This thesis describes a study surrounding the applicability of politeness theory and the presence of communities of practice in the online game environment of World of Warcraft. By applying theory...Show moreThis thesis describes a study surrounding the applicability of politeness theory and the presence of communities of practice in the online game environment of World of Warcraft. By applying theory and methodologies of sociolinguistics in new media, more specifically computer game studies, this is a completely original and multidisciplinary study. Its main hypotheses revolve around communities of practice and politeness theory. First: Multiple communities of practice potentially exist in the social in-game online environment of World of Warcraft. These communities are likely based on different in-game activities players engage in, and what players have achieved in the game environment. Second: Tied to communities of practice, politeness theory is likely applicable in online game environments, despite social distance, power of speakers over one another, and the absolute ranking of impositions being based on game-specific concepts rather than socio-demographic factors. The research conducted involves: participant observation of several in-game environments and communities; the logging of face-threatening acts committed and face-saving strategies employed by players in different game environments; and the analysis of collected data in order to test hypotheses.Show less
Blogging and using social network sites (SNS) have been one of the rising activities of mainstream communication this past decade. Although many such blogs and SNS have been studied by scholars...Show moreBlogging and using social network sites (SNS) have been one of the rising activities of mainstream communication this past decade. Although many such blogs and SNS have been studied by scholars already, the relations between these two and the corresponding developments in the field demands an updated investigation. Our ideal way of communicating is changing rapidly, and bloggers who use the social network site Instagram are a good example of how this affects our online behaviour. Microblogging website Instagram has rapidly become part of mainstream media over the last couple of years since its founding in October 2010. The success of the site is evident, given the 400 million monthly active users who on average share 80 million photographs a day. As a result of their rising popularity, many blogs have spread their content on social networking sites, and especially on Instagram. The type of blog that does so at great length and is studied here is the fashion blog. ‘The Blonde Salad’, a very successful fashion blog by Italian Chiara Ferragni is taken as an example as it successfully integrates Instagram in its daily communication with its followers. ‘The Blonde Salad’ has been around since 2009 and has developed into a company with several employees. But since the arrival of Instagram, Chiara Ferragni seems to have become more and more influential as an individual, outshining the blog’s amount of followers of 191.000 with 6.000.000. The aim of this article is, therefore, to answer the research question: How do fashion bloggers create and maintain an online identity on Instagram regarding the theory of the ‘social actor analysis’ (van Leeuwen 1996, Machin and van Leeuwen 2007)? The Literature Review provides for a broad investigation of ‘self-representation’, ‘the Instagram hipster culture’, ‘the fashion blogger identity’ and ‘Chiara Ferragni and ‘The Blonde Salad’. The Method and Results and Discussion sections elaborate on the case study and provide an interpretation of the visual analysis of the Instagram accounts of ‘The Blonde Salad’ and Chiara FerragniShow less
When creating his main character, Arthur Conan Doyle could never have thought that centuries later the detective stories would still invoke such strong reactions. Although Sherlock Holmes has...Show moreWhen creating his main character, Arthur Conan Doyle could never have thought that centuries later the detective stories would still invoke such strong reactions. Although Sherlock Holmes has indeed been a commercial success over the past hundreds of years, it has had its struggles dealing with its popularity. The 19th century audience already practically forced Doyle to write a sequel to the novel. Since then Sherlock Holmes’ audience and their surroundings obviously have changed dramatically. Technological advancements are not the least important influencers of the original detective stories. The most recent adaptations are the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law and the BBC series Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Both have again reached millions of fans worldwide resulting in a growing demand of new episodes. With that comes a third technological development, the Internet, where an enormous fan base was created and Sherlock Holmes got an online identity of its own. The question arises how a character and his detective stories can still be so popular today. Apart from using facts and numbers that indicate its popularity, this thesis will investigate the developments in British television that has supported the reinvention of the character of Sherlock Holmes.Show less
