Gossip Girl (and Boy)

“How Gossip Fuels Convergence”

1) Gossip as a social function p.84
-Deborah Jones 1980, feminist writer who claims that gossip is an intimate process that allows women to share common experience and learn from one another.
-Gossip builds or accentuates common ground between its participants

2) Cyberspace broadens the sphere of gossip p. 84
-Continuing this feminist line of thought, Jenkins says that cyberspace users can benefit in this same way.
-On the internet things we talk about are more universal, yet conversations can still be intimate
-Gossip is fueled by topics that are personal to you….
-focus group says 60.9% say the ethical conduct of American Idol contestants was a central topic of their gossip p.84

3) Value in gossip
-different ethnic groups talk virtually about ethics and learn more about how they each see the world. Gossip is valuable in this way!
-ethically dubious on-air conduct frequently encourages a public discussion of ethics and morality that reaffirms much more conservative values and assumptions
-Gossip may be what Jenkins calls a “Consensus forming process.” It is a process through which collective intelligence generates shared knowledge.
-Jenkins calls reality television viewers a “Consumption community.”

4) Synergies
-The consumption community’s consensus forming process is 2 part: First, they discuss the performance. Second, they discuss the outcomes
-Both of these can motivate viewers to leave their t.v. sets and look for additional information and further discussions on the internet.
-Gossip about these issues can form consensus and predict a “common sense outcome” p 86
-As television viewers place their votes (text messaging), phone friends to gossip, and browse the internet looking for more info, they are participating in convergence culture.

The Coke Side of Life!

I have just spent 30 minutes or so playing on Coca-Cola.com. No wonder Jenkins introduces this idea in one of the earliest chapters of his book. Go to Coca-Cola.com. Select which of the six regions you are currently in. Listen to new up and coming music. Design artwork with cool vintage logos. Rainbows appear on every page and I feel that I am taking part in the NOW. This is American culture. A little bit of the past (1970's owl stickers) combined with a splash of color provided by rainbows (seems to celebrate alternative lifestyle) and great new music that makes me feel completely wrapped up in it all. I am at this very moment, as I type this blog, participating in modern convergence culture (and possibly saving a polar bear as well). All the while, I am wanting to drink a Coke!!!
I don't mean to sound insincere. I truly believe that this is it. This is convergence culture. I see a commercial for Americal Idol, "brought to you by Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola side of life!" and immediately I change my browser to find out more at Coca-Cola.com. Once I am there I design a background for my computer, e-mail it to myself (for later retrieval), and listen to music that I will later pick up on limewire. I can rate the music here also. Coca-Cola really wants to know what I think! Sure, some guru is sitting on the other side of the world reading my review while on the phone with Simon Cowell discussing ways to better reach my audience. Sure the Coca-Cola website asked for my permission to access my computers microphone and camera, but this is a new age!
I remember now that when I was in high school I use to stay up one night a week to watch PEPSI LIVE. It came on the WB and showed all my favorite bands: The Ataris, Blackeyed Peas, etc. I remember thinking how kind it was for those nice folks over at Pepsi to care enough about the youth that they would "sponsor" a concert like this once a week. They knew that kids like me were sitting at home between school work and needing some musician to look up to. They worried about my well-being.
I think perhaps now I have a better understanding of the word "sponsor" and maybe it's not quite as philanthropic as I once thought.

Thursday night left overs...

...From our discussion earlier...
Yesterday on CNN, a reporter attempted to answer questions posed by Anderson Cooper regarding Heath Ledger's recent death. The reporter said that the problem right now is the amount of misinformation that is being leaked through internet news sources. He said credible news sources (like himself) are competing with gossipers. I just thought this was an ironic moment, especially considering some of the things I have already been thinking about.

Oh, the Internet

In class Tuesday we discussed books and the internet. Many said they preferred the feel of books; others said they preferred the ease of the internet. I realized that I like both. Like Dr. Lillian, I hate being let down by books (like the Southern Anthology). Now, I prefer to read a book at Starbucks with my computer beside me. My Google Dashboard has Webster's Dictionary saved to it and listed in my internet favorites is Dictionary.com and Wikipedia.org. I have found that I go to books for information and perhaps the internet for understanding. This does not always work out of course, but it is a great start. What may be most interesting is internet use itself. I go to the net to gather information or confirm accuracy. The Survivor Spoilers use the internet to build hypotheses, etc. After browsing some of their sights I've realized how difficult it is to tell fact based information from popular ideas and pure lies. But, I am also seeing more and more of the "blogger dialectic" that I mentioned earlier on. The more participants ask questions and offer "proof," the more the truth seems to surface.

More later...

"What is Rhetoric?"

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” -Aristotle

I’ve thought a lot about the article “What is Rhetoric.” Something stung me when I read it, but I did not identify it immediately. My first impression was it attempted to narrow the definition of rhetoric by discussing the canons and means of persuasion, but the end of the article only widened that definition for me.
I prefer to stick with Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric, if for no other reason than its narrowing affect on the subject. In the subtitle Audience, Covino and Joliffe write about three drawbacks with the traditional view of rhetoric; one of those being that it ignores the shared, dialectical nature of communication. Aristotle insists that rhetoric is a counterpart of dialectic. I prefer to think that the two work together; first that truth is found through dialectic, and second that the rhetor may persuade his audience by the accuracy of his statements.

Misplaced Idea, perhaps for future writing:
Ironically, blogs may be a new age of dialectic. On the internet, information is exchanged. It is two-dimensional. Maybe “rhetoric” as we now know it (the big time news anchor telling us what to believe, persuading our thoughts with emotions and images) will come to an end; fall dead at the feet of two-dimensional blogging. But, would America know what to do if no one told us what to believe? Are the masses intelligent enough to cipher through information and find truth? Should we save this type of mind-bending work for philosophers?

Welcome!

The picture at the top of my page was taken at La Rouge Fashion Show last year in the LSU Design Studio. This event, which I helped to create and promote, was one of the defining points of my time spent at LSU.
I am learning now that I am capable of so much more than I had originally planned. My hometown has its limits, my degree has its limits, but the opportunities available to me are widening. This page may be a mere blog site, but it is my first step into a digital world : )