Post an image of one of your social networking profiles (twitter, facebook, etc). Rhetorically analyze/break down the identity you've constructed on this site. In this analysis, you should discuss your audience.
As I look at my facebook profile, I see myself as a family oriented person who likes to help people. I have my religious affiliation there as well as 6 groups that I'm apart of. My quotes listed are from Hebrews and Dr. Maya Angelou. I also have a link for people who are interested in helping with Haiti relief through Wyclef Jean's organization. My favorite quote is a portion of a Negro spiritual. I also have my e-mail address available. This profile portrays a small piece of the southern person that I am...
I use my facebook site to network with new people. Sometimes, I become friends with people that I have met before but I did not (will not) get to know in person. So, essentially, my profile is mostly used to keep in touch with family and friends that I do no live close to. One side of my family even used facebook to get attention about the family reunion that we had this past August. Very recently, students and community people from my hometown have requested to be my friend as well. I also have a lot of people from my undergrad (professors/students) and my sorority sisters and fraternity brothers who are friends.
I have included limited information about myself mostly because the people who are my friends already know me (and if they don't, then, I guess that they could ask). I did notice, however, that I have 360 pictures that I've been tagged in, but I do not make those pictures available to anyone else. Vie notes that, "Facebook force (s) instructors to confront and challenge the labels placed on individuals in academia; student, teacher, administrator, and so on. Individuals behaviors in these sites may force us to reenvision what it means to be an academic today, what a classroom looks like, or what good writing entails" (20). As an scholar and as a regular person, I don't feel like I can say some things online, especially in a status. I have former and current teachers as friends as well as older people from my community.
At any rate, I agree with Vie in some respects because I do censor myself in this space. I do wonder about the degree to which my identity on facebook could mesh and interrupt my identity in the classroom if I used it ( and as students can find me and see some information if they chose to do so too). I think that this happens a great deal because most of the people that I know who use Facebook in the classroom do so under a separate account. So, there is a bit of personal space that I think teachers should not expose in an online setting (that can be taken out of context, especially in a photo). However, I am trying to be convinced by Vie's claim that "compositions [need] to begin looking at online social networking sites through an academic lens to examine the complexities these sites showcase and the ramifications they may hold for pedagogies and our field" (21). I think that she has a point here as many things have been looked at through an academic lens that were not necessarily created for such, i.e. some films, novels, youtube videos(Dodson in particular), and others. Thus, we are able to find pedagogical reasoning for critically analyzing these texts. I see no problem with looking to advertisements on social networking sites to do the same. My worry is that profiles and profile pictures will be analyzed as well, which will create a new type of judging/silencing/categorizing that plays into the same types of structures that some of us are trying to work against. Is it possible to separate the personal from the pedagogical if we use social networking spaces in classes? And to what degree are teachers and students willing to share that much of themselves with a class?
so i think i need to just state again that you are the sweet-as-pie person who likes to help friends in real life and online. and everybody needs to know that.
ReplyDeletei wonder if what you speak to at the end, that the analyzing of profiles will create a new type of judging/silencing/categorizing hasn't already happened? it seems to me that boyd at least thinks that this has occurred - that we find new ways to mimic the old racist language when we say things like "myspace is ghetto" what we really mean to say is "myspace is for black people." i'm not saying you're wrong, obviously. i'm saying that your fears seem to already be validated, as it is already happening.
so is that something we can use in class to talk about race/class/gender in an honest way? it is difficult to ignore it if you are actually doing it..?
maybe?
maybe not?
i don't know.
maybe that is wishful thinking.
Jessica-
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear more about how you think your faith-related statements on-line play into or don't play into your relationships on campus. It seems to me that faith is a big deal, more central than a club affiliation, and I am curious to know if you think other people interpret it that way. Does it start conversations? Do you think assumptions are made about you by others based on your willingness to share? I am guessing that, although faith is very personal, the Methodist tradition is also importantly social and communal, so talking with others about how you fit into that body makes lots of sense. Rambling . . . Thoughts?
And the pic is great. You are an amazing woman!
Great questions: "Is it possible to separate the personal from the pedagogical if we use social networking spaces in classes? And to what degree are teachers and students willing to share that much of themselves with a class?"
ReplyDeleteI'd follow, if we choose to use social networking in the classroom, SHOULD we separate the personal from the pedagogical? What are the ramifications of doing so? Or not doing so? Feminism's battle cry used to be "the personal is political"...I wonder, can we change this to "the personal is pedagogical" or "the pedagogical is personal"? Or is that just too full of problems to even be true.
I guess, really I'm getting at here, is how "out there" can we be in our classrooms? What value is there in our students knowing "stuff" about us?
Nice post.