Oops, I Think I Was Supposed To Post This Here Too [Proposal]

Date:               3/26/12

To:                   Professor Yergeau

From:               Matthew Rutkowski

Subject:           Video documentary proposal

Topic:

I plan to make a documentary about the linguistic aspects of digital communication.  My intention is to juxtapose two ideas:
1) That digital culture is changing language in a way that hampers effective communication

2) That digital culture is allowing us to communicate more freely than ever before

The question I hope to ask is whether or not the "corrosive" language changes outweigh the fact that language is now more freely exchanged.  Is it something we should stop or fix?  Is that even possible?

Goals:

I'd like to communicate the opinion that language change is not only unavoidable, but not even a bad thing given the fact that we are now able to communicate so much more easily.  I know it's a broad statement to make, and it's one that people have strong opinions on one way or another, so I'm not out to directly change anyone's mind.  All I really hope to do is give enough evidence throughout my documentary to allow people to pause and consider how quickly technology has moved recently and how much. 

I'd like to approach this in a more casual, possibly humorous way.  I'd like to present the more academic questions and interviewees in a serious light, but given the fact that meaningful communication does not need to be rigid and professional, I'd like the majority of my documentary to not to feel that way.

Key elements, scenes, and social actors:

I plan to conduct a series of interviews through very different means.  I hope to do an in person interview with Professor Anne Curzan, a phone interview with another professor (TBD - hopefully within linguistics), an email interview with Rhetorics Professor Alisse Portnoy.  Moving beyond the academic scope I'd like to ask questions, via texting, facebook messaging, the "ask a question"  function on Tumblr, the chat function for the Steam community, gchat, MIRC, and any other method I can think of. 

The way I have it pictured is for each of the questions to continue the conversation of the interview.  If the first question to professor Curzan is "how do you think digital media affects language," I'd like the followup to that to continue down the same path.  For this to be effective, the interviews will have to be conducted in the order they will be presented.  The answer or the directions this goes will be determined by the responses.  It will be more honest that way, but possibly more time-consuming. 

I don't intend for all the people I ask to be doctors or academics.  I'm hoping for clear, honest answers that advance the conversation.  Language is not the property of a specific group, so getting the thoughts of as many groups as possible seems important.

Timeline:

3/26 - 4/1 - Map out the direction/questions of the documentary.  Figure out who exactly to interview and attain permission.  Figure out which method to ask questions, and make sure the broad scope of the project will fit under 4 minutes.
4/2 - 4/6 - Conduct/document interviews.  Assess progress and adjust scope if necessary.
4/7 - 4/8 - Compile everything into IMovie or Final Cut Pro.  Record voiceoever
4/9 - 4/13 - Tweak final project until it's something I would be embarassed showing to grad school admissions' people.  Execute transcription. 
4/14 - 4/15 - Spillover in case I have a massive freakout and can't finish on time.