Weblogging as a Multimedia Literacy Event: Analyzing the Discourse Space of a Student Blogger’s Speech

Abstract

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is fast becoming the new wave of the future. Weblogging (or blogging) falls under this important branch of CMC as it possesses the ability to bring together participants of an ‘invisible’ world to partake in discourse via the reading and writing of texts. Blogging is a particularly new phenomenon of multimedia literacy and it often combines visual and textual elements to create meaning-making amongst participants via this mode of communication. The younger generation is especially attracted to this type of multimedia genre as the ‘blogosphere’ creates a space for them to partake in discourse, develop camaraderie in the form of online friendships and utilize technological features such as visual images, text and sound effects to communicate with one another. The meaning-making that occurs within the blogosphere results in this phenomenon becoming a significant literacy event, as the paper will point out. Focusing specifically on the dissection of how speech patterns used via blogging contribute to the meaning-making process, the Hymes’ Speaking Grid will be used as a tool to analyze the discourse space of a tertiary level student blogger. With the understanding of what occurs within this discourse space, educators and observers alike will hopefully be able to gain a better comprehension of how the multimedia literacies of students play a role in their written expression via blogging.