In the article, “Discourse Community,” Gary D. Schmidt and William J. Vande Kopple gave their definition of discourse communities and as well with examples to help the reader get a better understanding. When I was reading I was still lost on what it meant so I did my own research on the definition and came back even more confused, but based off the definitions I kept reading off google I think the definition of a discourse community is when a group of people have a the same mindset on a certain goal that they wish to achieve.
Since my blog topic is about animal protection, I googled “discourse community within animals,” and a list of organizations popped up. I have no idea if they are right, but these three organizations kept popping up everytime I searched “discourse community” and “animals” so I believe they are. The first one is animal shelters. Animal shelters are community discourse because they multiple goals which are promoting pet ownership, providing animals with shelter, food and water, trying to reduce the animal population. Animals shelters are worked by people who are passionate and have great love for animals. They care about animal safety and ensuring they are getting great care while they are in the process of finding a forever home. I think this is why they are an example of discourse community. Also when I was googling the definition for discourse community, it said that the group must be able to communicate their thoughts and goals within the group and with the public. A way that animal shelters demonstrate this is through their websites as well as through text, emails, and newsletters. When I used to volunteer at my local animal shelter and we had to schedule meetings, we used to email or have a sign up sheet at the front desk to sign in who was able to attend the meeting.
The second discourse community I found was the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast is an organization that cares for over 6,000 animals every year. They have multiple goals, but their main one is to find homes for sheltered animals. Some of their other goals are to provide shelters for rescued animals and promoting respect for the animal in the lives of people. They are an organization that provides pet therapy services, reunite animals with their owners, shelter lost or abandoned animals, and provide humane education classes. This organization is an example of a discourse community because the people who work within it all carry the same goals which is finding forever homes for the animals that are being sheltered. With today’s technology, many organizations have numerous, ways that they can communicate their events or other things that are going on. One way this organization communicates with its members or the public is through Facebook. They can post about upcoming events, animals they are trying to reunite with their owners, different types of animal breeds that are up for adoption, and other things too.
The last discourse community I came across to is called the Humane Society of The United States. The Humane Society of the United States is an animal welfare organization that provides care to more than 100,000 animals each year through their sanctuaries, veterinary programs, and shelters. Their goals are to provide direct care, rescue animals in crisis, and pass laws that ensure the protection of animals, but their biggest goal is to prevent animals from being placed into the situations of distress. This organization is a discourse community because the workers and volunteers within this organization all carry strong compassion for animals and work towards their goal which is care for animals that are brought to the sanctuaries along with helping to ensure the laws that are enacted to protect animals are doing exactly that. A way this discourse community communicates is through email and text messages in which you will receive newsletter for events, fundraisers they hold, and petitions they write to stop something animal related.
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