I'm still working out what my project will specifically be about. The research I've found so far isn't really answering the questions that are driving my project:
Are internet
users hyperaware of who their audiences are? How do they know to say different
things in different spaces? Or why do they not know? Related, how
are internet users approaching or reading their audiences?
How do authors of websites attempt to control their audience, both through writing and design?
Part of the problem is I'm not sure what to search for. A lot of the research I found with a basic search (audience, internet, and writing; online audience and composition, etc.) looked at blogs, the writer-reader relationship, ESL/at-risk/non-traditional students and the internet, and how business write on the internet.
Maybe I should narrow my questions and focus on one specific site? I'm open for suggestions.
For my multimodal project I would like to create a screen capture of a user (me) moving from site to site with a voice-over (my voice) explaining the actions and analyzing what authors of sites and users of sites are doing to control and be aware of the audience.
I had a short thought - maybe instead of focusing on one person, you could instead track the type / style of writing across different networks -- as in, people tend to write differently for their FB pages than they do for LinkedIn. Same with Twitter and Tumblr. Maybe if you looked at a smaller sample of people who have accounts with these different sites, you'd be able to find what you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteI agree, with Matt. I will also check my info from the C's last year: I attended one session which discussed the writing of Video Game Walkthroughs (yes, I'm sure that is not the sample you will be focusing on, but I think it has other information that is relevant). I also attended a session the keywords that digital writers frequently responded to (it was from a dissertation that was at completion, but it was a fascinating study on commonplace language).
ReplyDeleteI like that your topic focuses on trying to understand the customs of a digital culture. Was there anything in Rheingold that you could use as a starting point? He seems to be fascinated with those types of communities and how we enter them and learn their expectations.
Ash, you might want to also consider how your research on this could result in an activity for composition students, ex: how do students consider their fbook audience and how they can transfer this awareness to their academic writing?
ReplyDeleteThis idea has some similarities to my project: I think you are right to focus on a single site and research how and why the site/ type of site may ask an audience to interact with it. I wonder to, if it is limited to a specific community (or perhaps a compare/contrast of two communities) you will be able to find some resources based on the site itself. For example, I believe someone at the C's last year also discussed fashion blogs (like Keiko Lynn and cocorosa). And I know people have done projects on Mommy Blogs (The book Feminist Mothering has an essay on this), etsy, etc.
ReplyDeleteA lot your essay may be supported through our course readings too (Peter suggested Rheingold; I think Nancy Baym would work as well).
I'm not sure if it would help, but I could ask the social media marketer at my work about any blogs she visits on Facebook and Twitter marketing...that might help your research on how businesses relate to customers.
ReplyDelete