Part Two: Consent Form
Researcher: Jhan-Tiah Savage
I understand that I am assisting in an ethnographic
research project conducted by ________ (name of
student researcher) for ________ (class) at ___________
(school) taught by ______ (name of teacher). I agree to
let him/her use the interview (or any other materials
agreed upon) to write a paper for the class which will
later be presented at the Celebration of Student Writing.
It will not be used for any other purpose. I have been
informed that if I become uncomfortable at any time
during the interview, I do not have to answer questions or
I can ask to have the tape or video recorder (if used)
turned off. I am aware that I can request that a
pseudonym be used. I understand that by signing this
form, I give permission for the interview to be used for
the purposes stated above.
If I have any questions about this project and/or the
research data I have given, I can contact:
Ms. Rachel Cantrell
Rachel.Cantrell@gmail.com
(Your name)
(Your email)
Do you agree to participate in the
interview ( ) YES ( ) NO
Can the interview be recorded (audio and/or video)? ( )
YES ( ) NO
Should a pseudonym be used? ( ) YES ( ) NO
Signed: ____________________________
Date: __________________
Disscourse Community
Fandoms are a community of people that focus on a show, movie or book. People in the community are fan fiction writers, artists, poets, and cosplayers. Many fandom communities communicate via online on tumblr, pinterest and other online forums. This semester I am studying The L Word. The L Word was a show that premiered in 2004 on Showtime network. The L word was a series portraying the LGBT community. The show ended in 2009 and was a big success with fans. Fandoms are examples of discourse communities. Discourse communities according to James Porter “is a textual system with stated and unstated conventions, a vital history, mechanisms for wielding power, institutional hierarchies, vested interests, and so on” (106).
A popular lesbian online blog is http://lesfan.com. Lesfan stands for lesbian fans. On the website they feature several shows for example The L Word, Orange is the New Black, Glee, and The Good Wife. Fans of these show can go on the site and write stories or transcripts of the show. There is a section on the website that is labeled L Word fanfic. This section has post from fans publishing their fanfiction. This site is a discourse community because its is a text based site that is all related to the same area and that area being l word fan fiction. The entire site has a common goal and that goal is to write fanfiction for the lesbian community.
On Lesfan it seems that anybody can register and make an account. But to maintain your account you have to be active in posting fan fiction. If you are not active in posting fanfiction you have to register. Also if your fandom is not located on the site you can put in a request to get it added. Also on the anniversary of the L word the site made a kinda game where you write a chapter using the L Word characters based of a song that played in an episode. The site really only caters to the lesbian community. Even though the show is for the entire LGBT community from what I can see the site is manly women. The fanfiction on this site ranges from kid friendly to adult. They have a rating system PG-13 being the lowest and R being the highest.
There is another online forum called http://www.autostraddle.com on autostraddle fans are able to post pictures about the show. The do not have to write fanfiction there post can be about anything on the show. The post range from recaps of episodes to articles on what the characters would smoke. One fan by the name of Chelsea wrote an entire article on what she believes the characters would smoke. She goes into detail on what type of Cannabis the character would smoke and how they would smoke it. All of the articles are different but they all have the same topic and that topic is The L Word.
Even though there are no current episodes of the L Word the fans are still very active in voicing their feelings about the show. Fans from around the world right fanfiction on online forums. There are many forums I have only listed two. Both of these sites allow fans to to make the show apart of them. On one site it allows fans to rewrite the show to cater it how they would like the end. On the other site it allows fans to make articles on problems they see in the show. Both of these are websites cater to the same discourse community.
Discourse
Fandoms as a Discourse Community!
Fandoms are a community of people that focus on a show, movie or book. People in the community are fan fiction writers, artists, poets, and cosplayers. Many fandom communities communicate via online on tumblr, pinterest and other online forums. This semester I am studying The L Word. The L Word was a show that premiered in 2004 on Showtime network. The L word was a series portraying the LGBT community. The show ended in 2009 and was a big success with fans. Fandoms are examples of discourse communities. Discourse communities according to James Porter “is a textual system with stated and unstated conventions, a vital history, mechanisms for wielding power, institutional hierarchies, vested interests, and so on” (106).
A popular lesbian online blog is http://lesfan.com. Lesfan stands for lesbian fans. On the website they feature several shows for example The L Word, Orange is the New Black, Glee, and The Good Wife. Fans of these show can go on the site and write stories or transcripts of the show. There is a section on the website that is labeled L Word fanfic. This section has post from fans publishing their fanfiction. This site is a discourse community because its is a text based site that is all related to the same area and that area being l word fan fiction. The entire site has a common goal and that goal is to write fanfiction for the lesbian community.
On Lesfan it seems that anybody can register and make an account. But to maintain your account you have to be active in posting fan fiction. If you are not active in posting fanfiction you have to register. Also if your fandom is not located on the site you can put in a request to get it added. Also on the anniversary of the L word the site made a kinda game where you write a chapter using the L Word characters based of a song that played in an episode. The site really only caters to the lesbian community. Even though the show is for the entire LGBT community from what I can see the site is manly women. The fanfiction on this site ranges from kid friendly to adult. They have a rating system PG-13 being the lowest and R being the highest.
There is another online forum called http://www.autostraddle.com on autostraddle fans are able to post pictures about the show. The do not have to write fanfiction there post can be about anything on the show. The post range from recaps of episodes to articles on what the characters would smoke. One fan by the name of Chelsea wrote an entire article on what she believes the characters would smoke. She goes into detail on what type of Cannabis the character would smoke and how they would smoke it. All of the articles are different but they all have the same topic and that topic is The L Word.
Even though there are no current episodes of the L Word the fans are still very active in voicing their feelings about the show. Fans from around the world right fanfiction on online forums. There are many forums I have only listed two. Both of these sites allow fans to to make the show apart of them. On one site it allows fans to rewrite the show to cater it how they would like the end. On the other site it allows fans to make articles on problems they see in the show. Both of these are websites cater to the same discourse community.
What is Literacy??
Literacy in its straight forward view is the ability to read and write. “ Literacy has a typically been viewed as a yes-and-no matter, easily determined (pg 5 Szwed). It is no longer determined that easily. Literacy has branched off and has changed with the times. Literacy use to only be found in books and the newspaper. Books use to only be found in the library and bookstores. Newspapers use to only be found on news stands. Now literacy can be found on the internet. Books and newspapers can all accessed on the internet. There is no longer this restriction on literacy more people have access to it.
Literacy is not that much different in online environments. Mr. Henry Jenkins says in ted talk that the use of LOL was first used by printing press. Young people thought they invented these terms but really it is a term from a generation way before their existence. Literacy has not changed but evolved and moved from the classroom to the internet. Mr. Jenkins also shows examples of how protest are no longer taking place in public but online. It is the same thing that was done years ago the only thing that changed is the environment. In China because of their government there is more of a risk to protest in person. There were protest in China in 1989 because of the government there were protest in 2013 because of the government as well. Chinese citizens out of fear have been forced to change their form of protest. Instead of protesting in city hall or in the town square they protest on online forums and online roleplaying games. World of warcraft is an online roleplaying game played by millions. These online protest are not just limited to countries fighting their government even PETA a well known animal activist group has had protest on world of warcraft. Online environments have not changed literacy it has just made the access to freely express one’s ideas and opinions easier.
Technology is a major impact on literacy. As I discussed earlier technology has changed how we approach literacy and even how we assess it. Literacy in itself has not changed but the way we view it has. Literacy is found on everything. Literacy is so much easier to access in todays society than 30 years ago. Literacy use to be hard to access now it is readily available in ones living room thanks to technology.
Access to technology has little effect on how a person is involved in literacy. John Szwed wrote “ The wealthy nations of the world are now encountering rather massive failures in reading and writing” and “a closer look suggest that even among those of privileged background”. Wealthier countries use to be known for having a higher literacy rate but now that is no longer the case. Szwed is trying to show that even when access to technology is readily available that does not mean students will be literate. Technology makes connecting to literacy easier but it does not make the students want to learn. It is just a resource it can not make students literate but can aid them into becoming literate. I know kids today that are 17 and they have a reading level of a 7th grader. Some students don’t even know who Malcom X is and in our school every room had at least 3 computers. The students just did not want to learn the subject material they did not take advantage of the technology my school system had to offer them.
Recognizing a literacy event online is extremely easy the easiest way to recognize one is because it will involve an author or a book. Literacy events are found a majority of the time on blogs and online forums.
Fanfiction is away for fans to rewrite a story or a series. Fanfiction is how fans of a particular book or series show support. Fanfiction helps to promote the original writer of the book or series. For example J.K. Rowling the author of the children’s series Harry Potter wrote the books years ago. With the help of fanfiction and fans the books became increasingly popular and I now one of the most popular series. Fanfiction helps the reader because it makes the reader feel apart of the process as well. It helps to expand their mind in literacy.
Online fan communities promote literacy in a positive way. They bring attention to books and media. Even if the community is founded on one thing they still talk about things that relate and even topics in everyday life. I am a big user of 4chan and other online forums and in that forum there are different threads in each forum. A thread is a stream of post all following one man post.
Fanfiction becomes a literacy event when it starts to talk about a book or series. Most fanfiction is a literacy event because it introduces and expand on a form of literacy whether that involves a book or tv show or any form of media. Fanfiction involves literacy and a majority fanfiction attracts a group. A group of people talking and communicating about literacy goes into a literacy event.
Literacy has been a major part of my life. Literacy has been easily accessible to me and my family is far from wealthy. I had the drive to learn and become literate or cultured. I have had the time to read fanfiction and even writes some. Fanfiction is a great thing it promotes books and many times they were books I never thought I would read but because of fanfiction I read them and actually liked them. Literacy is no longer limited it has evolved in to a fun technology based topic. I am glad literacy has not changed so I can enjoy the greats but also so it can be modern.
The L Word & Literacy 