Friday 6 September 2013

Internet Diaries and Genres


# Blog 4: Internet Diaries and Genres
 

Genres are socially based. They are dialogues that form links in the chain of speech communication and are a set of conventional, highly, organised constraints that produce interpretation and meaning. (Van Luyn, 2013). It is often seen that genres are normally categorised by certain contexts and can be formed to identify different groups. Over the past four weeks’ of being a part of Habbo Hotel I have expanded my virtual networking abilities to observe what other online users may call their reality world. Essentially, genres are included within online communication devices that can evolve a form of text. Unlike the majority of social networking sites, Habbo Hotel has the ability for your virtual avatar to become a part chats rooms, private messaging, and to be able to post “post-it notes” on the walls of a particular message room within the hotel. This defiantly shows that Habbo Hotel is an “internet diary” that various users around the world can observe, read, and have the opportunity to access several details,  just as McNeill describes in this week’s readings.   
McNeill (2011) discusses that diaries have been around since the late 1990s. The idea of a diary from than to now has broadly expanded, “internet diaries” (also known as “blogs”) give access to lives in progress to a potential audience of thousands. After spending time in my virtual network, I noticed different genres that are formed around the base power this can be known as the convention (set rules) that may apply when the user is online. Another form of noticing genres throughout social network societies can be by their distinctive authenticity, in Habbo Hotel this can be looked at through your avatar which is represents you when you are online. However, Habbo Hotel does allow the user to post and display information freely depending on what they choose and not choose to share online is merely the user’s choice.
As analysing the behaviour on Habbo Hotel, many key phrases, slang is used to shorten the meaning of words. An example of this is “ASL”, meaning your age, sex and location and many other well-known cyber slang which is almost in every social network. Power can be easily gained to construct a central meaning in a particular network. Discussed on http://www.socialbakers.com/resource-center/808-article-the-20-most-interesting-social-networks is a further explanation on social networking sites and the 20 most popular sites to visit.


Reference List:

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen. In Language and New Media. (C.Rowe & E.L Wyss, Ed.). Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc.

Van Luyn, A (2013) BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making Of Place, Lecture 6: Genre [PowerPoint Slide Notes]. Retrieved From: http://learnjcu.edu.au
 
Image Credits:

Confessions of a Aspergers Mom. (2011) Not the expert mom will all the answers… the mom who can’t stop looking for them. Retrieved From: http://confessionsofanaspergersmom.blogspot.com.au/2011_10_01_archive.html

 

 

1 comment:

  1. Hi Katherine,

    I particularly liked your blog this week. I find it fascinating that, unlike me, you actually have the ability to enter your social network through an avatar and travel to different areas of your virtual world, not always confined to limited pages (i.e. the Facebook Newsfeed and personal profiles). Have you noticed any regular users that are on daily and are, as McNeil (2011) states, “publishing serial chronicles of [their] daily life” (p.315)? I imagine that Habbo Hotel would incorporate many more genres to the networking site rather than just diaries. Becauses you are able to travel around your virtual network as if it were a town, not only would you find the diaries of individual people, but stereotypes of people and the places that attract those particular groups, such as virtual nightclubs, libraries, and outside areas. I find it interesting the way that Habbo Hotel defies the normal structure of social networks and incorporates other aspects of daily life. I look forward to reading more about how you’ve developed through the site.

    Kendall

    Reference:

    McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen. In Language and New Media. (C.Rowe & E.L Wyss, Ed.). Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc.

    ReplyDelete