Quote 1:
“A third problematic area is that both the discourse community concept and that of communities of practice tend to view their objects of study through an overly idealistic lens, especially in terms of assumptions about shared beliefs, values, motives, and allegiances among its members (Harris 1989).”
Response:
I found this quote quite compelling because it relates to the communities we live in. Certain spaces like on our social media and in our places of worship have this faulty assumption that everyone agrees with them on all issues and is loyal to them regardless. This makes (topics) discussed in discourse communities filled with idealistic views and opinions rather than facts.
Quote 2:
“Fine, but we now need to emphasize the roles of new digital channels, such as emails, blogs, tweets, etc., and we also need to stress that without any means of intercommunication of any kind, there is no real community”
Response:
This quote grabbed my attention because as technology advances and develops over time it is getting a lot easier for people to communicate and bond compared to a 100 years ago. Communication overseas, keeping in touch with family. Technology has improved communication globally and allows immediate connect. We switched from physically to virtually learning and that is happening because of technology.
My DCs
One of the discourse communities I am a part of is the family business. We all share our opinions and ways to make it better. We maintain good governance, and we preserve the family gravity. Another discourse community I am a part of is my gym, we all train together, all have a goal of getting stronger and healthier. We create new workout and diet plans that are satisfying for everyone and that are enjoyable and fun. Moreover, my third discourse community would be my friends. We constantly push each other to do better academically, financially, spiritually and in our everyday lives.
Nice work with the quotes, especially the first where you tie it to something you know. I would encourage you to be more detailed in your thinking about the DCs you are part of. For example, what is the family business? Do all business of this type function similarly, follow similar ways of organizing? Are there groups you are part of if you are this type of business? Are there words and ways of communicating unique to this type of business? Likewise with friends be more specific. Do you all share a similar background? Come from a specific neighborhood? Have similar interests or majors?