I created this video about Community
and Genre for my Eng 200
class last semester and I think this is an useful place to begin our discussion
of community. At around the same time I wrote this blog post – Community:
Jumping to become a full-patch member which
further extends my argument.
Links from the video (if you want to learn more):
Reflect on this idea of joining a community. What
communities have you joined and how has this process been similar or different
from the one I describe?
I also want you to begin thinking about the ways that
the web has made the process of learning about a community – and joining it –
much easier (or perhaps more complicated?). This can help you with your project.
Look for the web site of an organization
that relates to your project topic. For example, there are many organizations
out there targeted specifically for first-generation college students,
including First
Scholars, and groups for nontraditional students. Read up about the organization’s mission, goals, and history. How
easy will it be to join this organization? What are the steps to becoming a
full-patch member?
I also want you to investigate some hashtags (read this
post to learn more about hash tags: The
Twitter Hash Tags if you
still aren’t clear about them) that relate to your topic (and intended community).
Here are a few that I suspect will be helpful for you:
As the post above describes, hash tags develop
organically rather than systematically so you have to play and experiment a bit
to find the most appropriate and relevant hash tags. Once you have found a few
that will work for your project then investigate the Twitter stream for that
hash tag and check out the links that people Tweet. You will often find great
resources, blogs, and interesting folks this way.
I want you to specifically study a relevant Twitter
feed to look for people Tweeting and blogging about your topic. Do some
searches for hashtag variations so you can locate the best choice(s) for your
purpose. Then spend some time studying your chosen Twitter hashtag stream and
gather information related to your topic. What can you learn from and about
these individuals that confirms or contradicts what you learned from your
literature review? Spend some time checking out (clicking on their names and
links they provide) the individuals who post to the Twitter stream. Do any of
these people have blogs and/or web sites? Perhaps consider “following” some
folks of interest and posting to the stream yourself.
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