CI 5472: Entry 6.0 Media Enthnographies

This week our instructor has asked us to "examine to online interactions, practices, postings and reflections for an audience of a particular media construct." Okay, so my slacker-student and teacher mentality led me to think..."hmm, would a chatroom interaction count?" I think a chat constitutes a "media construct" so I have chosen to analyze the interactions between my chat buddy, Brent and I.

Our conversation from last Thursday...

Brittany duMonceaux > Hello friend
Brent Eckhoff > Hi!
Brent Eckhoff > How's student teaching going?
Brittany duMonceaux > I am failing at life
Brittany duMonceaux > :)
Brent Eckhoff > Oh oh, what's up?

As you can see here, the academic interaction always begins with a bit of non-school related catching up in which i terribly over state my troubles, showing my light tone through the use of the smiley. So we conclude....

1. Academic chats begin with social nice-ities
2. Chatrooms do not allow for tone to be conveyed as in spoken-word interaction. The user should use emoticons or explain language subtleties such as sarcasm.



Brent Eckhoff > It sucks how normal life takes a back burner when the teaching starts.
Brent Eckhoff > It's true!
Brittany duMonceaux > I'm just not used to holding this much information in my brain at one time!
Brittany duMonceaux > ah!
Brent Eckhoff > It can only get better. You're doing the Eckhoff therapy regimen. You set the bar low and then everything is an improvement after that! No disappointments!
Brent Eckhoff > It gets a bit much. Eventually, you learn how to take it in and just let it sit until the appropriate moment. Then, it comes out when needed.
Brent Eckhoff > It's taken me 5 years to start doing that effectively.
Brittany duMonceaux > i'm looking forward to that moment
Brent Eckhoff > Wine helps!
Brittany duMonceaux > haha. sounds good.

We move from small talk to specific teacher-talk, which almost always ends up with the veteran Brent telling the newbie Brittany not to worry. You will notice that as the talk gets more involved, lines between hitting "return" get longer. So we conclude,

3. The more general the talk, the shorter lines that are expected.

Brent Eckhoff > I just finished some narrative papers. Those damn comma rules make me want to shoot someone.
Brent Eckhoff > Those must be just awesome.
Brittany duMonceaux > haha. my students don't even know that the 10 comma rules exist. I kid you not.
Brent Eckhoff > Damn! I teach 14 and the "Teacher of the Year" (I share her classroom) teaches 16!
Brent Eckhoff > they won't remember any of them in a month.
Brittany duMonceaux > 16 comma rules!!! Jesus, I thought there WERE only ten.
Brittany duMonceaux > I am going to die.


Brittany duMonceaux > ok, so... media ethnographies chapter6. that is this weeks topic right? Brent Eckhoff > I guess so!
Brent Eckhoff > It seems like a very bizarre topic to me. When did people decide to study that? Brittany duMonceaux > I just browsed around some blogs, and I haven't seen anyone's post yet. Maybe nobody really understands what to do
Brittany duMonceaux > I agree with you.... I was very skeptical this chapter.
Brittany duMonceaux > I can just imagine my students right now blinking... just blinking at me Brent Eckhoff > ha! I totally get that.

One of us randomly interjects that we actually have to do work in here (usually it's me) and we typically begin with a personal and practical response to the reading. So we conclude,

4. Academic talk begins abruptly
5. Academic talk begins with a personal response to assignments

Brent Eckhoff > Alot of the things they study seem like the types of things that get ruined by studying them. Can you imagine? How easily could you kill something fun like chat rooms with kids by telling them that you're "studying" them?
Brittany duMonceaux > This stuff was kind of about asking how a certain media positions you as a viewer... I can think of only one example off the top of my head... Shrek positioning you for a fairy tale, evoking knowledge of archetypal storylines
Brittany duMonceaux > Ha! you are so right!
Brittany duMonceaux > But even that feels to me more like the next chapter on genres
Brent Eckhoff > Yeah. Have you ever watched a local Fox News broadcast? It's hillarious how much they pander to the idea that people want disaster stories. They ALWAYS have a fire story; even if it's a wussy little fire that didn't really damage much.
Brent Eckhoff > True
Brittany duMonceaux > Oh my gosh, I remember when they had a whole story on neighbors needing to blow leaves off of their lawns from wind
Brittany duMonceaux > GASP

In the above section, we'll notice one of the most important aspects of online chatting, which is the non-linearity of entries and responses that occur when the two participants type and entry at the same time. When Brent says that fun things will be ruined, I am still typing about Shrek and so am not able to respond to his comment until my next entry. So we conclude,

7. A non-linear conversation is expected. Just finish typing what you are typing and hit enter. Respond in the next entry.


Brittany duMonceaux > There were a few ideas that I think could work in the classroom...
Brent Eckhoff > I know. How dumb.
Brittany duMonceaux > they would include, let's see, the radio show thing (61), the teen magazine thing (61) and "coolness" in advertising (56)
Brent Eckhoff > Definitely. You know, I did something the other day...I showed the class a trailer for "The Shining" that's recut to look like a romantic comedy...except I didn't tell them that. I just said I would show them a trailer for "The Shining". They were set for a horror movie and then I gave them that. Great reactions!
Brittany duMonceaux > I have a big "?!" written in the margins by the teen magazine thing that says girl magazines support feminist ideas
Brittany duMonceaux > Oh that's a cool idea, where did you find the clip?
Brent Eckhoff > Uh....not the ones I've seen.
Brent Eckhoff > Youtube.


Brent Eckhoff > Setting them up like that and then totally smashing their expectations is a great study in that whole "media setting up the audience" kind of deal.
Brittany duMonceaux > i love it.
Brent Eckhoff > It's a lot of fun! Great way to introduce mood/tone
Brittany duMonceaux > just saw the shining trailer!!! it is so awesome!!
Brent Eckhoff > It makes you laugh, doesn't it?
Brittany duMonceaux > totally!
Brent Eckhoff > That Peter Gabriel song...classic!
Brittany duMonceaux > i thought the same thing

Here we'll notice another affordance of the internet chat room which is multi-tasking online. When I hear a YouTube suggestion, I can go right there! So we conclude...

8. Online chat affords instant connection to media content examples.

Brittany duMonceaux > ok, but from a practical standpint, what are we using the videos to teach again? Like what would be a student task to go along with it
Brent Eckhoff > I went with mood and tone. "how do the clip makers create the moods here since they're totally different from the originals?"
Brittany duMonceaux > that's what I have been struggling with because as college students we can just talk about it and that's how we learn and demonstrate learning....


Brittany duMonceaux > we seem to be running into a bit of a wall again, though. It seems like you and I are in the mindset of using media to teach something not necessarily media related and the text kinda makes me feel like these "ethnographies" are just studied for their own sake Brittany duMonceaux > I guess maybe i disagree with Beach on this one
Brittany duMonceaux > or did you view it differently??

You'll notice here that the lines are now much longer now that we are into the "meat" of the conversation. See number 3.


Brittany duMonceaux > maybe being in the classroom for a week has made me more skeptical. it seems like eveytihng takes longer than i expect it to and that there might be more important core skills to cover than internet chat rooms and fan fiction
Brittany duMonceaux > and I think that the descriptions of "what students could do" are really nebulous... like it would be hard for me to tell them what to do on an assignments
Brent Eckhoff > It will always take longer than you think...always. Nebulous will always be the way it is...especially with the wide range of ability level.
Brittany duMonceaux > I guess it would have really helped me to see a "teaching idea" or two or three in this chapter
Brent Eckhoff > I re read the summary. Maybe it's because I teach 8th grade, but I dont' think my kids could handle their own media ethonography studies. They're so obsessed with themselves, it's kind of disgusting sometimes. Brent Eckhoff > True. Brent Eckhoff > Sooooooooooooo true. Brittany duMonceaux > haha. I can see this happening... I give them the interview example and tell them that TV watching can be influenced by who you are watching with and the social aspect of the watching. Their eyes would say.... "So?"

There always seems to come a time where we critique the reading and ideas in a practical way. So we conclude....

9. No matter how quality a text, college students will complain about it.

Brittany duMonceaux > What happened to students being into good music ????
Brittany duMonceaux > I brought in the smashing pumpkins and audio slave for teaching figurative language, and some of them were like,
Brittany duMonceaux > HUH?
Brent Eckhoff > Sad.
Brent Eckhoff > I've been playing the "Pearl Jam" station on Pandora.com and the students ahve the same reaction. They play both of those bands on their as well. Sad.
Brittany duMonceaux > I think that is might be interesting to talk about internet chatting when talking about the cultural importance of physical appearance or something... but I don't see it standing alone
Brittany duMonceaux > I swear to god, I am not that old
Brent Eckhoff > It would be hard to do. Kids get weird.

In this section we'll notice that the conversation always devolves, like into two young people talking about how they feel old. The conversation will come back to academia, but in a rather unnatural way (see line starting with "I think it might")

10. Conversations will digress
11. Digressions will be brought back to topic in an unnatural, "oh yeah, our teacher is reading our transcripts" kind of fashion.