Revised Data Analysis #2

I collected my second set of data from a Facebook thread.  This data set was collected from my niece’s timeline.  Similarly to the last data set, she was tagged in the post.  However, this particular post was a personal video rather than a meme.  Like the previous post, this one was school related as well.  One of my niece’s friends made a video about the most influential teacher she had in high school.  She chose the music teacher at her high school, and then she tagged all the other students who were in the same program.  My niece did not comment on this particular post, but there were many other people who did.

My second set of data is slightly different from the first set in the sense that it includes far more items to research.  For that reason I have not included the actual thread in this post, it would just take up too much room.  I will, however, forward a copy of the thread to each of the people in my group so they are aware of what I researched.  There are also some adult influences in this post that were not there in the first data set.  Also, there was much more data to sift through.  I focused specifically on the difference in the language used in the presence of adults, even if it is in an online community.  My first data set focused on the changes in typographical differences in comments, the use of internet speak or lingo, the use of emoticons, and different uses of vernacular.  

I looked at the some of the same things in my second data set.  For instance, I found that there were just as many uses of emoticons in the second data set; however, the internet speak and use of vernacular was significantly curbed.  Not that it is particularly interesting, but I did find that the high school students changed the way they use language when they are around adults.  I do think it is interesting that it still happens online.  I will continue to look at the specific differences in vernacular used by the group of participants.  The more I look at both sets of data, I do think that will be the most useful piece of data that I have encountered thus far.

I found the second data set to be more important to my research in some ways and more difficult in others.  At this time, I have decided to look specifically at how the use of language was different in the second data set, presumably because there were adults present from the beginning of the post.  The original poster included some teachers and adults in her post, which changed the entire tone of the conversation from the first data set I analyzed.  For instance, there are eleven instances of reminiscences about humorous quotes that the teacher had said in class, usually to gain the attention of someone who was 

I found the readings for this week to be particularly relevant to my research.  Although the reading by McLean focuses on a hybrid cultural identity of an adolescent girl; I still think it important because it does speak to identity on social networking sites.  I also found the article by Jacobs to be enlightening.  It focuses specifically on IMs, and although it’s somewhat outdated, it still pertains to my research.  The article focuses on AIM, but that gave way to Yahoo chat, and then MSN messenger, and finally now Facebook chat is the biggest thing in IMing.  I believe some of the readings we will discuss on the 24th will be relevant as well.

I would also like to apologize. I didn't realize that I hadn't actually published this post.