Week Six: Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

Today I went to uni and I saw some friends. We had pizza.

Wait...

This is a blog, isn't it? Not a diary. But is there a difference?

Laurie McNeill calls blogs "Internet Diaries" and refers to written diaries as "offline diaries" (McNeill, n.d). This implies that diaries themselves are very virtual based, despite starting off in written format. This could mean a schoolgirl's diary of her favourite crushes and bitchy friends, a sea captain's journal of the ship's voyage, or even a soldier's diary of the occurrences in the middle of a war.

However, since the advancement in technology, particularly the internet, diaries have evolved from being written on paper to being typed on a blog. A major difference being that on the internet, the diary can be seen by almost anyone.

Tumblr itself is a blogging site, however I know of very few people who use it as an online diary. Last semester, my college housed a few American's, one of which wrote a blog about her stay "down under." Most people, however, use Tumblr for blogging short text posts, pictures and occasionally videos.

Every blog also has a genre. According to this week's lecture slides:
 

"Genre is also a way of expressing yourself through cultural products and consists of

Style: a way of expressing something that is characteristic of a particular person, discipline or time period, and

Form: an arrangement of elements in a composition or discourse" (Van Luyn, 2013).

For example, this blog's theme is Doctor Who. Many other themes include grunge, fandom, animal, modelling and even some that are inappropriate to younger persons. Certain people like to follow a certain blog theme.

Reference List:

McNeill, L. (n.d). Diary 2.0. Language and New Media. pp314-325.

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 6: Genre. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au.

Blog 2 - The Power of Advertising

Once you have logged onto Goodreads, you will be able to see all the different communities within. Each genre of books has their own pages. If you only enjoy reading a certain type of book you can go straight to its page, instead of trolling all the comments. Once you have entered the page the ads will change and focus on what the style of books is and their relevant ads. As (McNeill, 2012, 75) states the algorithms act as shadow biographers, telling users about themselves while telling the site and its advertisers about the users. With this in mind if you choose a different genre, your ads will change again.

Looking through all the different genres, I have noticed that the most popular genres seem to have a few main contributors’. These contributors’ have created a fake profile as they are not using their real names. When I joined up I used my real name. To me these people have the power, as they aren’t allowing themselves to be known. I do realise that some people don’t like to use their real name, as they don’t have leave a digial footprint, therefore use a fake name. But really if you didn’t want a digital footprint, why bother with the Internet at all.

 

Image

http://www.stickerworldph.com/products_and_services

Reference

McNeill,L. (2012). There is no “I” in network:  Social networking sites and posthuman auto/biography.                    Project Muse, v35 (1), 65-82. Doi: 10.1353/bio.2012.009.

Blog Four: History: Textbook to Facebook

Blog Four: History: Textbook to Facebook

By Hollie Gill

To access information about certain events or certain periods throughout history, one used to have to access a textbook or browse through library catalogues. Over time, the genres of the written word have adapted and changed. The genre of historical literacy is now more readily available on Facebook pages such as Stories That Shocked The World (mentioned in previous blogs), The History Page and I Fucking Love History. In my experience, the genre of historical literacies usually uses academic writing/language, but through the evolution from textbook to Facebook history is now available in colloquial language which allows it to be more relatable to everyone. Evolution of genre can also be seen in the context of diaries and blogs.

The diary as we understand it is a confidential text we write to ourselves on a very private level. Through blogs, people are doing the same thing but it is now accessible to the public eye. McNeill (2011) states that the internet diaries or blogs “…give access to lives in progress to a potential audience of thousands” (p. 313), and that the blog is not a new genre but an evolution of the diary. The personal nature of a diary or blog can be compared to the essays written by Michel de Montaigne in how the power of his work stems essentially from the personal tone present within the text (DiYanni, 2005).

The evolution of genres opens the possibility that all genres can be subject to change over time. I would consider the evolution of the genre of historical literacies mentioned above, from textbook to Facebook to be a positive move which allows not only students, but the entire community to engage in an educational network on a social level. As Dr Van Luyn (2013) states, we cannot communicate outside of a genre and that they are the centre of understanding our world.

Reference List:

Diyanni, R. (2005). Introduction: reading and writing essays. In Twenty-five great essays (pp. 1-30). Retrieved from http://masterfile.jcu.edu.au.elibrary.jcu.edu.au

Mcneill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0? A genre moves from page to screen. In Rowe, C. & Wyss, E. L. (Eds.), Language and new media: linguistic, cultural and technological evolutions (pp. 313-325). Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our space: network, narrative and the making of place, week 6 notes. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Image Credits:

Creative social : Evolution-man-computer. (2011). Retrieved from http://creativesocialblog.com/?attachment_id=4438

Space and Facebook, week 5

Facebook becomes place from all of the users unknowingly giving it power. When people become emotionally attached to Facebook, using it everyday of their lives, they are in fact creating a strong sense of place in the Facebook world.  Dr Ariella Van Lyyn  in her lecture states that; “space becomes place through humans imposing meaning on it.” (2013) This is a clear example on how Facebook's space became a place through the interactions of humans. 

Since reading week fives readings on Place and Space I found it extremely difficult to get my head around Facebook represented as a place. the only similarity i noticed between Facebook and space was the constant interactions between individuals  by sharing photos, videos, blogs ect. to come together and connect with one another. Facebook turns the space of the world-wide web into a place. Facebook especially helps me interact with people from all around the world which is amazing in my case as I have friends from Europe from when I used to live in London. Now with the idea of place within Facebook I am able to interact with some of my closest friends from England in just one click of a button. Although Facebook is just a space to cure boredom and a chance to procrastinate, however the satisfaction I feel when logging onto Facebook and opening my home page is unbelievable, it helps me feel at home.

Because Facebook is not a physical place the role of language is significant as it creates the online world. Language in real life is only a tool, however in cyber space language is everything. Language creates all feelings that need to be expressed over the internet which i-Fu Tuan (1991) expresses. “it can direct attention, organise insignificant composite wholes, and in so doing, make things formerly overlooked - and hence invisible and nonexistent - visible and real.” 

Bibliography

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 5: Stories and Places. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A narrative-descriptive approach. InAnnals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696.

Week 6: The Facebook Diary

The Facebook Diary

 

By Tasman Murch

 

Just recently when analysing my virtual network of Facebook I came across a statues saying, "Facebook is not a diary, don't tell us your personal life!". When I saw this I completely agreed, as I was sick of people posting every little detail about what they did throughout the day and how much they expressed their feelings. After this weeks readings I can now understand the question that was raised by McNeill (2011), "Can we-and should we-read the online diary as another form of genre?".

 

When I think of a diary I think of the little book with the key lock that I wrote down all my secrets in,  such as who I had a crush on and that I 'hated' my parents after a fight and being sent to my room. However, in more recent times, "majority of users have recreated the print diary in an online setting". This is what can now be seen on Facebook. A sense of an online diary.

 

I believe that online diaries should be a new genre in the intent that diaries are purely your personal thoughts. An example of this 'diary genre' can be seen on Facebook. When scrolling through my news feed I am constantly reading personal thoughts such as "Having a bad day. Woke up late, car wouldn't start and now I'm late for Uni". These were the sorts of things I would write in my dairy when I was younger by now it has evolved to an open, online diary. This online diary form is now even more noticeable with Facebook's new set up where you can tag a feeling such as- Tasman Murch is feeling annoyed.

 

Van Luyn (2013) stated in the lecture, "genres are socially based". This diary like genre is the new way that people express their feeling and thoughts online for the world to see and for people to comment and relate to what is being said.

 

 

References:

 

McNeill. (2011). Dairy 2.0?: a genre moves from page to screen. In C. Rowe & E.L. Wyss (Eds.),

Language and new media: Linguistic, cultural, and technological evolutions (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton

 

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 6 notes.

[Power point]. Retrieved from www.learnjcu.com.au

 

Image credits:

 

Diary with lock [image]. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.google.com.au/search?q=diary+with+lock
 

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Blog Five - Week Six

Online Journals:  A New Genre?

Image retrieved : http://mashable.com

I'm sure many of us can remember the days of 'secret diaries' that were guarded by lock and key, and for those of us who were lucky enough, by personal voice recognition, but this kind of self expression has changed forms significantly since our childhoods. Yes, we still know of journals and diaries, anonymous or not, but they have taken on a new form as an online submission. We now have the option of reading other people's blogs, posts, journals and diaries on the screens of our technology. But does this kind of change create a whole new genre? As stated by Laurie McNeill (2009), "Although the blog had the potential to become a new kind of genre, it is an adaptation of diary form, using tools on the web." So, it can be said that these online submissions, such as blogs, are just the most recent transformation and update of the hand-written diaries and journals that many of us are familiar with. I recently read a blog about how to transform your written day to day journals into a safe online form, and it offered several suggestions, from keeping an anonymous private blog, to downloading specific apps on your phone that serve as online journals. So it seems as though the evolution from the genre of diaries, has taken a much larger step into the online world than originally expected.

"Genres are socially based." (Van Luyn, 2013). I believe my chosen social network, Facebook, falls under this same genre. All of the 'status updates' you see on your news feed are contributing to the online journal of the relative author. If one is to scroll down their personal Facebook timeline, the visible posts are each a piece of their updated online diary. While you may not choose to share the same amount of information with your Facebook friends, as you would in your own personal journal, the same concept of online evolution from hand-written journals is still there. Not so much on Facebook, but the option is always there to share your stories anonymously in the online world, through anonymous blog posting, for example. Each post you make falls under the same genre as a hand-written journal, but simply takes on another visual form.

References

Henry, A. (2013). Life Hacker. Retrieved 2013, from How Can I Keep a Personal, Private Journal Online?: http://lifehacker.com/5975750/how-can-i-keep-a-personal-private-journal-online

Luyn, A. V. (2013). Lecture 6 [Lecture Slides].

McNeill, L. (2009). Language and New Media: Linguistic, Cultural, and Technological Evolutions [Chapter 12]. Hampton Press Inc.

Blog 4: Evolving Genres: From Paper to Screen

Evolving Genres: From Paper to Screen

This weeks’ lecture focussed on genres; what they are and how they can change and adapt and involve several types in one form (Van Luyn, 2013). A statement that caught my eye was that in relation to technology, does a change in medium mean a change in genre too? Based on my interpretation from the McNeill (2011) reading, I would say no. In Diary 2.0?, McNeill (2011) discusses the evolution of the diary in written form to that of the present day online blog. The generic idea is still there, that of putting into words thoughts and feelings from the author on a personal level. However by being online there are alternative features and functions such as adding hyperlinks and the ability to invite other people to read what was once considered a private format. 

I can relate this to Instagram by comparing my social network to its ancestor, the photo album. Once upon a time a person had to take a photo with this thing called a camera and then actually get the film inside the camera developed at a store and then you could go home and organise them in a book with plastic pages which you could then share with all your family and friends when they came to visit. Networking sites such as Instagram and Flickr promise “[a] way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures” (www.instagram.com/about/faq) and they “want to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them” (www.flickr.com/about). So essentially the idea of a physical photo album and online photo sharing are the same genre but just one has evolved from the other and includes bonuses such as instant sharing and the feature of editing or filters. 

The genre of an essay varies in that it can be both personal and formal and include a wide range of topics to satisfy any number of readers (DiYanni, 2005). My Instagram account, although not an essay, can relate to DiYannis’ (2005) review of the essay writing skill in that it is coherent, organised, accurate and has some style (even if only my targeted audience can relate to it). Genres hold no particular boundaries and will often overlap to build and expand on one idea in order to generate and shape the knowledge of our world. 

References

DiYanni, R. (2005). Introduction: reading and writing essays. In Twenty-five great essays (pp. 1-30). New York, NY: Penguin Academics

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: a genre moves from page to screen. In C. Rowe & E.L. Wyss (Eds.), Language and new media: linguistic, cultural, and technological evolutions (pp. 313-325). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Networks, narratives and the making of place, week 6 notes. [Power Point]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Image:

Movie poster of film genres [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.123rf.co.kr