Abriana GreshamUWRT 1103-021September 27, 2014

Assignment OneDiscourse Observation Notes

Background Notes

**Note; all highlighted vocabulary is defined at the end of the background notes**

Figured world; a figured world is a specific community that shares common social norms and community functions. For the observations I am conducting the figured world is my dashboard on Tumblr.com. Tumblr is a social media blogging website that allows its users to follow one another, create texts posts and image posts, ask each other questions, reblog other users posts, and interact with people of the same interests as them. Almost anything is acceptable on Tumblr, the main rule of it is to not judge any other users (or people in general). On Tumblr most people feel comfortable with revealing things about them that they may not want others in their immediate community (i.e.; people they live with, go to school with, etc) to know about. Tumblr users feel at ease letting these things (such as feelings of depression, anxiety, struggles with relationships, parental issues, illness, etc) off their chest through this blogging medium. The Tumblr community allows one to speak freely and usually without judgement, therefore, a lot of secrets and true feelings are brought to the surface and comfortably shared with the outside world. There are so many various actors, communities of practice, artifacts, and various literary practices. The literacy practices that will be found on Tumblr are similar to those on any other social media website and will be further explained later in the background notes. It is also important to keep in mind that there is an original type of vernacular that is used on Tumblr that differs from that on other social media sites (as stated above, all unfamiliar vocabulary as well as the previously mentioned vernacular is all defined and explained at the end of the background notes). Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Actors; an actor is someone who plays a specific role in a figured world. In this case, the actors present would be the Tumblr users that I follow and whose posts appear on my dashboard. There are a variety of different actors that are present in this specific figured world but overall they serve the same role. They are all tumblr users that run their own accounts and blogs however they are all members of different communities of practice. To give some more information on just a couple of specific actors in my figured world here are a few select users and the biographies they post on their own personal blog pages:Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions:

http://kiiiiirby.tumblr.com/

http://dignitea.tumblr.com/

http://greeneyesblondehair.tumblr.com/

http://forever-and-alwayss.tumblr.com/

And as one of the contributors to my own homepage, here is my personal one

http://livinginlalalandddd.tumblr.com/

Communities of Practice; communities of practice are sub-groups of a larger figured world that share their own specific social norms and ways of doing things. Within my dashboard on tumblr there are a few various communities of practice. There are those people who blog about their battles with mental illness (anxiety, depression, suicide attempts, eating disorders, etc)- this community is very conscious of the feelings of others, they hashtag many of their posts with #tw or #triggerwarning to keep their followers aware that some of their posts might trigger anxiety or feelings of depression, this is probably the most prominent community in my chosen figured world. Other communities of practice are people who run advice blogs, people who blog about specific topics; (ex. tropical, fashion, sexual, etc.) and people who run general personal blogs, like me. Comment by Revisions:

Artifacts; artifacts are identifiers of a specific figured world or community of practice. Certain artifacts that would be specific to my figured world are things like the actual dashboard which displays the posts from people you follow, posts that show the actual content of other peoples blogs, and the actual blog itself that contains all of the posts and reflags a person has added to their blog. Most artifacts on tumblr can be found in what is called an archive. Archives on Tumblr literally store each users content as if they were real artifacts that you would find in a museum or something of that nature. Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Domain; a domain is like an understood contract that says the people residing in this figured world will abide by an certain code (aka- the social norms and acceptable practices). Specific to the figured world of my Tumblr dashboard the domain is the actual networks rules and regulations- called the Tumblr Terms of Service- that are set in place by the Tumblr corporation. There are also a set of rules- called the Tumblr Guidelines- that put in place the less legal set of goals and regulations the corporation wants their users to agree with, essentially it is what the company as a whole believes. They believe in certain things like a zero tolerance bullying policy, equal human rights, etc. Since the Terms of Service are generally the same for most social networks, below is a detailed look at the guidelines specific to Tumblr.

Practices of the Community; practices of the community are certain goals or values that the members of the figured world are always working toward accomplishing. On tumblr the practices of the community would overall be to create a space where people feel comfortable with expressing their inner feelings, opinions, etc and finding people who share similar feelings and ideas as their own.

Literacy Practices; literacy practices are the actual modes of communication that a community uses, whether they be written, spoken, or otherwise. Specific literacy practices within the figured world that Ill be concentrating on are the actual forms of communication such as posts, asks, hashtags, and even images that convey messages. A lot of the communication on tumblr is based off of understood topics so something as simple as a word, symbol, or photo can communicate volumes. Specifically there are; text posts, reblogs, favorites, ask and response posts, images/image sets, gif-sets, and hash tags that separate the different types of posts. Generally people that use tumblr are also very interested and knowledgeable of pop culture so there are often references to novels, television shows, and movies. There is also a type of vernacular that is used on tumblr that differs from that on other social media sites.Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions: Comment by Revisions:

Important Vocabulary; while these words and phrases are simple and their definitions are usually common sense, on Tumblr some of these words have their own slightly different meanings. So, listed below are some key vocabulary terms that will help you to understand the context of these observation notes. 1. Dashboard- this is the name for the actual home page of Tumblr.com. Its similar to a News Feed on Twitter or Facebook. This is where the posts of all the people you follow will appear in chronological order with the most recent posts at the top and the oldest at the bottom. Think of it like the dashboard of your car. Its the control center where all the important pieces of the vehicle are manipulated. The same is true for your dashboard. You can control all aspects of the social media site- whether it be viewing the recent posts, changing the appearance of your personal blog, or finding new people to follow.

2. Posts- the main form of communication on Tumblr. This is what appears on the dashboard of people who follow you. There are multiple different kinds of posts on Tumblr. Texts posts are the most standard form (similar to a status update on Facebook) where the user simply types text and posts that onto their blog. Image posts just posting images instead of words, but the function is the same. You can also post gif and gifs sets which means that the pictures will move like small video clips (say, from a popular TV show or movie). Video posts are, obviously, posts of more full length videos. You can also post links and quotes in their own unique format onto your blog. 3. Asks- a secondary form of communication. Every user has an ask box where other tumblr users can ask them questions. They can do this anonymously if they wish (people who ask questions anonymously are usually referred to as anons on tumblr). People can reply to the questions people ask them and these answers will be posted to their blog.

4. Reblogs & Favorites; reblogs are the most common thing you will see on tumblr. This is when one user has made a post and another user can reblog it which will post it to their own blog. Essentially when you reblog something thats the same as agreeing with it. Rebloging is the equivalent of retweeting or sharing something on other social media sites. When you reblog you can also add your own text at the bottom of the post like a discussion thread. This can allow conversation and debate over many different topics. Favorites are the same as likes on Instagram, you tap the heart icon and the post is added to your favorite posts. This allows you to keep track of posts you really loved. 5. Hashtags; if you are familiar with hashtags on other social media like Twitter or Instagram then you already understand how hashtags are used on Tumblr. Essentially a user will hashtag a post- meaning they will put a # followed by some type or label for that particular post (for example; #text) and all posts that have that label will be grouped together for people to search. 6. Notes; notes are the collective amount of favorites or reblogs that a single post has from the time of its origination. For example; if a post as been reblogged 5 times and has been favorited 6 times, it would have a total of 11 notes 7. Archive; an archive is a section of your blog that keeps up with everything you have ever posted. It saves this data and sorts it by the moth you posted. So, if you were looking for something you posted last November, you would go to your archive, and sort by November 2013.

A Final Note; These observations are recorded in three sets. The observations will be in paragraph form based on approximately 20-30 minutes worth of posts at a certain time each day. The time and date of the observations are before each observation. Screenshots of the posts may be intermittently added so that the reader can gain their own personal understanding and context of the figured world. Observation One September 5, 2014 @6:15pm-6:45pm

Because I follow such a wide variety of people on tumblr there are many different posts on a very wide range, however most of the posts fall into certain categories (i.e; humor, inspiration, awareness, etc..) which I will label accordingly. When I first got onto my dashboard at this particular date and time I was greeted with an inspiring image post, the image said When life gives you a thousand reasons to cry, show life you have a thousand more to smile. Many people are familiar with this quote but they often need reminders so many Tumblr users will post inspiration very similar to this type to help others or simply to add a nice touch to their own personal blog. Ironically, the post directly underneath it was slightly less than motivating in saying maybe if i ignore my homework long enough it'll get easier. This was a text post meaning that a user typed it in directly and obviously had some harsh feelings about their school work. Although this post is negative, it is highly relatable and therefore received quite a few notes from other tumblr users. Next, while scrolling down there were a few artsy photo-posts. Some were of couples cuddling together in the dark. One was a drawing of a girl who's head had been replaced with a piano which read music in my head- quite popular for tumblr users who often relate their feelings to music and song lyrics. There were also free hand drawings to girls that were very life like. There was also a drawing of Malefecent, the villain in Sleeping Beauty. This is fairly significant because generally tumblr users who are artists will post things with a fair amount of relevance to the outside social world and since Malefacent is a pretty new and exciting movie they most likely drew inspiration from that for their artwork. Its also important to note that many Tumblr users use their blogs as a means to get themselves out there, meaning they post their art, photographs, and writing on the site for others to see. This is why many posts on Tumblr are simply pictures, drawings, or photographs. The next few posts on my dashboard were very humor-based. The first was a photo of a person in a panda costume carrying an actual baby panda. The caption read- zoo keepers in china wear panda costumes to keep baby pandas from feeling scared while being handled. The reply to that by another user was without context it looks like someone snuck in wearing a panda costume trying to steal a baby panda. This type of humor is very common on tumblr and its probably the most common of all post types, on my dashboard in specific (others may vary).

The next very dry humor post was an image set from a man whose wife had a birthday recently. The title explained that the wife had asked for a very simple, run of the mill party- nothing fancy at all. The husband took it very literally and actually decorated everything very blandly, only neutral colors, he labeled everything with black marker, and didnt make anything look the least bit special. But, he definitely followed her request completely. This is yet another example of the signature dry humor most often found on tumblr. Following this humor streak was a variety of different types of posts. There are more love-based pictures (i.e. people cuddling, kissing, etc.). There was also another funny post of a man on a canoe being chased by a goose who then made him cap-size; this was an image set post so you would follow the story through a set of images. There was also a few more that were quite funny like one text post was a conversation; Cop: who ordered all these pizzas?Me: you said we get one call. People on tumblr often make jokes about food, how much they eat, and how they're always hungry so there would definitely be many users relating to this. Many of posts on tumblr are simple images put in place to evoke a feeling of nostalgia or spark memories. There was a post of an old fashioned arcade that would cause many people to be reminded of their childhood. There was also a few other photographs of a tropical landscape with a waterfall, more glamorous shots of shopping bags and purses, a moonlit city scape, food photos, and one fairly provocative photo of Rihanna in barely-there clothes. There are many things on Tumblr that define a certain lifestyle as well. One of the posts was an image text post said early mornings, big shirts, messy hair, vogue, and coffee. This creates a lifestyle ideal that many tumblr users lust after. More posts that were posted to represent a certain lifestyle were more fashion pictures, pretty girls riding in nice cars, tattoos, glamour fashion posts, and other tropical posts. After this there was a couple different posts. There were more inspiring posts, one of them saying single but never alone meaning no matter what your relationship situation is you are never alone in it. A lot of people talk about their relationship struggles on Tumblr so this is something thats definitely relatable to most tumblr users. Going off of that- shortly after there was another text post about how someone gets very attached to people so easily and it makes them upset, they talk to someone one time, gain some interest and then all of a sudden they cant stop thinking about them. This is another typical and very relatable tumblr post. Overall during this observation set the majority of the types of posts I normally see were present. There were humor posts, inspiration, self expression, and art/photography. There are other types of posts that often come up on my dashboard that were not present but they are sure to come up in later observations.

Observation Two September 7, 2014 @11:15pm-11:35pm

Tumblr is often quite a different scene when it gets into later hours of the night so I thought it would give great insight to display posts from one of these times. When it gets later the posts tend to get a little more honest and provocative, although, since a lot of the people I follow live in different time zones and different countries across the world this tendency does vary. This block of time starts out with a few generic posts such as one of a girl wearing a fitted red dress and black motorcycle jacket proceeded by a couple different photographs of nature. One was a photo of a lavender plant and the following was a picture of a girl in the woods. Its extremely common for users to post pictures like this to fit the theme of their blog. For instance, many people have tropical themed blog and therefore they often post photos of beach and island landscapes. Such posts dont usually have much meaning except for aesthetic purposes. The next post I found to be extremely interesting. The original text post read most classic novels are classics because they were written by old white men for other white men. so, like, dont ever feel bad for not reading them. After the text post people kept adding pictures of classic novels that in fact were not written by white men for white men such as; Frankenstein, The Awakening, and Uncle Toms Cabin. As I had mentioned in the above background notes, Tumblr users are often very into literature, pop culture, and overall educational media and I believe that the extensiveness of this post definitely supports that. The users were trying to tell the original text poster that- yes, many classics were written by old, white, entitled men, but that doesnt mean that all classics were and it definitely does not make those works unimportant. As expected, the next few posts were pretty provocative, there were quite a few photos posted in this time period by many different users of couples kissing, cuddling, etc. This is pretty popular on tumblr- in fact some blogs are dedicated strictly to posts such as these (i.e; the user in the bottom post- @sexual-passion). It is also extremely common for these posts to pop up later at night because its seen as more acceptable, similar to the reasons that kids shows come on TV earlier in the day and adult shows come on later. Often times posts like this are hash-tagged with #tumblrafterdark. The last significant post in this time period was one about Seattle, Washington raising their minimum wage to $15. Whether this is true or not I cannot verify because Tumblr is not always the most reliable source for news, however the comments attached to this post are pretty important to show the culture that tumblr embodies.

This type of support for the rise of minimum wage and the support for the community it improves is very signature of tumblr users and defines the domain they support to perfection. Overall tumblr after dark is mostly similar to tumblr during normal hours, with a few exceptions of a slightly more risqu post type.

Observation Three September 11, 2014 @8:00pm-8:30pm

In this last observation things on Tumblr seem to be operating just as normal. There are a lot of photo posts with quotes in it on here tonight, so apparently the users I follow are in a inspiring kind of mood. A lot of them are very good so Ill share a few examples;-people arent against you, theyre for themselves-I think about you, but I dont say it anymore-please remember that you were beautiful before he told you that you were-you cant let other people tell you who you are, you have to decide that for yourself

These picture quotes are some of them most common. Tumblr users relate to them really often and they often have a very high number of notes. There is such a wide variety of them and many blogs strictly create photo quotes.

Since its September 11th there are many different posts relating back to 9/11 and thanking the soldiers for their service. Some people have posted things about 9/11 conspiracies, some posted general Never Forget posts, and some other personal text posts just saying how sorry they were for the families who lost their loved ones. My favorite picture was one of the two people jumping from the top of the towers holding hands. This is my favorite picture because everyone continuously adds comments about how beautiful it is and how much hope it gives them in humanity, it will make you tear up.

Other than that everything was fairly normal. There was one post entitles 13 text messages I should have never sent that was just as it was titled. It was 13 different texts from a girl to what is assumed to be her ex boyfriend basically saying how much she misses him and how sad she was that he was gone. It had a lot of notes so obviously many people could relate to it. The observation period ended with quite a few more text posts and then a couple more of the tropical and beach landscapes that the tropical blogs often reblog. Overall the content of my dashboard was pretty normal except for the added 9/11 posts.

Interview For the interview portion of my observations I will be interviewing one of the users I follow, Kelly Brabec, who I introduced at the beginning of the observation noteshttp://kiiiiirby.tumblr.com/