Exploring Online Communities
First language, then print, and now telecommunications allow us to link thoughts and form communities, or groups based on common interests or common localities. However, in the not so distant past of the pre-virtual reality and pre-telecommunications age, community was the place where people lived, worked or played. For most of human recorded history, community was close to home and place dependent. Nowadays, cyberspace exists and permeates the 'real' world in which we live. Increasingly more humans belong to multiple communities, some of them transcending the limitations of location, time and space. As a result, new kinds of communities have emerged. Cyber communities have expanded the parameters of what we call communities and that process demands a new look, or a definition of electronic communities, most particularly educational cyber communities.
Mercer (2000) gives all communities, virtual or face to face (F2F), the following attributes: 1) they share a body of experience or a common history; 2) they are united by common purposes and joint activities to develop a community of practice; 3) they form a collective identity such as students in a class, members of a church, etc.; 4) they give members reciprocal obligations or responsibilities towards each other and define roles for appropriate behaviors; in addition, they have rules and norms affording membership to the group and stability of the community; 5) they build a discourse community employing a specialized language and genre and not using the “proper” format may exclude members; thus newcomers may need to be ‘apprenticed’ to experienced ‘experts’ to learn the discourse. Therefore, electronic communities like F2F communities...
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Discourse Communities are defined as “a group of individuals bound by a common goal who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated” (Couzelis et al. 12). Every person on this planet belongs to a discourse community whether they realize it or not. If you start at a larger scale, Texas A&M University-Commerce is a large discourse community, and within that larger discourse community there are hundreds, quite possibly thousands of smaller discourse communities. Many of the discourse communities overlap with members belonging to several communities at the same time.
The use of euphemism and crudeness in “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” is simultaneously unnerving and amusing, and begs the question of how a “wicked” woman like The Wife could ever actually progress in medieval society. Chaucer incorporates subtle allusions to female sexual organs and it is this bluntness (that would raise eyebrows even today) which establishes the Wife as such a powerfully outspoken character. Because courtship in Chaucer’s time was considered worthy of complete submission, the fact that the Wife places such emphasis on domination and even psychological power hints at her being an object of irony (and not a feminist figure “before her time”). It is for this reason that Chaucer’s delicate use of “queynte”- a term from which
Alisoun seems to defy any type of frame of a good woman during the 1300s. However, this is far from unusual in Chaucer’s writing, “Chaucer genuinely wished to write about good women, choose to adapt the biographies of women generally thought to be bad?” therefore even though he may have written the Wife of Bath in
as weather is becoming worse outside, increasing amount of people are leaving, and those that have not left yet are increasingly comfortable talking to strangers about the weather
Ottenberg, A. L., Wu, J. T., Poland, G. A., Jacobson, R. M., Koenig , B. A., & Tilburt, J. C.
The Frontiersman is crafted from 420HC (high carbon) stainless steel that is a higher hardness than regular 420 stainless steel. This material retains edge shape and sharpness longer than other materials, so it’s ideal for a hunting knife. Buck Knives uses this material extensively for its premium knives for corrosion resistance, strength, and edge retention.
The Wife Of Bath’s Tale is a magnificent story, that relates and under covers what every women wants, and what every man dreads. This tale is very unique concerning how rebellious it was to the views of the time period it was written in and even in the values that are set in stone today. Chaucer did an excellent job of expressing his outward views towards the subject of how women should be treated. The story starts off with a Knight who has just been convicted on the crimes of rape on a young lady, he is condemned to death by hanging, until the queen chirps up and makes a deal with him, if he can come back in one year and a day and tell her what every women wants then he will be hanged. The knight runs around for that entire year, soul searching throughout the kingdom trying to solve this impossible riddle. He returns from whence he came to no avail, until his encounter with the old haggardly lady. She is of an ugly sort that the knight as a last resort asks for an answer to his riddle to save his soul. She agrees, but only if he will do something for him in return, and the came to an agreement. The Knight then comes before his queen and states his newfound knowledge, which she is completely taken aback that he has figured out the solution to her riddle. After he is released, the old lady comes back up to him and reminds him of the deal that they struck not so long ago, but its a cliffhanger. The old lady wants to marry him. He is wary and at first completely disagreed saying that anything else would be a better solution to the wager, but the old women is persistent and he finally agrees. They get married shortly after, a very private affair, and then the story switches to their wedding bed. The knight is completely dreading ...
Many believe crop circles are recent, but they have existed for hundreds of years, and since then, have transformed to become more creative. Crop formations are an art, and genuine crop circles are, in all likelihood, created by an extraterrestrial source. Although one portion of the mystery is solved, why these beings create them still remains¬¬ a mystery.
Adolescence is a time where an individual’s sense of identity starts to emerge and a majority of their social norms are perceived. In this day and age, adolescents live in a world heavily submerged around media, which plays an important and habitual part of an adolescents' life. In a national survey conducted in 2009, adolescents on average spend more than 7.5 hours using some sort of media a day (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, 2010). With this unprecedented access to the world, individuals are learning and connecting with many different people and ideas through the media (Brown & Bobkowsi, 2011). With different forms of media playing an influential part in an adolescents’ life, their perceived social norms may be seriously influenced. “Adolescents are influenced by the content they are exposed, with respect to their knowledge about the world, their attitudes and values, and their behavior” (Steinberg, 2012). Media could lead to negative perceived social norms for individuals, since adolescence is an important time because a sense of identity is emerging. Those assumed norms might have an affect or dictate an individual’s identity. These false norms can be possibly prevented through education and awareness therefore the youth should be taught the fallacies of the media through MLE (Media Literacy Education).
However, although I haven’t had as much experience as guys who have been going out since they were kids, I have learned a lot during my time out in the field. I usually hunt with a bow and arrow, but I know that having the right knife by my side makes hunting so much easier, especially if you clean and dress your kill where it lays. When trying to find the perfect knife, I came across the Diskin 1085, and I was instantly hooked. I love the weight, balance, and durability of this blade, and I use it all the time. I have multiple knives that I keep in rotation for various purposes, but the Diskin 1085 is one of my
The adolescent stage must be the subject of the research, in that preliminary research suggests that in the adolescent stage of life, important social aspects are being noticed and formed, especially by way of media, while looking to family for social information or influence diminishes (Arnett, 1995). In researching the effects of media on adolescent views of relationships, one must first research if scholars have yet studied and answered if the media has any relationship or effect on adolescents at all. In the research conversation of media influence on adolescents, it has been found that there are five uses of media by adolescents, including entertainment, high sensation, coping, identity formation and youth culture identification (the two latter uses will be highlighted later in this paper) (Arnett, 1995). With this, adolescent’s use of media for a number of purposes is evident and has been established for some time. Moreover, research suggests that U.S. adolescents spend six to seven hours per day using media, with half of that time devoted to television/film (L’Engle, Brown, & Kenneavy, 2006). Furthermore, many studies have found that heavy television/film viewing does positively correlate with effects on an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions (Shrum, Wyer, & O 'Guinn, 2009). Professor and Researcher Dr. George Gerbner coined and introduced cultivation theory into this communicative conversation. The cultivation theory is defined as the “independent contributions television /film viewing makes to viewer conceptions of social reality (Gerbner, 1998). The cultivation theory describes and has both constructed a platform research in this area as well as prove that me...
The Wife of Bath has her own perception of marriage, which Chaucer shows in both the
While sitting at a table over by a window in Starbucks, I was able to see many different behaviors that one would typically see at a coffee shop. When sitting alone at a table, you wouldn’t expect a stranger to come over and sit next to you and start a conversation. That is typically not something you would see many people doing. Starbucks is a public place on campus that people come to eat, drink, and socialize with their friends. While observing, I noticed a routine chain of events that occurred pretty much every time someone walked through the doors. Most people come to Starbucks to grab a drink or snack before class, sit down and work on homework before class, or to just socialize with friends. Starbucks seems to be
The character of the Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is one of three female pilgrims and the only one not in the clergy. She can be interpreted as a proto-feminist ideal due to her independence, talent and dominance over her husbands. However, I will argue that the Wife of Bath is meant to be a satire of feminism in Chaucer’s time and is meant as a deliberate attack on women. I will examine the description of the Wife of Bath in the general prologue and the Wife of Bath’s prologue to demonstrate how Chaucer portrays the Wife of Bath as a rude, immoral, and power-hungry woman.
As a teacher, parent or leader of a group, you’re expected to teach the group to be conventional and conform to society. It is basic human nature to have the desire to pass on our own values, norms and culture to our kids and/or those who we are in command of. We often resort to educating them based on values we’ve been taught by society. Social networking has now introduced an innovative way of attaining these norms through virtual communities on the Web.