Throughout my day as a typical university of Richmond student who, before entering the FYS Cyberspace, was unaware the extent to which communication technologies are incorporated into my everyday routine. More specifically I was unaware the extent to which the use of email as a way of communicating not only with my peers but for academic purposes as well was incorporated. Personally I am very much dependent on the Internet and email as a form of communication and from this dependence would have very little reason to question the origin or the impact the Internet is having on my social life and how it is shaping the personal lives of people across many universities around the nation. This concept of our personal attachment to email arose after noticing not only how email was general the only source of communication with my professors outside of class but also through the process of joining a sorority where email is the main medium to spread vital information throughout the whole chapter. Since becoming a member of my sorority it is becoming clear how much email is ingrained in the very root of all we do. Questions that arise for me include, how did email become such an integral part of the academic and business community and to start off with how did email evolve into the communications source that it is today? How has our reliance on email changed the way in that we exchange information with one another, in the academic or social sense? From this change in how we exchange information has it made as more socially dependent and interlinked, as Ted Kaczynski would have suggested, and is this a bad thing? Sven Birkerts makes the argument about the deterioration of language through the use of technology, is this noticeable or supported that through the use of email we are witnessing the break down of the English language. In my research so far I found these questions could be hard to find evidence for because they are all relatively general and cover a broad basis of email and the Internet. I also have to note that in the sources I find people could be very biased themselves because a majority of individuals benefit from the creation of these new Internet technologies; benefit in the form of jobs and profit. So it could be safe to conclude that there will be many sources that strive to prove the merit in advancing communications technology. A tentative thesis statement that I have come about through my research so far is as follows; Email is changing society in the way that we communicate and we find that the more and more connected we are to the internet the more and more we are disconnected from our individuality as a person.
Annotated Bibliography
1) Parker, Philip M. Email: Webster's Timeline History, 1697-2007. Icon Group International, 2009. Print.
Parker introduces us to the timeline of Email and when the linguistic word first appeared it communities and its usages throughout history. My article is interested in the evolution of email as a form of technology so it could potentially be useful to be able to follow the creation of the word email in linguistic terms. Parker is a source where I can derive information of the development and creation of email and how it has become ingrained in literature and pop culture.
2) Milne, Esther. Letters, Postcards, Email: Technologies of Presence. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print.
Milne shows us the connection between letters, postcards and email with networked communication practices. Milne concludes that the physical absence in the forms of communication through these mediums may not hinder social practices but instead promote a more intimate and spiritual connection with the other individual they are corresponding to. Seeing as how my project will focus mainly on how email is changing communication either for better or worse this would provide a source where it would counteract the claim that email is breaking down personal relationship through impersonal contact and support the idea that email is indeed making these relationships stronger.
3) Mann, Ronald A. Norfolk Fire Rescue Officers' Attitudes and Perceptions towards Cell Phones and Email. 2007. Print.
Through this source Mann presents the view from the governments perspective of the use of Cell phones and email, through the attitude of the fire department. This could be useful in my paper because it give the perspective of how the government feels about the use of these telecommunication presences and how it is either beneficial or a hindrance on their practices. My paper focuses mainly on the uses of email in the social and business arena but an opinion on the use of it in governmental practices to promote safety could be a strong claim supporting the practice of email. Also the points made opposing incorporating new technology in the everyday practices with the fire department could counter the positive feedback.
4) Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies: the Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1994. Print.
In Birkerts writing he focuses on the demise of the English language through the advancement of communication technology. Birkerts predicts that through the advancement of these technologies people will become gradually become less aware of themselves as individuals and the overall quality of the writers work will suffer in the transition from letters to email. For my paper, I will focus on how email will affect the English language in university communities and business communities. Birkerts helps us to see how; email in the place of letter writing can lead to impersonal contact for all involved.
5) Sundqvist, Anett. "A Qualitative Analysis of Email Interactions of Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication." AAC: Augmentative and Alternative Communication 26.4 (2010): 255-66. Print.
In this study Anett aims to study how a group of six children are introduced to different forms of communication technologies and how they interact after the experiment. It claims through the study, that from the use and practice of email, the children developed new social skills and increased their social participation. This source can be introduced in relation to email within the academic environment because from the data collected we can gather how it is effecting the socialization of the youth in different communities, in this particular case, Sweden.
6) Hinrichs, Lars. "Global Englishes and the Sociolinguistics of Spelling: A Study of Jamaican Blog and Email Writing." English World-Wide 32.1 (2011): 46-73. Print.
In this study Hinrichs analyzes the linguistics from Jamaican Blogs and Email writing, in relation to the English language. He discusses the use of slang dealing with linguistic constraints and makes the connection back to the Jamaican or Creole communities. This could be useful as a source within my paper because from this study I can gather evidence of culture influencing online writing in the form of blogs and email and how the informality of these mediums allows such lenience within the English language.
Here are some ideas that will help you focus this topic:
ReplyDelete--What role does e-mail (as opposed to voice or texting) play in personal communication? In professional communication?
--Is e-mail considered more formal now? Has it replaced the written memo or letter, common until the mid-1990s, as formal communication?
--What effects has electronic mail, as a technology, had on our speaking and thinking? Our expectations of response-time?
These are all worthy questions to think about, but you may find that answering them all will still give you too much to handle. That said, better to have too many sources ready, in case the research gets you interested in a slightly different claim or even topic.