[Amber Slater]

Hi all! This is where you will post your proposal for the Call to Action Research Paper. Generally, research proposals explain what you’re researching and why. They share your research question and explain why you should be able to learn more and write a paper that addresses the research question.

Before you write a proposal, please read the assignment sheet for the Call to Action research paper (on our OpenLab–click Call to Action on the menu) and the chapter “Exploring Topics and Creating a Research Proposal” (on our OpenLab–click Course Calendar with Readings). You need the information from both to complete this assignment.

Please include lots of detail in your proposal–you can use the one on pages 306-308 from the chapter “Exploring Topics and Creating a Research Proposal” as a model. I will be reading your proposals in order to approve everyone’s topics before you start writing the paper.

Your proposal should answer the following questions:
1. What discourse community are you writing about? What is the issue or problem in that discourse community that you will address?
2. What is your motivation for wanting to write about this discourse community?
3. What is your research question?
4. What basic research have you done so far? What information have you found?
5. What kinds of challenges do you think you might run into as you work on this project?

[Elliot Vidalon]

Discourse Community (RackaRacka)

An interesting topic that I can come up when thinking about the creator and the community (viewers) is a Australian youtube channel named ‘RackaRacka’ , lead by two twins and their friends who works their best mentally and financially by doing their amazing stunts, taste of action/creatvity/comedy to the maximum and their hard effort of sacrifices. They will upload their video to share for everyone and exceeding the reputation in their directions. However there is a conflict between them and the platform (YouTube) itself, the situation is
‘RackaRacka’ is now being restricted, demonetized and their video getting banning according the Youtube’s new rule. It seems to be unfair to treat them poorly, even ‘RackaRacka’ tells their views about their situation such as; not getting paid, videos getting demonetized and putting them on the low list.

My motivation for writing about ‘RackaRacka’ is I’ve known their videos before, I appreciate their hard effort of action, comedy and creativity to the maximum and I personally think the earn fair recognizition and credits. After finding out that their YouTube channel situation, the explain their process of their projects,
commitments and creativity ideals. In the other hand, it seems the algorithm does not to understand their
purpose and instead punishing them unfairly.

The following research question that will guide my topic:

What are the causes and effect between ‘RackaRacka’ and the YouTube algorithm?
Why does ‘RackaRacka’ show their evidence of the mistreatment from the algorithm?
How does this conflict relate/affect others?
What are some solutions viewer can support ‘RackaRacka’?
What purpose does ‘RackaRacka’ hold that YouTube can’t tolerate?

So far, my expectation for my research of ‘RackaRacka’ are the problem/ opinion about them, the purpose of their ambisious channel leading to success and solutions that viewers had come up to.

[StrongHaven]

Discourse Community (CREAR Furturos )
My topic that I want to discuss is about CREAR Futuros I will be addressing the issues based on getting more people involved in the community program. This community program was made to help and guild incoming freshman or transfer students or in general, they help students with school resources such like educational support, financial mentor meetings. Their goal is help college students graduate from college.
My motivation towards this is because i fine this community program to be very helpful to me and to people who are freshman and transfer students. they help freshman and transfer students with their majors.
My research question is how to get more students involved in this community program.
The basic research research that I have done so far is viewing their homepage on openlab, Facebook, and on their website from hispanicfederation.org. There were also people who were part of CREAR Futuros that came in one of my classes and talked about what they do and who they are. The information that I have found was that they are a community that support people academically and their goals.
The kinds of challenges I think I might run into as I work on this project will be the articles that would be related to my topic, and the availability of asking the person in charge of the community of how the community started and why it started.

[Leanie Tejada]

Discourse Community (Rihanna Navy)

The discourse community that I chose to write about was “Rihanna’s Navy”, which is what Rihanna calls her fanbase. Rihanna actually had real-life military experience when she was an army cadet in a sub-military program in her native Barbados. The issue that the community is facing is that Rihanna is not making any more music and is choosing to focus more on her other businesses. This decision has made many of her fans upset that she is stepping back from the music industry and they are constantly asking her when she is finally going to release an album. Lately, Rihanna has been ignoring the question every time she is asked on multiple social media platforms and in interviews and her response is to bring up one of her other businesses.

My motivation for writing about the Rihanna Navy is because I’ve been a fan of hers since I was little and I’ve recently become a fan of her other businesses. I find her so inspiring in the way she boldly expresses herself with no fear.

Research Questions:
. What would happen to the Rihanna Navy if there is no more music in the future?
. Why has Rihanna decided not to do music anymore?

The basic research that I have done is researching past interviews that she has done to know why and how she has come to this decision and how are her fans reacting this news.

[Malaysia]

The discourse community that I will be writing about is the black community. The black community is a community of those who are black . Some of the issues that the black community are facing is lack of mental health/illness awareness, colorism, systematic racism, and many other issues. Many black Americans have little to no access to mental health resources which is an issues in itself. How can black people heal and deal with mental health issues, if they are not given the resources to. Dark skin people in the black community are discriminated against. There is a lack of representation for dark skin people (especially dark skin girl) in the media. The undeserved impoverishment of people of color (POC), is the basis of the undeserved enrichment of white people,which is one of the core aspects of systemic racism. Systemic racism is simply deep-rooted racism in all levels of the society.
Research Questions : Why is mental health a taboo subject in the black community? How does lack of mental health resources affect black people? What has to be done in order for colorism to ended? Why are white people ignoring systematic racism?
My motivation for writing about this is being someone who is in the black community and sees these issues first hand.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Malaysia.

[haque]

1. My discourse community is about the US Military.
2. My motivation for writing this are many, one of them is I wanted to join and work in one of their branches in the future.
3. How the heroes of this country are treated differently. And don’t get what they deserve or promise.
4. I find some information by looking in some surveys one of them is According to a Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) survey, more than 16,000 military family members reported dirty and unsafe conditions on more than 160 military bases. Even though Congress and the Defense Department say to the public that they give lots of money to improve housing conditions for troops and military families.

[Takira Poole]

1. The discourse community that I will be discussing is Rescue Dogs Rocks. Rescue Dog Rocks main problem is shelters are euthanizing homeless dogs due to overcrowdedness and disabilities.

2. I am passionate about animals and I want to make sure they live a life full of happiness.

3. Why are dogs being euthanized?
What is being done by Rescue Dog Rocks to ensure all animals are being kept safe?

4. I have been researching the website looking for information about the discourse community.

[asdrilurena]

The discourse community I’m going to be talking about is “Ayudando al Necesitado” that translated means” Helping those that are in need” The issue in my discourse community is that there’s not enough help financially and not enough volunteers. To help you understand better “Ayudando al necesitado” is a small organization that they have in my church. We are in charge of making food and we also collect socks and blankets and gloves, etc and we go around the neighborhood, and around those areas where homeless people get together. We usually do this in wintertime.
The motivation I have to write about this community is that I feel good every time we get to help those in need. we are so worried about a lot of insignificant stuff and they are people out there suffering greatly with no one to help them. And even though it’s not a lot, you can see how grateful they are. must of the time they start crying and the only thing coming out of their mouth is a thank you.
My research question is What can I do to get more people to participate? How can I collect more stuff to help more people?
The research that I have done so far is finding out when did they start doing this and what motivates them to do it in the first place.
The challenge I think I’m gonna run in too is finding articles about it. A group of women in my church started this program. We cook with our own money and people from church donate the rest. It’s an inside program one could say. that’s the one issue I can think of.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by asdrilurena.

[gamanya10]

Discourse Community: City Tech SEEK Students. One major issue that the SEEK program faces is the lack of recognition.

I was motivated to write about this discourse community because it’s one that I am really passionate about and that gave me an opportunity to showcase some of my talents, they provided me with a lot of help and support throughout my first year of college and still do. Not a lot of people know SEEK as they know ASAP and they are both often compared, ASAP is usually preferred by students mostly because it gives out free MetroCards. Although I believe that ASAP is a great program, I also believe that SEEK should be seen and recognized as such and more because I’ve experienced what it can do for students and others.

Research Question: What is the SEEK program and how can it be more recognizable?

I have made some research on the SEEK program’s history and resources. I have found that SEEK is a program funded by New York state. It is designed to meet the needs of students who are considered to be economically disadvantaged and academically underprepared. Only entering freshmen are considered for it. It provides free tutoring, counselling, free computer lab including unlimited printing and photocopying. SEEK students may receive a grant to pay their CUNY fees. They may also receive a grant for books and supplies. Prospective students must indicate that they wish to be considered for the SEEK program on their CUNY admission application in order to be considered and accepted.

Some challenges I might face are lack of information, inspiration and time but that won’t stop me.

[Farai Matangira]

The discourse community I will be writing about is my major Architecture. There is a huge issue, you could say in college in general, with the glorification of “all-nighter culture.” This is an issue that is very prevalent within Architecture students whereby depriving yourself of sleep is regarded as a “badge of pride”. Some students reach the verge of suicide and are depressed due to stress and lack of sleep. It goes back to this culture of; if you do not stay up for 18-20 hours a day working, you are not regarded as a hard worker, and you begin to question yourself and your dedication.
My motivation for wanting to write about this discourse community is that I am directly involved with this issue and have seen it manifest itself first hand.
My research question is, is there any benefit to all-nighter culture and how does it affect students?
The basic research I have done is mostly articles and blog posts. I have found that there are arguments for and against the issue and I would like to come up with my own conclusion.
Challenges I may run into could be getting enough information regarding the topic, as I feel that it has not been discussed well enough among students and other members of the discourse community.

[Justin Andrew]

Discourse Community: Video Production Teams
The discourse community which I will be talking about are Video Production Teams. There are many issues in this community, but one of the main problems of this community is communication. Editors, Videographers, Directors and actors play one of two roles. Acting out a command, or giving a command. This usually involves communication from one person to another to get a task done. However, The risk of a miscommunication is high and will usually result in a job being done incorrectly or inefficiently. This wastes time, and money for everyone involved.
I feel a need for writing about this community as it is one of my more invested hobbies. I have found a love for video production over the years and researching upon this topic will not only allow me to open my eyes to issues in this community, but will also help me a better filmmaker in the long run.
My research Question is how do video production teams effectively and properly communicate tasks to actors, and video production members.
So far, I have explored a few websites and YouTube videos for research purposes. I have found that one of the first things that a team should do is sit down and brainstorm the style of the video, and storyboard it.
While doing this project, I know that I will run into ‘idea voids’ as well as issues with structuring sentences. But I think that with enough time and proofreading, I can get it done.

[Louis]

My discourse community that I will write about is the NBA 2K Gaming community. The issue that I will address within this community is the game developers’ inability to relate to and adhere to the demands of their customers for many features of the game. My motivation and reasoning behind writing about this community is that as a gamer and member of this community myself, I feel like I have the right to express my frustrations and speak for everyone else who plays the game as well, as well as discuss what can be done to combat the issues that are present. Some questions that I will tackle in my research are:

– What are other problems that customers face within this community?
– Why do the game developers continue to mislead their customers into thinking they have improved the game, when none of that is the case?
– What are some alternatives that can be carried out to get the members of this community consistently satisfied with the game’s production?

My basic research so far consists of searching up some articles on the most recent 2K games that dropped, and the backlash that it received from numerous consumers, who were fed up with the gaming developers’ choice of features added into the game, as well as little to no change in detail in gameplay. It is evident that year after year, with every new release, the majority of community members are either not being heard, or being heard and later disregarded by the developers.

I feel like a major challenge that I will have to encounter for this project is learning how to explain and portray multiple terms within the community as much as possible to someone who may not be apart of the community, or may not know about the community at all and it’s their first time. I need to be mindful that I’m not speaking to myself, but that I must direct this project to my target audience, with is Amber, along with my classmates. It will be a tall task, but I should be able to handle it with a little bit of guidance.

[Ajaiah]

1)The discourse community I chose to write about is the EA Sports FIFA community (soccer game). The problem in this community that I seek to address is the decreasing quality of game modes that do not generate EA money which is every game mode other than FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) .

2) I’m motivated by this topic because I am very fond of the game modes Career Mode and Pro Clubs which have been forgotten for years and the blatant lack of effort put into these game modes in contrast to FUT despite paying for more that just FUT is disgraceful. In addition, something must be said and a solution must be discovered and acted upon before the community is left with an unplayable game and no favorable alternative soccer themed video games.

3) A possible research question would be “How can we stop Electronic Arts (EA) from using the addiction/loyalty of their consumers, popularity of the company as well as key community figures to produce sub-par games annually while suffering minor consequences.

4)Current research done is minor but consists of the following:
– The scientific process and dangers of addiction
– How gaming companies make us addicted using various techniques; new and deriving from casino tactics
– How people are becoming more unaware of the money they spend on “virtual currencies”
– 7+ years of reading soccer articles, listening to pundits, current and ex-players, watching games and playing all of the popular titles.
– Basic information about some game engines such as Frostbite and what is feasible for such engines.

5) Expected problems:
– Finding a decent range of scholarly articles about companies using their popularity to send out low quality products
– Getting an in-depth understanding about game engines
– Finding a solution that can be widely adopted in the FIFA community

[Ramon.Jimenez08]

1) The discourse community I will approach is a streamer’s community called SlyFoxHound (Community name: N/A)

2) My motivation is derived from the interest and interactions that I’ve had within this community.

3) My research question may consist of asking “How does a community this small, still keep its viewers around?”

4) Some basic research that I’ve come across, so far, is that this community is very social, kind, and the kind where everyone is very compassionate with each other and the streamer.

5) For challenges that I may run into is how I can compare this community toward others, and h

[Abass Kane]

The discourse community that i choose to write about is “We From Ndens” that community of people from my hometown in Senegal that are living in New York or generally in USA. My motivation of writing about it is that i feel that we can done better if everyone was engaged the way the few of us are engaged. We can actually say that only 45% of us people are actually active members. The question that I would ask are
_Why we don’t have new members?
_Why some people that claiming being part of it just benefit of it but doesn’t help when we need?
For my research I interviewed some old member and co-creator of it like my Dad or my uncle.
The problem that I can go thru are the deficit of resources because most of the elder member didn’t go to school and most of realizations are not written, also understand what are the reason of people wont get involve.