Week 7 Research Journal

Kunter (in Gawlik), Chapter 9: Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis focuses on the use of language to shape society and individuals' interaction with society

Everything is socially constructed

Texts do not have to be written; art, music, architectural design can all be considered texts as they actively construct meaning. Images are particularly powerful texts when used in marketing products.

Because all meaning is constructed, and must be agreed upon by the players in the event, we can't ever know what actually happened in said event. We can only ever hear socially accepted constructions of what happened.

Discourse analysis: the study of texts

There has to be a balance between text and context

This really stood out to me: "a fixed, final, and monological interpretation of a given subject is not possible." This is why I love studying language and literature. As I tell my students, nothing is written in a vacuum; everything the author lives through influences them. Conversely, everything the author writes will go on to influence other people and events. Each person reading a text brings their own knowledge into the reading with them, and will therefore interpret the meaning in a different way. If this can be said of a written text, then it can be said of all meaning because we actively construct the meaning of everything. We frame the narratives of the events we record, which is why Churchill famously stated that "History is written by the victors." The victors have the power, so their interpretations of what happened are the socially accepted ones.

Critical discourse analysis: investigating verbal interactions with awareness of their determination by, and impact on, social structures; the goal is to "denaturalize" through critique

Organizations are made up of many discourses, not one unified discourse.

Of course, this all implies that researchers construct their meaning based on things like their culture and social backgrounds; I would assume that because of this, a researcher engaging in discourse analysis would most definitely have to discuss their positionality and engage in ongoing reflexivity to eliminate as much bias as possible.

We need to consider more than one semiotic system to gain a fuller understanding of all that is being "said." We worked with some of these concepts in Dr. Hanauer's class, as we looked not only at written texts, but also at images to create our knowledge of the location. In fact, looking at the "minimum conditions an effective method of discourse analysis should fulfill," this is exactly what we did with our autoethnographies of place. That study was indeed multi-dimensional and multifunctional, analyzing the relationships between multiple discourses. It was historical because we had to situate the location under study within the historical context associated with it. And it was critical because we were illuminating hidden connections. The study may not necessarily have been designed with this in mind, but it feels like it checks all the boxes!

Bricolage: construction or creation from a diverse range of available things

Discourse analysis challenges: What data do you collect? How do you analyze data in such a broad context?

Danvers: Archives and New Modes of Feminist Research

Archival research is my jam, and I concur with what she is saying about digitization bringing about access to those who didn't have access previously. My goal with the archive I'm working with is to connect researchers with the wealth of materials housed in our library. In its current form, our oral history collection can only be utilized while on our campus. By engaging in the digitization process, I'm hoping that at least a portion of our holdings will be researchable online. This will help eliminate some of the barriers which are currently blocking valuable research.

Yes, I agree 100% with the idea of invisible labor of women being the backbone of archival preservation efforts. Many of the oral history interviews in our collection were conducted by women, and ALL of the transcription that has been done for those interviews was done by women. The organization of the tapes and transcripts, as well as the cataloging of the keywords for these interviews, was also heavily done by women. Yet this massive testament to women's labor in this field is hidden away in the bowels of our library, in a format that is fairly inaccessible to the public.

Technology is always changing, so ensuring we are able to keep these files accessible--in whatever formats are developed in the future--is vital. I agree that we must constantly revisit archival storage and accessibility. Even though an archival project is "complete," this in no way indicates that it can just be left alone. In the archive I work in, none of the interviews were born digital; in fact, some originated on reel-to-reel. If someone had not revisited these tapes and transferred them to cassette, time would have impaired the sound quality. Those that weren't of great audio quality to begin with would have been lost to time. Now, for each interview, we have an original cassette and a duplicate, as well as a few CDs where someone began copying the interviews to this media before it was proven that the longevity for CDs is horrible. Now we are engaged in digitizing these interviews into WAV files, which are the preferred storage method for audio archivists. MP3s, which are more convenient to use on websites because of their smaller size, deteriorate over time. However, just because we are using WAV files now in no way indicates that they will remain the "it" thing when it comes to audio archives. Should a future migration to the latest storage form be needed, someone will have to justify why the project is beneficial and the cost is necessary. If deemed unnecessary in the future, then all of this information could be lost.

Love the concept of people creating archives themselves to chronical important events without the interference of a "collecting institution" overseeing them. How empowering!

White-Farnham: Resisting "Let's Eat Grandma": The Rhetorical Potential of Grammar Memes

Maybe grammar memes aren't so innocent after all. Honestly, this is not an area I had even thought of studying, so it is really mind boggling that Dr. White-Farnham pinpointed this topic, which was informed by Aristotelian concepts. This makes me want to get more creative with the topics of study! 

Internet memes are rhetorical

Memes are to human culture as genes are to human biology; natural selection can even be applied to them! 

Memes survive via fidelity, fecundity, and longevity.

Eyeworms, akin to earworms!

Memes are the frame to which people add content. The frame provides a ready-made reaction.

Resistance in participatory culture

Diversity and democracy & resistance to the mainstream: everyone can share their perspectives easily, even with more complex concepts such as political statements; fragmented nature of the internet allows people to see themselves in their own personal space  

I really like how when explaining her data collection methods, she talked about a "failed" way of sorting the data that she originally employed. This demonstrates that the right data, when analyzed incorrectly, can yield ineffective results. It's good to see the thought process behind this! I also liked that she acknowledged the limitations of this study. 

 Meme classification: Traditionalist grammar memes; Backlash memes; Narrative/Instructional memes

I think I've been on the internet too much because I've seen so many of these memes in the past. However, they didn't inspire me to write an awesome research article; what a bummer.

Pushing for memes to include a more diverse array of representation, as well as expanding the narrative/instructional frame, help make them an even more effective teaching tool.

*My discussion questions this week are going to focus on things I'd like to ask Dr. White-Farnham. I hope this is ok! I just felt like this would be the best way to incorporate the readings with her being in class as our guest speaker.* 

Discussion Question #1: Looking at your list of publications shows a wide range of unique topics. How do you develop the ideas for your research? Your topics appear to be extremely varied, so how do ensure that your research aligns with writing studies?

Discussion Question #2: A lot of your topics seem "fun." Is there a risk of not sounding academic enough if you research what many would consider a "fun" topic? Do you find yourself overcompensating to even out this perception? I know if I wrote about a "fun" topic, I would have a hard time making it sound academic!

Discussion Question #3: I really liked how you demonstrated your process by explaining how your initial classification system for the memes didn't work out, and I also appreciated you being forthcoming with the study's limitations. Is this something you do with all of your work, or only in certain instances? How do you decide when to include this level of transparency? What do you feel it adds to the study overall?