Post 11

       In Gee's article he explains the importance of Discourse and what it means to be a part of a certain discourse. When I read the article I associated discourse with how it feels to join a group of friends or an organization. Gee explains what is correct grammar and linguistics might not be correct in the certain discourses. I associated discourse with join an organization or a group of friends, because every group has their own way of speaking and if you can not speak that way then you feel uncomfortable and not a part of the group. I tried to be a part of a group of friends but they would talk to each other in like a code language I did not understand, in which made me uncomfortable. And then there are people that try to play the role but really does not understand the discourse. In the article Gee states " In fact, the lack of fluency may very well mark you as a pretender to the social role instantiated in the Discourse (an outsider with pretensions to be an insider)" (487). Furthermore, Gee tries to get his readers to connect social structures and literacy with considering its constant changing.
        In Swales article he introduces the belief of six defining characteristics in order to be a part of a discourse. The six characteristics include: a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common goals, a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the community furtherance of its aims, in addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis, and discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. After understanding Swales ideas, I can apply this to a discourse community, I am familiar with and most of the characteristics fall right in place because there are many specifics that associated with one another when you are a part of a community.Lastly it is necessary to understand the tools of a discourse and utilize its information.

Post 10

After reading Baron, "From Pencils to Pixels" I began to understand the influence technology has on literacy and how technology has developed over time. Technology today plays a significant role in our lives. We use technology to wake up, we use technology to communicate, we use technology to do research, and many more. Technology has to come so important to us as human beings we depend on it. Baron explains that the computer is the latest ideas that parallels a pencil, but we prefer to use technology although the pencil still remains authentic for things we believe as important. But the question still remain what type of literacy is considered important? As far as technology altering literacy, I believe it is harder for children or young adults to use what they learn in English class in the world today. All the different ways to communicate on smartphones or computers let children or young adults feel its okay not to use English properly due to the communication being informal. When texting, tweeting, emailing, or making a status we tend to shorten or sentences in to phrases and our words in to abbreviations. We also do not use correct grammar. Due to the mass use of informal communication is it beginning to affect proper literacy.
In the article  The Future of Literacy, the authors consider technology advancing the meaning of words through film, pictures, sound, animation , etc. The types of "composing" I like to do is taking photographs or taping a video. I like to capture the moment through visual composition. I believe it give me the opportunity to see and indulge in the moment instead of writing and reading where I would need to vision the moment through memory.

Post 9

In the article Protean Shapes in Literacy events, Heath defines literacy event as " a conceptual tool useful in examining within particular communities of modern society the actual forms and functions of oral and literate traditions and co-existing relationships between spoken and written language."(371) Furthermore, Heath explains literacy event as "any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the nature of participants interactions and their interpretive process."(371) The author explores a community in the Carolina in 1969 and 1979 where she study the Trackton community. The Trackton community was all black working-class community. Heath explored their  literacy event. The Trackton children learned language and how to read and write through oral stories the adults told them. The children recognized certain things like patterns and shape through linking what they hear in the stories. Most parents teach their children by repetition of objects or reading words printed in a book. The study of the Trackton community can be applied to Sherman Alexie's "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me." because the narrative is about a young indian boy who teaches himself how to read through comic books. Alexie's had his own literacy events, he didn't learn to read and write the traditional way, just like the Trackton community.

Mobile Phones on the Rise: Do you need it?

For about a decade now, mobile technology has been on the rise while increasingly making an impact on our population socially. Although technology within its self has the bulk of control, social networks and communications sites grabs the attention of its users. Mobile phones are now looked upon as maybe handheld computers or as organizational gadgets. How often is a mobile phone  just used for a simple phone call? Now that mobile phones have increased its ability to text, surf the web, and download apps, it has become a social distraction and a way to challenge social acceptance.

This image above symbolizes the rhetorical argument about the difference of need and want with mobile technology. You notice in the picture that everyone has a cell phone, so due to that situation they depict cell phones as a necessity. The context of this image came from a student blogger, who noticed advantages and disadvantages of cell phones. Also how mobile phone have become looked upon as need instead of a want. Consider the luxury that smart phones gives its users, Facebook, Twitter, interenet, apps, text-messaging, etc. Most people love the luxury because all types of social communication are wrapped into one gadget.

 In my opinion the image plays on development of social reaction. When I say social reaction, I mean the way our society has the need to fit in with social norms in correlation to a positive reaction of their peers. Grant-Davie explains the importance of exigence, rhetor, and audience, when analyzing a rhetorical situation. “Exigence”, Grant-Davie emphasizes, “what the discourse is about, why it is needed and what should it accomplish.”(106) After understanding Grant-Davie definition of exigence, I can say that the significance of this photo is to illustrate the discourse of mobile technology and its ability to amplify through social groups.

 In order to recognize the importance of rhetor Grant-Davie suggests, “rhetor is those people,real or imagined, responsible for the discourse and its authorial voice.”(108) From my understanding the definition of the rhetor in the image above is high school or college students sitting around on their cell phone in order to play a role with the connection to the audience. In which I believe this image is targeted towards young adults in connection to their ability to stay socially accepted through technological assets. The rhetor in this image helps establish, logos through appealing to the audience intellect on “what is a need” and “what a want is”. Furthermore the image can appeal to the pathos of the audience who cannot afford a mobile phone even though it may be looked upon as a want. For example, picture if there was a person in the image who did not have a cell phone. The person would look out of place and not accepted due to the norm of their peers.

            “Audience”, Grant-Davie believes they are “those people real imagined, with whom rhetors negotiate though discourse to achieve the rhetorical questions.” (109) The view of the audience is the main purpose of rhetorical situations. The people in the image above are high school or college students with cell phones and define them as a necessity. The audience can compare themselves to the people and may consider cell phones as a necessity to them.

 Grant-Davie extends his understanding of rhetors affecting the audience:

            “Rhetors may invite audiences to accept new identities for themselves, offering readers to vision not of who they are but of what they could be. Readers begin the discourse in one role may find themselves persuaded to adopt a new role, or they may refuse the roles suggested by the discourse.” (110-111)

 This image suggests the influence of your peers and the influence of technology with the younger generations. Readers notice the discourses of the advancement of mobile technology are able to relate and accept having a cell phone is a necessity. In which the rhetorical objective would be completed.

 Although an image can establish its achievements through exigency, rhetor, and audience they may lack due to constraints. Grant-Davie implies “constraints” [as] factors in the situation's context that may affect the achievement of the rhetorical objectives. Constraints can come in many forms including people, objects, events, or reactions. Possible constraints in the image above may include no advertisement for cell phone companies or what type of cell phones they have. Additionally, people who cannot afford cell phones may not be included in the social construction. Other possible constraints may be the way the visual argument is perceived. The viewers may not get a complete understanding of the suggested argument. Additionally the rhetor can be a possible constraint, considering it may only target audiences that consist of young adults. Lastly, the visual argument is just constrained to mobile phones instead technology as a whole.  Mobile phones have its advantage in seeming most important, but different types of technology are also advancing; for example, ipods, ipads, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, etc.

            Concluding my opinion, the argument proved its effectiveness gaining the attention of its viewers through the use of logos and pathos. After reading Grant-Davie concepts on exigence, rhetor, audience , and constraints I can apply his factors towards the rhetorical situation to insight of the visual argument at hand. Additionally, this piece was effective because I believe my generation was the rhetor; in which was a direct link to myself personally. The artistic appeal of the image reached out to the audience through the rhetor that was used and the surroundings in the image. You notice the people in the image are at a coffee shop, reaching towards the commonality with high school students are college students. The blogger approach was to reach out to an audience who is greatly affected by mobile phones and mobile technology. Considering young adults, are growing with technology why not establish inquiry of what is needed and what is simply wanted. It is important for our generation to not get wrapped up in technology that we may not be able to differentiate what is considered a necessity.

References
Grant-Davie, Keith. "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents." Writing About Writing (1997): 101-19. Print.
Roque, Nichole. “Dude Wheres My Phone”. 25 November 2011.

Post 8

In Brandt's article "Sponsors of Literacy" we learn the impact that the people or the things that teach us how to read and write affect our development of thinking. In Malcolm X article learning to read, he expresses how he wanted to have the ability to read and write better. He could only speak slang, but not be able to articulate correctly. Malcolm began to read books while he was in jail, in the beginning he struggled considering he didn't know the meaning of the words he was seeing. So his sponsor of literacy became a dictionary in which he would write in his tablet and learn words every day. Malcolm sponsors of literacy included the dictionary, the prison’s library, Elijah Muhammad, and many other authors of book he read that impacted his way of thinking. Considering his socioeconomic status and his race, Malcolm was not able to be taught how to read and write by a teacher; especially while being in prison. So Malcolm had to take his educational needs upon himself.  Malcolm believed that he is so busy battling the white man that being in prison was the best place to learn, in which he states “I don’t think anybody got more out of going to prison than I did.”  As Malcolm begin to succeed in reading comprehension and writing, he began to read the books of Elijah Muhammad and write him letters. He also read books about other African American writers who wrote about their history. Malcolm literacy sponsors constrained his literacy in a negative way because through the topics he was reading he began to develop a strong dislike in the White culture.

Rhetorical Analysis Rough Draft

This image above symbolizes the rhetorical argument about the difference of need and want with mobile technology. You notice in the picture that everyone has a cell phone, so due to that situation they depict cell phones as a necessity. The image plays on development of social reaction. When I say social reaction, I mean the way our society has the need to fit in with social norms in correlation to a positive reaction of their peers. Grant-Davie explains the importance of exigence, rhetor, and audience, when analyzing a rhetorical situation. “Exigence”, Grant-Davie emphasizes, “what the discourse is about, why it is needed and what should it accomplish.”(106) After understanding Grant-Davie definition of exigence, I can say that the significance of this photo is to illustrate the discourse of mobile technology and its ability to amplify through social groups.

 In order to recognize the importance of rhetor Grant-Davie suggests, “rhetor is those people,real or imagined, responsible for the discourse and its authorial voice.”(108) From my understanding the definition of the rhetor in the image above is high school or college students sitting around on their cell phone in order to play a role with the connection to the audience. The rhetor in this image establish, logos through appealing to the audience intellect on “what is a need” and “what is a want”.  Additionally our society is based around consumerism and technology. Everyone always wants the newest gadget, in order to be socially accepted.

            “Audience”, Grant-Davie believes they are “those people real imagined, with whom rhetors negotiate though discourse to achieve the rhetorical questions.” (109) The view of the audience is the main purpose of rhetorical situations. The people in the image above are high school or college students with cell phones and define them as a necessity. The audience can compare themselves to the people and may consider cell phones as a necessity to them. This image suggests the influence of your peers and the influence of technology with the younger generations. In which the rhetorical objective would be completed.

Lastly, although an image can establish its achievements through exigency, rhetor, and audience they may lack due to constraints. Grant-Davie implies “constraints” [as] factors in the situation's context that may affect the achievement of the rhetorical objectives. Possible constraints in the image above may include no advertisement for cell phone companies or what type of cell phones they have. Additionally, people who cannot afford cell phones may not be included in the social construction. 

Post 6

This image above symbolizes the rhetorical argument about the difference of need and want with mobile technology. You notice in the picture that everyone has a cellphone, so due to that situation they depict cellphones as a necessity. Grant-Davie explains the importance of exigence, rhetor, and audience, when analyzing a rhetorical situation. According to Grant-Davie "exigence is the matter and motivation of the discourse". So after understanding Grant-Davie definition of exigence, I can say that the matter and motivation of this photo is the discourse of mobile technology and its ability to amplify. According to Grant-Davie, rhetor is those people,real or imagined, responsible for the discourse and its authorial voice. After understanding the definition of the rhetor in the image above are high school or college students sitting around on their cell phone in order to play a role with the connection to the audience. Grant- Davie states, audience those people real imagined, with whom rhetors negotiate though discourse to achieve the rhetorical questions. The view of the audience is the main purpose of rhetorical situations. The people in the image above are high school or college students with cell phones and define them as a necessity. The audience can compare themselves to the people and may consider cell phones as a necessity to them. This image suggests the influence of your peers and the influence of technology with the younger generations. In which the rhetorical objective would be completed. Grant- Davie believes "constraints are factors in the situation's context that may affect the achievement of the rhetorical objectives. Possible constraints in the image above is there is no advertisement for cell phone companies or what type of cellphones they have. Grant- Davie gives a detailed explanation the things we need in order to give a rhetorical analysis. Although briefcases vs backpacks explained the same ideas I understand  the role of exigence and audience a little better though Grant-Davie's article.