Project 2 Ontology For Our Second Course
Project 2 Ontographyfor Our Second Course Project We Will Be Engagin
For our second course project, we will be engaging in primary research to explore a writing ecology of your choice. Primary research involves collecting data directly through interviews, observations, and surveys, focusing on understanding how a specific social group uses written texts to accomplish their goals, mediate activities, and negotiate relationships among people, places, and resources. Your task is to gather detailed information about this community, including the roles of its members, the types of texts produced, and how these texts maintain systems of ideas, purposes, and norms.
You will create an ontography—a visual, infographic-like map—that illustrates the interactions within this ecology, emphasizing its focus on one particular role. The ontography should depict how genres connect people, activities, places, and objects, supported by explanatory text that clarifies these connections. The core system linking all aspects is the network of genres and the broader systems they support, such as ideas, purposes, relationships, and cultural norms. You may use digital tools like Prezi or graphic design software, or non-digital materials, but ultimately, the final product must be accessible via your Google Drive, either as a digital file or a photograph/scanned image of a physical map.
Paper For Above instruction
Understanding and mapping a writing ecology through an ontography offers profound insights into how writing functions within social groups. This project encourages not only data collection and analysis but also the creation of a compelling, multimodal presentation that combines visual and textual elements to effectively communicate the intricacies of a community’s writing practices. The process begins with selecting a suitable community—preferably a stable, well-defined group such as a profession, academic discipline, or community of practice—where writing plays a vital role in daily activities and interactions.
The first step involves proposing an ecology to study, ensuring it is established and not fleeting or loosely organized. Subsequent to this, researchers should design their primary and secondary data collection strategies—such as interviews, observations, surveys, and literature searches—to gather comprehensive information about the community’s writing systems. Planning questions that elicit detailed responses about roles, activities, genres, objects, knowledge, and relationships is crucial for constructing an accurate map of the ecology.
The mapping phase entails creating a flowchart or diagram that visualizes the interactions among elements like people, roles, genres, physical and digital places, objects, and ideas. This visual should demonstrate how genres serve as connectors—facilitating activities, mediating roles, and maintaining norms—while also illustrating hierarchical or power relations within the community. Explanatory texts should accompany the visual to clarify each component and their interconnectedness, emphasizing how writing sustains the community’s systems and structures.
From an aesthetic perspective, the ontography should be visually engaging and purposeful, using design elements that enhance clarity and convey the character of the ecology. Ethical considerations, including copyright and proper sourcing of visuals, are essential throughout the process to ensure respectful and responsible use of materials.
The final product will be presented as part of an undergraduate writing research conference, aimed at fellow students. It should serve as a clear, compelling depiction of the writing ecology, fostering understanding among peers unfamiliar with the specific community. This project emphasizes analytical thinking, creativity, visual communication, and an appreciation of how writing shapes social interactions and systems.