Discourse, as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, means “To consider, go through, or treat of in speech or writing; to discuss, talk over; to talk or converse about.” In our Composition II class we did just this; however, we did this in a very different way. We experienced discourse entirely via the internet.
It took me a few minutes to realize that, quite literally, we would not be audibly speaking during the entire class period. I thought we would be sharing a document but not discussing, searching, and concluding entirely via chat room. And in that very moment, I realized how much I would end up disliking this method of discourse. Trying to discuss and conclude through type format is much more difficult than I would have imagined it to be. It is hard to discuss points when you have to wait for the next person to type out a response, or when you cannot interrupt a statement, or when you do not have the capabilities of banter. Face to face conversation makes it so much easier to get a point across because you are present in the moment and you have the capability to express emotions.
There is some good, however, in internet communication that I cannot discredit. All of the discussion is recorded and saved so that no information is lost. With this application, internet discourse definitely has its benefits. You will never forget important and key parts of the discussion which never fails to be a helpful resource when drawing conclusions from research.
The truth in it though, is that the negatives outweigh the positives. It was so tense in the silent room. Only the sounds of typing and clicking filled the room- barely filled the room. With the lack of audible stimulation I drifted into a distracted state. Without the engagement of audible conversation my mind wandered and I found it difficult to focus on the task at hand. While the capability of recording total conversations is a benefit, the overall lack of comfortableness I had with internet conversation steers me away from it. Discourse, communication, and anything of the sort are, in my opinion, best achieved successfully through face-to-face, personal conversation.
A visual of our learning center for the day.
thefaultinourfreckles 
I like that when even discussing a mostly negative experience, you still bring out the positives. I think that’s a really important skill to have. Also, with the increasing use of the internet as a form of communication, how do you think our day-to-day normal discourse has changed or adapted, if at all?
I agree that our day-to-day communication has definitely changed with technology becoming exceedingly important. We are less fluent in how we speak and sometimes have trouble getting our points across when we don’t have time to meditate over how exactly we want to portray and present our words.
It seems like we had opposite reactions to this kind of discourse, but I believe our experiences depend on our level of socialization with others. For example, I have been in many group projects where some members were shy and didn’t express themselves. I think these individuals are worried about being judged for their ideas, thus making them less inclined to speak out loud. Through online interaction, however, less social individuals would be able to contribute more effectively.
I can see exactly where you are coming from. I guess my perspective is coming from how I react to social interactions. I never really have had trouble with being extroverted and confident in group discussion settings, and I think that I should have recognized that kind of person more when examining this online interaction. I agree in what you are saying when you argue that this would be very successful and useful for less social individuals.
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