Looking Into Social Semiotics

Looking into Social Semiotics

    Social Semiotics is the social theory about making meaning in interactions. This method is used to examine the many ways texts can be examined. Michael Holiday (1978) language can be interpreted by context. Social Semiotics is important in the ways that people communicate with one another, and how important it is to understand context clues and other social interactions.

    

    Some rules that are applied in the methodology is the constant flow of understanding messages being delivered to an individual from another, and having a perception of that voice as well as the context of the communication experience. The sense of relevance in the conversation to apply meaning to the context of the conversation and lastly having a prior knowledge or ideas to the conversation or meaning before the context of the conversation. When we apply to images, a common use for images in terms of social communication is memes. A popular way for people to communicate, and tell stories in a way without directly saying anything. Using these in context and putting them into blogs and other forms of communication can be used to apply importance on the images as well.

The Two images I used are memes found online. The one on the left draws in the viewer by putting the image directly in the middle of the frame to imply the importance to the poster. Now looking at variety of different social media posts, the formatting of these images also play in a role of tone for their posts. This one in particular seems to use it as a fun and ironic way to connect to the public. The image on the right however, does not seem to have a proper origin of social media, but it is used as a way to make notes on a relationship in two different situation, but with similar outcomes. While trying to remain humorous by placing two images side by side representing the implied context.

Bibiography

Gualberto, C. & Kress, G. (forthcoming, 2018) ‘Social Semiotics’, chapter in the International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy, edited by Renee Hobbs and Paul Mihailidis, NY: Wiley-Blackwell. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clarice-Gualberto/publication/325764226_Social_Semiotics/links/5b229735a6fdcc69746119b9/Social-Semiotics.pdf 

Discussing Online Arguments

Discussing Online Arguments

We’ve seen an increasing number of online arguments in recent years.  Twitter battles and Facebook comment wars have sparked new problems and concerns regarding people’s well-being. One of the issues is a lack of face-to-face accountability for what is being said. A person can hide behind a screen while spewing hateful and derogatory remarks to another human without feeling empathy. The argument that I have chosen for today's post is regards to evolution.

The debate or conversation can be found here. 

In this discussion, I will not be putting my opinion on this topic, but instead a small analyzes of the debate/ conversation. And what I personally think would be a good way to approach the argument. I will also use OP for original poster.

Analysis and 5 rules that approach to Arguments

    When examining an argument, first rule is to analyze the argument being made, and see the purpose of the initial comment. Debating whether or not the conversation is worth engaging in. The argument I chose is now over, but this was the initial comment. "If we evolved from chimps or monkeys or whatever, how are they resistant to AIDS, but us more evolved version isn’t?"

    The second rule is to approach when examining an argument is seeing if people are using good arguments to inform their claim by giving good reasoning with support to the reasoning. A bad an example of this would be this example from someone trying to answer the OPs question. "Because HIV that causes AIDS only recently began infecting humans. It’s not clear how long the ancestor of HIV had been affecting monkeys and Chimps, but HIV isn’t even the same as those viruses since it jumped to humans. How exactly would have a defense against a virus that didn’t exist even 100 years ago?" This is a bad example, because they give an opinion with backing themselves up using resources. 

    The third rule is to see if the person is being serious about the actual conversation by their interaction with feedback of others. The OP in this situation may be trolling the person replying to their comment. Here is an example of this, "Oh, so maybe we had immunity before and lost it? We figured that maybe it isn’t that bad anymore, so we just decided to stop defending against it?" It's hard to tell if the OP is being honest with this response, and makes it challenge whether or not someone should engage, another individual claims that the OP is just messing with commentor of this post, but it is not clear until reading further comments from the OP and other commenters. The OP and the first commentor do go back and forth and do a great job at communicating effectively.

    The fourth rule is to keep calm and if you have something to say, make sure you have the evidence to back your information when you do decide to say something. That way the conversation is seen valid and with appropriate proof.

    The final rule is to know when to end the argument or debate. Sometimes it's not worth putting in the effort to a conversation that isn't going anywhere.

Discussing the Toulmin Method

    The Toulmin method isn't really seen too much online from what I see firsthand. In the age of online communication, however, I can see this method being a driving force in arguments and debates. It can also be a way to analyze posts, and information spread out all across the internet and various forms of media. The Components of the Toulmin method supplies a great approach when it comes down to it. As figure 1 shows, we should use this method to better understand what is presently being stated and identifying the claim being made. 

Figure 1

The Components of the Toulmin Method

    The methods of the Toulmin method are identified using 6 main components when analyzing a claim being made. Here are the components at hand, what they do.

Claim- The claim is the argument or fact that is trying to be made.

Grounds- The grounds are what supports the claim.

Warrant- The warrant is the information that is expressed explicitly, or information that is implied.

Backing- The backing is referred to as any of the extra help the warrant needs, in order to make the claim more accurate, or supported.

Qualifier- The qualifier is used to as the possible circumstance that the claim is not true or has an exception.

Rebuttal- Rebuttal is used as a way to show that you know that there is validity in another point of view in the argument, or fact being claimed.

    Understanding the components of the Toulmin method is quite vital in regards to any claim that is being made. Whether it is factual or not, it allows us to look at an argument and understand all the pieces of that said argument.

    Example of the Toulmin method can be seen in many online situations, and be used to identify a situation. In figure 2.

Figure 2

    Although this method may be a good way to identify claims and analyzing them. There is potential that this method may have some limitations. 

    When we look at conversation and arguments being made. We can sometimes see an overload of information making it quite difficult to sort it, and the influence of emotions behind the information can make it difficult to see the argument for what it is. Examining these challenges and limitations, we must examine the argument at hand and view what the individual is claiming. Looking beyond certain opinions that motivated by feelings may be a challenge, but determining what is being presented is important and should be analyzed thoughtfully. People are entitled to feel a certain way when making an argument, but it is our jobs when seeing the arguments being portrayed to be mindful of the information and to understand what is warranted as well as backed.

    This will lead to more mindful conversation and understanding different viewpoints. This also applies to how we see an over-load in information that is being presented. Sometimes, it is good to break things down into small pieces when analyzing the claim. This engages our critical thinking skills and allows online social communication to flourish.

Additional Videos

Toulmin Method (youtube.com)

The Toulmin Model of Argumentation: Claims, Data, and Warrants, Oh My! - Logic Series | Academy ... (youtube.com)

Bibliography

Toulmin Argument - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

Online Communication and its influence on Society.

Influence of Online Communication on Society

    Social media has become a strong and powerful force all individuals allowing them to have their voices shared with all who are willing to listen. It also a battleground where people interact with one another, and debate about all topics, whether they are controversial, political, or just opinions on how things should be done. Lets dig into how social media is used as a function for public opinions and how government, businesses, and individuals use it to spread information to influence the public.

Oversight of Influence

    There are numerous key factors contributing to public opinions and how they are affected. Firstly, looking at the amount of people on social media, and how many forms of social media platforms out there allows us to see that our whole world is connected one way or another. Individuals, businesses, and even the government uses social media as an outlet to spread information to the public since there is so many people online today. 

    When we analyze the way individuals from the government or government agencies interact with social media platforms, it can be viewed in many ways. Social media is a good way for many of these individuals and agencies to connect with the people, and create a rapport with the community or communities they are trying to reach. It is also a way for people to get to know what their government is doing and how they react to different things on platforms. Whether these interactions are with political cartoons, social movements, or giving an opinion about a topic. All of these are ways that can be good, bad, or even controversial to the general public. When we look at today's most common threads of the use of social media and the way people use online communication can be seen in this year's election. I have seen tons of ads, and videos for the individuals running for presidency. It can be seen good, bad, or however someone wants to process what they observed. It seems to be a good way that we see online communication be used in more strategical ways.

    Online Communication secondly, when it comes to social media helps communities spread awareness of social events going on in the area such as school fundraisers, city council meetings, and even sport events in the area that some probably wouldn't even know about living there day to day lives. When viewing the way social media works its way into interpersonal relationships with our communities is amazing, because we can see all the positive influence and interactions between all members of our community. There are some down sides to it when it comes down to all things, but it has opened a way for people to not feel so isolate or alone within their own communities.

    Lastly, if we thoroughly think about how we use social media and how successful it is when it comes releasing information, we can guarantee that someone will see it. The benefits of this varies greatly, but at what cost? This form of communication is so open that anyone can touch it or manipulate to what they want it to appear like. So, when we look at the information presented to us if it is some form of propaganda, we should take in consideration of how accurate it is. Even if it's someone's opinion, opinions are shared openly and should be thought about before completely accepting it as truth. 

when we approach arguments, and debates online. All information and people participating need to go in with open minds and understand that what they're reading isn't going to be completely accurate. There should always be some form of mediation between yourself and how you choose to interact with those online. I like to think to myself, will this benefit me in anyway? How does this topic make me feel? Will arguing with random people online make me feel better? How does this effect other people use social media, is this information harmful? I think individuals and organizations should think similarly, because the general public has much more than people realize.

Sources

The Psychology Behind Social Media Interactions | Psychology Today

Influenced and Persuaded on Social Media | Psychology Today

Political jokes and rumors go viral, testing X's policies : NPR

How Social Media is Shaping Our Political Future | Victoria Bonney | TEDxDirigo (youtube.com)

Business Assessment of TOR Publishing Group

 

Discussing the TOR Publishing group

    TOR Publishing is one of my favorite groups that releases books of fantasy and science fiction genres. TOR stands for Tom Doherty Associates; this company is owned by Macmillan a larger publishing company. You can view the TOR Website here.

Describing the Site

    Exploring TORs website, they featured at the top of the page their brand and other brands that are shared by their parent company. The other brands are the following : Bramble, Forge, Nightfire, TOR, and Teen Starscape.

    The rest of the website shows the new releases and books coming soon, each category has a selection of books with an option to see more available. There is also a smaller selection near the top of the website that allows users to search and browse authors. 

    At the bottom, it allows you to sign up for their newsletter, view the Company's mission statement, and possible careers. It also gives its viewers an opportunity to access their various forms of social media for each brand. Such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. As for TOR publishing their Tiktok.

    I think they designed the website like this for ease of access to all products and to allow their visitors to see other brands owned by their parent company, however, Macmillan is not displayed unless you scroll to the far bottom for copyright ownership. Their website is also super easy to navigate and leaves little room for not finding what is needed. I think that this is effective, but a I would prefer if it was the whole Macmillan website, and this was a smaller sub-category to their website. Instead of a misleading direction making buyers think they're two entirely different entities.

Online Presence 

    I think the company relies a lot on their brand name alone since they've been around for nearly 50 years. They do an okay job with communicating on their social media websites, and a far less good job of communicating through their website. I signed up for their newsletter which wasn't as communicative as I would hope. I have yet to receive something from them since the beginning of this month. 

    Their social media platforms are okay in terms of communication. They have a blog site which I found amusing and fun to explore. Their other forms of social media like Tiktok, and Facebook has a small following and probably not as large as one would think they would have for such a big company. 

    Their business doesn't have a strong identity, but they seem to be trying to establish one through their social medias. They do have separate voices to their posts. Their Blog has a consistent voice as well as their Facebook, while their Tiktok is a little bit less so. 

    I think the company could greatly improve, by creating a cohesive voice though their social media and having more fun with reaching out to their audience. Such as getting into similar flatforms that reach out to younger people, and maintaining a fun voice that reaches all age groups. They should also have their YouTube available through their website so that people can be reached better. It took a few searches to find their main channel. 

A Little Extra

A fun book blog for you Fantasy and Sci-fi book readers. 

Am I A Digital Native or Immigrant?

 

Digital Native or Immigrant?

My simplified definition of the two:

Digital Native: A person who grew up on technology and has used it as a source of information, communication, and entertainment for the majority of their lives.

Digital Immigrant: A person who grew up with technology, but it was not their main source of information, communication, and entertainment. They merely adopted it later in life.

What is the Divide between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants?

    What seems to me, to be the divide between digital natives and digital immigrants is the understanding of technology and how it is used between the two. This seems to be major problem of the two groups. Those who grew up with technology and have used it as a form of learning have a wide range of skills that those who are digital immigrants do not, but the same can be said the other way around. Digital natives don't have some the social and learning skills that digital immigrants have. The divide is entirely that of not understanding one another.

    It has affected how students learn today, do to teachers who are digital immigrants not understanding that students can learn in multitude of different ways using technology as a useful tool. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants By Marc Prensky, brought this up when using a game called "Monkey Wrench" to teach how to use AutoCAD and complete tasks to learn how to use the system.

   

    Teachers who are digital natives, since there are some who are now teachers. Use technology as a learning tool and seem to be having a great influence on students in the classroom. I have seen this firsthand in a middle school setting. I think forms of technology is the way to go. 

Which Am I?

    From my own definition, and how Marc Prensky describes the two groups. I am under the impression that I am digital native. I grew up watching educational programs, playing games, and using technology quite a bit. However, I am also in the weird age group where it didn't really become a large part of my life until I was entering grade school. For those curious, I was born in 1997. 

    I think that this has both pros and cons to being a digital native. Compared to those younger than me, I was taught how to research using both books and computers as for those who are more digital immigrants. Looking at how I learn, I appreciate being a digital native, because I think there is more ways to learn how to do something, and being able to navigate through the various forms of technology has made it easier to do so. The cons of it, would be the desire to read books, but I personally love reading, whether it is a on paper or on a device of some form.

My Personal Connection to the Knapp's Relationship Model

My Relationship

    I have been with my current partner for nearly 10 years now. In November of this year, we will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary. We are not married, and this isn't a priority for us as of now. There is talk of marriage and small plans, however, we both agreed that we aren't financially ready for it since we already feel like were married in the first place. Our view of marriage isn't the traditional sense, since we just want to celebrate us, and enjoy ourselves. 

Knapps Model

    Using my relationship to connect to Knapp's Relationship Model, we are at the point in our relationship that we are probably the most committed deeply and have been for a long time now. We started referring to each other as partner, instead of girlfriend or boyfriend, because it shows our commitment to each other. Sometimes we do tell people that were married (In spirit anyways). I believe that our relationship in this regard is the 5th stage of Knapp's Model, and that we are in the Bonding stage. 

Online Communication

    When it comes to using online communication, I don't believe it has negatively affected my interpersonal relationship with my partner. We have quite a bit of fun using the social media such as Instagram. Without her I would probably have zero online presence in the online world. I think that online communication has been mainly beneficial. The benefits of it, from my point of view at least is that I get to send her food recipes, pictures, or funny videos that I think she would personally like. When it comes to texting or calling, we can communicate when apart and long distance were when we are on trips. The only downside is that sometimes we both doom scroll when were both bored. Especially in the Oregon winters, and there's nothing to do outside.

    I know most people see marriage as the final stage of a relationship, but I feel that investing your time and nurturing your relationship in all forms of communication is really the final stage. I like to think that Knapps Model provides evidence for this.