Understanding and Collaborating with Other Discourse Communities

Introduction: Previous ethnographic research has been done to show how a genre effects action in a discourse community. Researchers such as Beaufort discussed the importance of the action taken from different genres within a discourse community. She states, The intricacies of the genre lies not so much in the linguistic complexities but rather in the genres function within a given discourse, (p. 120). Meaning, the components making up the genre are not the sole focus, but what action the genre indicates is very important as well. In the following paper, I will be focusing on the interdependency of my field on other discourse communities to be able to complete a task. The goal of my research is to be able to find the ways in which this interdependency affects communication within my field and what steps are taken to understand certain aspects of a discourse community a person is not in. I will be expanding on the work of Beaufort who discusses the overlap in discourse communities, and how they affect one another. In my analysis, I will discuss the need to think about the ways in which you are communicating to others outside the discourse community you are in and will provide an example of how it is important to take steps to understand the other discourse communities that are being worked with. These steps, if taken, will improve the communication between discourse communities; it will also ensure the correct steps or actions are taken following reading or writing a genre within a discourse community that will affect another.

Methodology: Observation: For my methodology, I am going to discuss a role I have held within event planning; the field of analysis for this paper, and the different tasks and challenges that are faced when effective communication with people mostly out of the discourse community I am in is imperative. I am also going to analyze the invitation genre in the event planning discourse community, how it overlaps with other discourse communities and the importance of knowing how to write a document that will be read by various different discourse communities. To start, I am going to give a detailed account of what goes in to planning an event, so those outside of the discourse community can see the intricacies involved in putting an event together. This semester I am Colonnade for Delta Zeta; a Colonnade is the person who plans all the special event weekends for the sorority when they are on the university calendar. My focus will be the Moms Weekend Luncheon and Basket Auction I planned. In total, there were 152 guests in attendance, 30 baskets auctioned off, and $2,810 was raised for Delta Zeta at the event. To start, I had to use a checklist, (one of the genres in the event planning field) to figure out everything that needed to be done to make the luncheon a success. With this, I figured out the first thing I needed to do was write an invitation, and send it out to all the girls and their mothers to get a head count for the event which would let me know how much food I needed, and how many chairs and tables I would have to rent. In the invitation I gave a RSVP by date, so I would have

adequate time to order all I needed for the day based on the amount of people attending. Next, I talked to the cook, Mark, to see if he was able to make the food for the day, and what type of food we were able to have. By talking to him, I found out we needed to do something that was easily mass-produced because of the lack of storage and oven space to cook for a large amount of people. From this we decided we would be having chicken parmesan, pasta, fruit salad, a vegetable tray, chips, and desserts. I found out from this conversation that I would need to supply the chips and desserts, so I sent out emails on our listserv to ask the younger girls with meal plans to use some of their swipes on these items so it would not have to be paid for by the budget. When I found out the attendance number, 152, I talked to Mark about how much money the food would cost for the day, to see how much money I had left to spend on decorations, chairs and tables, and how much I would have to charge per person for coming to the luncheon. This is when I used a budget sheet; another genre in the event planning discourse community, to plan how much money was able to go where. I had $500 left in the Colonnade budget for the year, and I did not want to charge the girls more than 6 dollars a person, which gave me $912, which made a total of $1,412 for the entire event. This was a big factor in deciding the types of tables and chairs to rent from the rental company because they were all differently priced. From this I was able to plan how much I could spend on plates, cutlery, center-pieces etc. After planning the amount I could spend on each item on my checklist, I planned what I was going to buy and how much of it. After buying a lot of the items

needed, I made a welcome sign to hang on the house when the moms arrived, and all of the centerpieces for the event. Each of these factors were based of others, such as the amount of centerpieces was based off the amount of tables, which was dependent on the amount of people attending. During the planning of the event I frequently had to switch the formality of my communication with others, depending on whom I was talking to. This was done while performing parts of my checklist simultaneously since so many factors were based off each other. The need to switch how I communicated depending on who it was with so often, shows the necessity to understand the individuals discourse community you are communicating with, to know the appropriate way to speak or write to them. Artifact Analysis: To further expand on how much an event planner overlaps with numerous other discourse communities is with the invitation to an event. Even with my event, being on a smaller scale than for example a concert or charity event put on by a fortune 500 companies, the invitation still overlapped with multiple discourse communities. I sent it to the mothers of the women in Delta Zeta, so besides the information being relayed to the other members, it went to each of their moms who as a whole can be considered a discourse community, but also each of the moms are in different discourse communities in their professions, and the invitation had to be clear and welcoming to the various different discourse communities it was going out to. This shows the importance of an invitation, and the need to know how to

write an appropriate invitation for all those who are seeing it. This becomes even more complicated and in depth when it is a big scale event and anyone could read it and go if they decided to pay for admission. For example, if a comedy group was putting on a show and they had fliers to inform people of the event, where it is and trying to get the public to buy tickets. The person configuring the writing of this genre is going to have to be aware of many things. One, who is the target audience? The flyer, which Ill refer to as invitation for the purpose of this paper, needs to spark the interest of the people the event planner is trying to reach so tickets will be sold. That being said, the target audience is not the only discourse community an event planner has to consider while writing this invitation. If it is being posted in a public forum, it has to be able to be read by all discourse communities without offending anyone. For example, if the comedy group is for an adult audience, they might want to address that on the flyer 1) to gain their target audiences attention and 2) let the public know that it may not be suitable for a younger audience. Also, if they want to make the invitation intriguing to their target audience, they need to find a way to do this without putting any inappropriate jokes or language on an invitation that anyone is able to read. Another aspect to writing this invitation is deciding how much writing to put, what image to put on it, and the terminology used to that no one reading it will be confused on the date, time, and price. This is just one example of how important other discourse communities are in writing an invitation, you have to be wary of all who are going to see it and make a conscious effort in deciding what is going to be on it.

Results/Discussion: Throughout the planning of the event I was in almost constant communication with the women in Delta Zeta, their mothers, Mark, and the rental company to be able to make sure that everything went smooth and worked out on the day of. Beaufort said, Rather than a circle complete unto itself, a discourse community must be viewed as a Venn diagram, placed within overlapping discourse communities that are influenced by one another, (p. 59-60). This is also shown by not only speaking to these different people in various discourse communities, but the writing as well, and all communication. I talked to each of them in person, on the phone, and by email. So not only was it necessary to understand how formal and the language to use in person, but was equally as important to have the same realizations in phone and email etiquette. In addition to knowing how to communicate to a range of discourse communities, as Wardle said, to be an effective member in a discourse community, it is necessary to know how to write to be seen as an authoritative figure. While planning this event I needed the mothers, other girls and people or services I was hiring to see me as an authoritative figure and take my requests and writing seriously. My research supports the indication Beaufort made that when in a discourse community, it overlaps, and relates to other discourse communities, and part of being a productive member in your discourse community is knowing how to relate to those in others. I want to further expand on her writing by discussing the importance of understanding some of the other discourse communities you are working with. While you will not be able to fully immerse yourself in another

discourse community you are not apart of, I find it to be crucial to understand the guidelines that discourse community has in regards to communication. By this, I mean that it is necessary to know the rules in how to correspond in person, through email, on the phone, and by invitation. My research showed this when I had to communicate with others in different discourse communities while planning my event, in each of these different fashions. The hardest to prepare for in my discourse community, is an invitation that could be looked at by anyone. In this regard, although you cannot plan or know every single discourse communities reaction to the writing, you can know normal guidelines when addressing the public. Knowing how to address others will make it a lot easier to avoid any discomfort from accidentally offending someone, and it will also make everything more easily understood, and less confusing when trying to explain something to one another. This relates to genre as a social action from Miller, who says, As meaningful action, genre is interpretable by a means of rules (163). By writing in a way that other discourse communities can understand, will ensure the action taken following reading the genre will be correct. Knowing how to communicate with other discourse communities is not only important for event planning, but for all discourse communities. At some point or another, a discourse community will overlap and work with another discourse community, or even multiple discourse communities at the same time. If there is effort put in to understanding the formalities of the other discourse communities writing and communication between the two or multiple will be vastly more efficient and effective. All discourse communities will benefit from including this in

to a normal practice within their discourse communities, and lessen any confusion that can arise from the overlapping of discourse communities. From this, the action that is taken following the communication will run effectively, and therefore the goal or task can be completed correctly and without problems. This understanding will better the communication and action taken between discourse communities.

References Beaufort, A. (2011). The Institutional Site of Composing: Converging and Overlapping Discourse Communities. 30-61 Miller, C. R. (1984). GENRE AS SOCIAL ACTION. Quarterly Journal Of Speech, 70(2), 151-167 Wardle, E. (2004) Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces. Enculturation.