Discourse Communities
– vocabularies/concepts/conventions specific to a given community
– membership
– not just communication but also indicating a sense of belonging
– we are all members of multiple discourse communities

ex. Architectural discourse community: “construction documents,” “truss,” “poché,” “entourage”

– writing for a popular audience vs. writing for an academic community — compare Clive Thompson’s “Location Location Location” to “Urban Computing and Its Discontents”

academic discourse: symposium, taxonomy

GROUP PROJECT
– Discuss the discourse community of “Urban Computing and Its Discontents”
– Who wrote this? (more than their names: where do they work? what kind of work do they do?)
– how would you describe this discourse community?
– what are some key terms and concepts that define urban computing as discussed in this essay?
– Each group should identify 5 terms used in the essay that express important concepts related to urban ubiquitous computing
– Each person in the group should take one of those terms and write at least a paragraph that quotes from the book and discusses the way in which that term is used.

Group 1
Maritza
Michael
George
Chris

Group 2
Anthony
Luis
Jair
Eric

Group 3
Demir
Eric
Theo

Group 4
Jiayi
Alan
Joaquin
David Castro

Group 5
Erika
Sandy
Victor
Magda

McLuhan — “Every extension is also an amputation.”
– become more dependent on technology, less dependent on native senses
– blind man/cane

– surveillance

– reconnecting with old friends and with family
– sharing photos/pictures
– hosting blog posts
– discussing how crazy last night was
– picture tagging
– meeting friends
– video responses
– political arguments
– private messaging
– taking quizzes
– petitions
– promoting your band — allowing bands to speak directly to their fans
– sharing music
– seeking out bands/new music
– taking polls
– invitations to events, parties
– planning get-togethers
– updating profile
– updating status
– publishing creative writing
– discussing/complaining about homework problems
– sharing work
– drawing with graffiti application
– browsing friends lists
– suggesting friends

3. Five intense or interesting experiences you’ve had on a social networking site

– being stalked
– got in touch with an old friend
– looking at photos and being amazed at what happened that night – especially when six hundred people discuss that photo
– became best friends with someone didn’t know previously
– met a relative through photo comments
– saw newborn niece for the first time
– identity performance — pretending to be someone else online — social networking pranks
– friend leaves computer unattended — or public computer — play pranks — posting things to profiles
– video exchanges/conversations

4. Five keywords you’d use to describe your use of social networking sites
– entertainment
–addictive
– interactive
– time-consuming
– resourceful
– helpful
– connecting
– distracting
– insightful
– annoying
– open
– deceiving
– absurd
– fun
– stressful
– mediated

5. Name any social networking sites that you have used

Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, Sconex, MSN, Oovoo, Imeem, Ning, (Skype), Fotka, Naczalase, Twitter, MiGente, YouTube, Flickr, Hi5, Photobucket

danah boyd, why youth (heart) social network sites
– s.n. sites provide a way for normally shy teenagers to interact with others more openly
– many kids consider s.n. sites to be the cool thing
– cuts across class boundaries but used for different reasons
– methodology — ethnography — interviews, surveys, participant observation

Demographics
– two types of non-participants — objectors and people who don’t have access

3 popular features central to social networking sites:
– Profiles
– Public testimonials/comments
– Public lists of friends

boyd claims that music is “cultural glue” for teenagers (4).

Blog assignment: tell us a story about social networking
Authority figures monitoring usage
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