Blog Post 7

In jotting, some patterns that we see include short sentences or single words to represent what people experienced. We also see some emotions being included in the jottings, how people were feeling and how the mood changed as the activity continued. Also, a pattern seen through the jottings is that a lot of people wrote observations rather than conversation. They told what clothing people were wearing or their initial visions. For headnotes, the writings were much longer and in paragraph form. Some of them included a beginning, middle and end, telling how the experience happened. We see more of an order in the headnotes and less of a list. In the “things I remember later” notes section, some patterns we see are paragraphs, there wasn’t much of a sequence in people’s writing, and people tended to remember things that were less specific about one another. There were a lot of general facts about the activity, rather than what people were wearing or where they were from. In the “observations” section of notes, a big pattern we see is that a lot of the notes were about how people were feeling and the atmosphere in the classroom. People were talking about the awkwardness in the classroom and how people eventually became more comfortable.
These patterns can suggest that the class had a difficult time processing the experience. This can be because it was unexpected and people were unsure about what to ask one another or how to participate in the activity. From people’s notes, it seems that majority of the class was initially uncomfortable. The patterns in the note taking tell us that the class really processed the experience better after the experience. It was easier to think back on the activity because it seemed that people had more to say in the “things I remember later” and “observations” section rather than the jottings section.
From these patterns, ethnographers might have some things to “be careful” about. It seems that the class remembered things very vaguely. Ethnographers might want to be aware of any prior knowledge needed to have better notes. Perhaps if the class had more time to think about the activity and come up with questions to ask one another, they might have remembered more or took more detailed notes. Ethnographers might also want to be careful about how much time they have and the idea of multitasking. From the notes, it seemed that a lot of people were taking notes as they were participating in the activity.

Blog Post 6

Jottings

Courtney - Blonde, special education major, favorite color purple

Emily - Hates football has two sisters ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch

Deb - Hates being called Debbie favorite movie is Titanic

Kristina-  with a K, English writing major, Grandfather Devils fan

Head notes

Courtney - was right next  to me so I started with her, I observed she had blonde hair and took note, then I asked what her major was and I incorrectly asked if it was education in which she corrected saying it was special education I then asked what her favorite color was and she said purple.

Emily - was the next person I interview as I turned around and she was directly in back of me. She asked about my New Jersey Devils shirt and asked me if it was my favorite football team, I corrected her and said it was not football it was hockey, and she told me she hates all sports. I then started my interview asked if she had any siblings she said two sisters and ate a Peanut Butter sandwich for lunch.

Deb - when I came to Deb I asked her if she hated the nickname Debbie and she said "yes, I hate it" and then asked if she had said that previously I said no. I asked what her favorite movie was and she said Titanic.

Kristina- I asked Kristina her name and she made sure I spelled it with a K she also noticed my Devils Shirt and mentioned that her Grandfather was also a fan of theirs.


Things I remembered later

Courtney -  Has tattoos of birds on shoulder and I asked the significance of.

Emily - Told me her major was early childhood education.

Deb - I asked if she has ever been to Disney World - I don't remember what she said.

Kristina - Wears glasses.

Observations

I noticed that people in the class were cutting in on other peoples interviews and asking their own questions. People were also doing group interviews of three or fours. Many people were laughing as they thought some of the discussions were funny.

Blog Post 5

I think the data definitely backs the theory that smaller groups are more likely to be a discourse community than a larger group. This also agrees with my personal opinions as well. It is no coincidence that the lowest score is a big group and the highest was a small group

The lowest score for being a discourse community, was in fact all of Kean University. Now its true that people involved have shared goals but there are so may different ones. The students may all be there to get an education, but in what? The science students don't have the same objectives as history or English students. Plus not everyone goes there is a student, you also have to look at the professors who have there own goals as well as the administration, the campus police, the maintenance workers etc. The shared Lexus is similar, but  an English professor certainty cant go into a science class and talk to them the same way, witch also shows the different genres. That's why Kean University is more like many Discourse communities coming together instead on of its own.

On the other hand, something small like our English class is made up of one thing from each of Swale's descriptions. The same goals for every student (to pass) the same requirements of expected work, all studying the same genre, and all share the same ways of communication. So our English class is one of the may discourse communities that make up Kean.

Blog Post 4

1) A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

 

The shared goals aspect of a discourse community definitely applies to our class. The most common one, besides learning new things about writing, is that members  want pass the class and earn three credits. We also have to produce and present projects and assignments that apply to a particular curriculum. The need to understand and analyze class materials is also a goal of every member of the class.

 

 

 

 

3) A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.

In our class English 3029  we have a discourse community because we use participatory mechanisms to provide information and feedback. We get feedback from our blogs. It gives us information daily regarding what we are learning in class. It also lets us see what other people in the class think about what we are learning. The syllabus used in the class also provides information and feedback. It lets us know the schedule for the entire semester, among other important things regarding the class.

4) A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.

In our class English 3029 we utilize many different genres. Among these genres are different readings given to us by our professor. The Shaggy Dog Stories are a good example of stories given to us and discussed in class. Looking at and reviewing our classmates blogs is another way in which our community utilized genres. This furthers our learning process as a whole. In turn making us a discourse community.

 

5) In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis:

Our class English 3029 is considered to be a discourse community. Many communities that are considered to be a discourse share common features, such as language. In every discourse community there is a particular set of vocabulary words that are used to communicate. Our class is a discourse community because we use words such as discourse, ethnography, lexis, and methodologies on a daily basis in order to communicate and understand one another. For someone who is not part of our discourse they would most likely not understand many of these terms.   

 

 

6) A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise.

The reason why  this applies to our class, is that as with all school classes, there is  always rotating number of new members, with new members who are always learning new things  from more experienced members. So the class will always have new members in the form of  a new semester of students, relevant material in form of education tools like scholarly articles, and discourse expertise in the form of a professor teaching the class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog Post 3

Courtney Parker
Debra DelleDonne
Dina Rodrigues
Marc Ennis

The Shaggy dog stories are ones that can definitely keep its readers interested. Their bizarre beginnings pull a reader in until they reach the end where the joke is revealed and hopefully the reader understands it. After reading all the Shaggy dog stories my group and I discovered that all of the stories have very unique features in common. Together we began to list all the common features that we could find. One common feature we found were the different puns in each of the stories. We also determined that all of these puns would not be understood in another language. Say they were written in spanish or german, they would not come out the same and the reader would not find it funny. 

Furthermore another feature that is common between all the Shaggy Dog Stories are the conflicts that occur. The string faces the conflict of not being given a beer because he is a string, Robinson Crusoe falls deathly ill, a lawyer and his friend come across two bears in the wild, a panda escapes the zoo and opens fire in a restaurant, and lastly a florist’s business goes under due  to friars opening up their own flower shop. All of these stories as you can see have the common feature of having some sort of conflict. Another common feature of all the stories is the type of character within them. All of these characters are very flat, with one dimension. For example, the string is just a string, we don’t know anything about him or what he is. Just that he is in a bar and can’t get a beer. Same thing with the Panda. We don’t know how he escaped the zoo or why. He’s just a panda in a restaurant shooting people for no apparent reason. 

Additionally, what we noticed about the set of shaggy dog stories that we read were that all of the stories, had a premise not based in reality. We all know its not possible for a panda to walk into a restaurant and shoot people, just like we know its not possible for a string to order a beer at a bar. You also have to suspend your belief that god would be present as a glowing light, and that a bear would swallow someone whole. On the same issue of unrealistic events being portrayed in the readings there is always a realistic setting with the punchline rationalizing the meaning of the two conflicting scenarios. For example in the string story, we see something unrealistic like a  talking string but is set in a realistic setting like going into bar and ordering a beer, and that sets up the basis of the joke. Like most stories, the jokes here all have one or more characters having a conversation with each other. For the shaggy dog stories it seems to be imperative for progressing and setting up the basis of the story that there is some sort of dialog.

Another main feature we found within the shaggy dog stories was that each of the stories has a main character. Each story was focused on the journey of each character which was the focus of the joke. Although we did not learn much about the characters personal lives, we knew just enough about them to understand their emotions. Another feature that we found to reoccur within the stories was the central setting. Each story took place in a specific area that also added to the joke. The characters in each story all had a different setting, but all settings took place in a public area. For instance, the panda in the restaurant, the string in the bar and the friars in the flower shop. Each character was out in public dealing with their personal lives. We were also able to analyze that each story had an ending statement that wrapped up the meaning of the story. This is a very important aspect not only to jokes but to any story, the ending is where the story should make the most sense. The ending of the shaggy dog stories all share the same feature of the ending statement summing up the story.   

Also, within the Shaggy Dog Stories, the end of each story ended with a play on words, also known as a pun. For example, in the third story about the string who was repeatedly refused a drink, thus the string tied himself into a bow and unraveling the ends of himself [he’s a string]. The story ends with the string once again ordering his beer and the bartender asking him if he’s the string from before. To quote the story, “The string replied coolly, "Nope, I'm a frayed knot." Here, ”a frayed” sounds like “afraid” and “knot” sounds like “not”. The humor is that both interpretations are accurate to the situation in the story, not to mention that the entire story hinges on that particular pun as if the pun was the focus and the story was then built around it. Seeing as it is the last line and the punch line of the story, the reader is left to giggle on this play on words. 

The stories also contain characters with very specific needs and desires with are logical, at least within the context of the story. Those needs and desires are then achieved, even if they seem ridiculous. For example, in the story where the panda is ordering food, the Panda is actually given the food he orders. This is logically explained by the story in that the reader finds out the panda can speak like a normal human being. Also, because of the location, which is New York City, it is explained that the population there has see so many strange things that it would actually be illogical for a New Yorker to panic or to question the presence of a panda in a restaurant. Furthermore, after the panda has its shooting spree, the panda requests that someone look up the definition of a panda, and the other characters present heed that request. In essence, no request is too ridiculous for any character in a Shaggy Dog Story; the request may not be achieved in a conventional way, but it will be achieved.

Lastly, some of the stories have dark humor which is a variant feature. As a variant, dark humor and violence are often the main features of the stories. For example, in the story about the lawyer whose friend was eaten by a bear, the act of being eaten is very violent. Subsequently calling someone to shoot the bear is also very violent. Moreover, the punch line, which is a pun as well [see #4] has an element of dark humor [i.e. "Would you believe a lawyer who told you the Czech was in the male?"]. On the other hand, there are Shaggy Dog stories that do not contain violence or dark humor. In the story about the string who wanted a drink, the string did not resort to violence in order to get a drink nor was any violence commit onto the string. Furthermore, the punch line was an innocent play on words ["Nope, I'm a frayed knot."], making violence and dark humor possible variant to this kind of story/joke telling.

Blog Post 2

This post to me talks about analysis, and how it really is all about breaking it down into steps and building like a house. If you want  to build a house you do not put t he roof on the same time as you build the foundation, you have to do it separately to get the completed house. Much like when you do analysis, but in the case of analysis, you work backwards. If you have a problem you want to analyze, its best to break it down and rebuild it till you got an answer. It is best if you take your pieces, and then look how they fit together. Once you have all your pieces, you form a theory of how they make come together to get the desired final product.

I think analysis would be used in my research project on comedy as a way to see how a joke makes people laugh. You don't tell a joke with just a punch line, you have to have many things to make it funny. For a joke to be successful, it has to have a setup, a coherent story, characters, and a satisfying payoff relevant to the rest of the joke. By taking a joke and analyzing each of its parts, I could see how they work together to get the desired goal of a laugh.

Blog Post 1

I would be interested in writing about humor and comedy in general. I would like to examine what goes into the kind of writing that makes certain people laugh.