Final - Part 1 - Book Groups

Arenas/Areas of Activity: Book Groups

Discussion groups had a much different flow then that of the plurks and blogs. In the plurks you could take what you had been reading and embody it. A person could become Dimitri-9 and spout things the character actually said in “The Filth” or things that the character might have been prone to saying. Although taking on a persona nulled your ability to go back to your previous identity without revealing who you were before the transformation (unless of course you created a separate identity independent of your original instead of morphing your previous one into the new one) because when you took on a persona without a backup you risked revealing yourself if you slipped out of it to reclaim your original name for a plurk or two. Isn’t this what Greg Feely found out? He couldn't be both Slade and Greg. His 'original' persona was ruined when he let someone else take care of it. There were rewards to taking on the parapersona challenge that went alongside with the negatives though. What the class gains through the absorption of being introduced to another persona is actual interaction with the book. The person takes the book into them when they read it and then grant it life and share what they created on plurk. Suddenly the character isn’t bound by what is written, read, and discussed. There is another realm to be found here.

Blogs were a more personal endeavor then the plurks. Resembling a log or journal of all our thoughts about the class and the newest ideas presented to us, little interaction happened within them. When reading “The Ticket That Exploded” or “The Invention of Morel” it served as a place to put out your theories and confusions, a record of how your perception of the plot progressed. If you were lucky or actually put effort into making a theory or connection to something else in the class you got a lengthy comment from Prichard, if not then oh well. The blogs were sort of like Thuy’s metanovel in “Ribofunk”. Thuy saved it to a secure site and shared it when she wanted. Other’s input about it was welcome, but unnecessary to its continued growth. The work relied on the writer; the person scribbling in the margins was more of an accessory.

The discussion groups were 100% electronic. We only met once in class and only a handful were actually there for it. Without meeting face-to-face conversations were slow. After posting you had to wait almost a full day or longer for a reply. Input was also scattered. Some posts were repeats and the topics changed without transition. This contrasted the class room setting where it was fairly easy to follow along and the professor nudged the direction of it when necessary. The professor guided the class so that we were talking about why it was we felt a certain way toward some of the book’s uncomfortable themes and made us think on whether we should alter our viewpoint. In the online discussion groups we were without that guidance. When we thought we saw something important we attempted to lead the conversation towards it, but often we found ourselves unsure if what we were digging at had any significance at all.

The discussion groups had something on the class meetings though. In class few people actually spoke and of the many who didn’t speak only a small percentage used plurk in class or blogs outside of class to say what they were too shy to actually voice. With the discussion groups everyone had to say something so it forced people to open up. Even though what was said lacked substance most the time at least everyone was contributing and making an effort. I think the person who put it best was Trever Schy who posted, “Even though I do not think that the discussion board came very close to classroom discussions in the sense of bringing new ideas to light I feel like it was helpful for my comprehension with the story line. After reading the chapters, looking through what people had written in the discussion board usually filled the gaps in the story that I was missing, which made understanding the book much easier” (Dust discussion board thread GRADING, 3/14/09).

Between the three tools used in this class I would have to say that plurk was by far the best. The more casual feel took the pressure off trying to not look dumb. Within the realm of the discussion board there was no place for what dreams you had while reading your book or which music video best represented the book. In that way, the discussions were limited. Though without the personal noise, the discussion groups were more open to touching on things more in depth. Only a few actually took advantage of this, but the potential was still there for everyone. There was always the option to stay focused, on task, to pick about the book in the more traditional of ways. Going about this same route on plurk had its difficulties due to the character restraints and the fact that some messages were lost in the dark realms of “mark all as read”.