Introduction:
In some unique way, we are all digital composers. For this project, I specifically chose my roommate, Courtney Noonan, to interview and observe. She is a senior at Colorado State University and pursuing her degree in journalism. Courtney is an excellent writer and a few of her papers have even been published on the cultural website, Cultur’s. By utilizing genre ecology and activity system I learned that it’s efficient to examine the methods and findings of a specific digital composer based on their process.
Methods:
Courtney Noonan is a digital composer because of her published work online. I thought conducting an interview with her would give me a better understanding of how she digitally composes and more specifically what genres and tools she uses. The interview also allowed me to understand how she conducts her writing and what her aims and goals are when creating her work. Noonan began the interview, saying that her environment for writing is simplistic and that she does most of her writing at home and in her bedroom. She is given a topic at times and other times she isn’t. All of the content is from her and she believes that the style of writing matters more than the content at times. The goals of her posts are to say something that is profound to others. She favors mostly short writing to give a direct message to her audience. Noonan’s audience consists of her professor, classmates and whoever reads her public pieces online. She uses many tools when conducting her work. She digitally composes on her laptop and accesses image databases on the web. Off-screen tools consist of music, her cell phone and the TV. Along the way, Noonan has faced some challenges while writing. Coming up with exact arguments she wants to make is a challenge for her and sometimes it takes her a few tries to have it pertain to the argument she wants to get across. Most of her work has pictures to display evidence of her writing. What I found most interesting, is that she says that using visuals are better than text based posts, especially with online writing. She continues to say that it’s important to have visuals or the reader wont be interested in the text. Noonan selects pictures she wants to post by considering if the pictures can be duplicated. She uses image databases to make sure there is no copyright on the photos. She believes they show importance of the writing and they help guide the reader’s thoughts. Noonan has set a few rules for herself when writing. She says that it’s important to maintain your voice, when editing, and make sure it’s your voice so your writing can be distinct. When asked what her strengths are in her writing, Noonan says that she can put out good content really quickly and she is good at writing about things that are prevalent to our generation. Lastly, I asked her what her favorite subject matter to write about was, she replied with, “I love writing about social issues that are going on almost exclusively in our generation. That can include body image issues, equality issues, and inner struggle. I also love the format of online writing, probably because I am a product of my generation that loves quick, easy reading.”
Activity System & Genre Ecology Map:
According to Clay Spinuzzi, writer of “Compound Mediation in Software Development,” the activity system shows activities, collaborative use of artifacts and tools to transform a particular objective with a specific outcome in mind. Starting with artifacts, Courtney Noonan uses a few tools while composing her work. She uses her laptop to write her papers, article and to access image databases. Noonan doesn’t use many off-screen artifacts when digitally composing. Her off-screen artifacts consist of just her cell phone, music or television. These off-screen pieces are mostly distractions from her actual composing. Next, the subject of Noonan’s recent published work is mainly about beauty in women and also cultural beauty. For example, one article, “Incredible Beauty Products from Around the World,” features many types of cultural beauty products that can be purchased around the world. When Noonan digitally composes, she doesn’t have many rules or restrictions for her work. Her rules might consist of just getting her work done at a certain time to turn into her professor. The topic of the content of her writing is mostly up to her. As for the community of Noonan’s writing, her work environment is very simple. She writes mostly at home in her bedroom. Anyone that is in the apartment is apart of the community. Noonan’s division of labor can vary, but mostly consists of writing her articles individually, writing them efficiently and on time. As for the outcome, Noonan explained in her interview, that the aim of her work is to give a good and direct message or argument about a topic and to write something that is profound.
According to Clay Spinuzzi, writer of “Compound Mediation in Software Development,” the genre ecology framework is based on this concept of tool ecologies. But instead of focusing on the functional aspects of tools, it focuses on the interpretive aspects of genres of tools, artifact types that are regularly developed and interpreted in ongoing activities. The genre ecology map includes off-screen genres and on-screen genres to show the writers tools in both areas. While digitally composing, there are tools one may use to complete their work. These tools can be on-screen, where the work is being done, or off-screen, which are usually distractions but could also be notes or other items to help digitally compose. When observing Courtney Noonan while she writes, she has tools and artifacts that she uses to help create her work. Her main on-screen genre includes the laptop she uses to digitally compose, or write. When writing, she creates arguments and claims about to support her content. Noonan also uses image databases, where she finds un-copyrighted images to add to her work. She must use the Internet to search for these image databases, making the Internet one of her on-screen genres. Noonan first writes her work on a Google doc before she transfers it to a Word Press blog. She also uses a word press blog to submit her published work online and to the public. As for off-screen genres, Noonan doesn’t have very many off-screen tools that help her create and get her work done. She has her cell phone for checking text messages and social media, TV shows playing in the background and music that she listens to, that she believes helps her create her work. These tools are obviously distractions or there to enjoy while she takes breaks from her work. Genre ecology map’s help show tools that the author uses in the process of digitally composing.
Findings
http://culturs.guru/2014/10/incredible-beauty-products-from-around-the-world/
Writing online is becoming more common as time and technology advances. Technology innovation is creating a new virtual world for almost anything: articles, books, shopping and more. Being a student that is taking the course “Writing Online” has shown me how valuable and important this concept really is. Today, increasing amounts of public and social discourse takes place online. Courtney Noonan has a few articles that have been published on the cultural website, Cultur’s. Today, most people are getting their information from readings online. The fact that Noonan’s articles are being written and published electronically shows that writing online is a valuable process. Writing online isn’t easy, and the author needs to learn the technologies needed to effectively produce online texts. During the interview, Noonan justified that her published work is first written on a Google Doc, then transferred to her Word Press account and then submitted onto the website. This shows that she conducts all of her content completely electronically. The creation and the finished product of Noonan’s work is completely done on-screen. This shows that writing online can be completely done with just on-screen genres. Noonan’s published work is specifically about beauty in women and cultural beauty. In her article, “Apparently, All You Need to Create the PerfectWoman is Photoshop and an American Magazine,” is about a project that Marius Vibe, a Norwegian artist, has created and which has become viral. The artist used Photoshop to combine eight different women from 2011 Maxim’s “hottest woman alive,” to create “the world’s most beautiful woman.” When something goes viral, most people look online to search and learn about the popular concept. Noonan’s article is very informative and also relatable to the audience.
Contributing to the increasingly virtual world, online shopping is becoming more popular and rapidly innovating to fit customer needs and get their products to them in a more convenient way. Catalogs and stores have even come to an end to move business to strictly online. Noonan’s other article, “Incredible Beauty Products from Around the World,” has many different culturally unique beauty products. With each product, there is a link that takes the reader to the company’s website and also a link to where you can purchase the product online. This article is informative as well as convenient, giving the reader a link straight to a website where they can purchase the product. Overall, almost everything has or is going to move to the online world. Technology advancements make the move that much easier, and knowing how to write online will be very beneficial in the future.
Online writing is very successful when the author provides many online platforms for the reader to explore and take in as evidence of their claims. Courtney Noonan uses a few online sources and websites to write her beauty and cultural beauty articles. In her article “Incredible Beauty Products from Around the World,” she lists many different culturally unique beauty products. With each product, there is a link that takes the reader to the company’s website and also a link to where you can purchase the product online. Both of these links are very helpful, in the sense that the reader can find information about the company and the product and also easily be taken to an online platform where they can buy the product.
Noonan’s other article “Apparently, All You Need to Create the Perfect Woman is Photoshop and an American Magazine,” also has a few online platforms within it. Noonan describes that Marius Vibe, a Norwegian artist, has created the perfect woman on Photoshop with many different celebrity women. She provides a link to the artist’s personal website to present who he is and all of the projects he has accomplished. She then provides another link to a Sploid news article that has praised Vibe for his masterful Photoshop abilities. This doesn’t give Sploid a positive representation because Vibe’s approach should be criticized and not honored. Olivia Whiteley is what Vibe named the perfect woman created with Photoshop. Noonan provides a link to a blog website to provide more evidence on Vibe’s project. The article shows that the artist chose women who were defined by Maxim magazine as the eight “hottest women alive” – who just happen to be white, famous and thin. Vibe did not use women differing in cultures. Next, Noonan uses the online platform “BuzzFeed,” to portray how viral Vibe’s project has become. BuzzFeed noted it was obvious that the eight women were of similar race and stature, and mentioned that Vibe regretted not using “picks of his own” to represent different races.
The last online platform that Noonan used to present her evidence in her article is a link to a National Geographic article. The article is about how culturally diverse America has become. It describes how there is a lot of interracial reproduction. The article states that Americans who identify as multi-racial have gone up by 32 percent since the year 2000. As this number increases, those who look like Vibe’s “perfect women” will become more rare. In the future, individuals will no longer be just one race, but multiple.
When writing online, it is crucial to include visuals and photos with a piece of writing. During my interview with Courtney Noonan, she stated that picture and visual posts are better and more successful than text based posts. Photo based posts are a must, especially with writing online. Writing online is becoming more common, but so is convenience. A lot of text online can potentially lose the readers interest in the post. With online writing, it is very important to have visuals and photos to guide the reader through the post. Also, pictures keep the reader interested in the writing piece as a whole. Picture based posts are extremely important when writing online. The piece is easy to understand and can attract the readers attention. Deciding what pictures to place in a piece of writing can also be difficult for a digital composer. Noonan stated during our interview that she only selects pictures that are able to be duplicated for her writing pieces. She uses image databases to make sure that there is no copyright on the image. She choses these photos based on if they will help show the importance of her work and also if they can guide the readers thoughts. This shows that deciding what images to place in online writing can be difficult based on copyright issues and the reflectiveness of the writing.
Conclusion:
As a digital composer, one must address the different genres and artifacts in their writing to really connect and understand how they create their pieces. When choosing Courtney Noonan as a digital composer to interview and observe, it was easy to understand her writing when putting together a genre ecology map and activity system based on her work. It was also clearer to analyze her specific work and find out why it is important to digitally compose. Overall, it was important to learn about different genres and artifacts when digitally composing and it was effective to draw out these elements to get a better understanding.
Alexandra Lacy 