Engaging Others in Online Social Networking Sites: Rhetorical Practices in MySpace and Facebook

• Main Author: Vie, Stephanie Ellen
• Other Authors: Kimme Hea, Amy C.
• Language: EN
• Published: The University of Arizona. 2007
• Subjects: social networks; composition; Foucault; surveillance; technological literacy
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195055

While computers and composition researchers are concerned with the theoretical and pedagogical impacts of new technologies in our field, these researchers have only recently begun to consider the ramifications of the growing use of online social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook in academia. This dissertation fills a much-needed space in the field in its consideration of the pedagogical implications of social networking sites. Online social networking sites can provide teachable moments to talk with students about audience, discourse communities, intellectual property, and the tensions between public and private writing. Thus, if writing instructors ignore the growing conversation regarding online social networking sites, they may potentially miss out on familiar and accessible spaces for teaching rhetorical analysis.In this dissertation, through a qualitative analysis of undergraduate students and university writing instructors, I trace common threads in these individuals' attitudes and perceived beliefs about MySpace and Facebook. In chapters 1 and 2 I draw on Michel Foucault's theories of bio-power and confession to raise questions and concerns regarding pedagogical uses and abuses of online social networking sites, focusing specifically on issues of privacy and surveillance. In chapter 3, I outline the methods and methodologies that guided the qualitative portion of my study; the results of this study are reported in chapters 4 (students' views of social networking) and 5 (instructors' views), respectively. In chapter 5, I use technological literacy as a framework to argue that the immense popularity of online social networking sites coupled with the sheer amount of writing produced by students in these sites provides a compelling reason for rhetoric and composition instructors to begin paying attention to online social networking sites. To conclude chapter 5, I provide specific classroom activities that focus on MySpace and Facebook for instructors interested in bringing social networking back to the classroom. These classroom materials can be adapted to multiple classroom settings and can be modified based on a particular instructor's pedagogical needs.