Family and Friends
This discourse community is made up of my immediate family and closest friends. Communication is very important to maintain relationships with family and friends. From communicating the latest gossip to just saying “Hi!” maintains this healthy relationship.
Members who live in other cities primarily use emails and texting to send messages and pictures followed by the occasional phone call. Christmas cards in December and birthday cards throughout the year are sent and received. My daughter’s favorite genres and method of delivery are drawings and crafts. From foam stickers and flowers made of construction paper pasted on paper to the latest drawing of daddy in the abstract style of Picasso's blue period, all attached with multi-colored letter magnets to the refrigerator.
Written communication is mostly a short text message to notifying where to meet for lunch, how the family is doing, or a forwarded joke. When more personal or intimate communication is necessary, an email letting you know how much you are loved is popular too. The guidelines vary within the community, but the one that we all share is mutual respect and trust amongst each other.
Since we have a newborn, baby talk has become the norm around the house, at least with the baby. My friends and I as a group refer to us as “The Crew”. So when we say “Call 'The Crew'.” or “did you get together with 'the Crew'?” we are actually saying is “did you call our friends?” or “did you go out with our friends this weekend?” Another specialized language we use is eye contact. This is a highly developed language especially with my mother. She and I can practically read each other’s mind during conversations.
The quick and easy way into the family is to be born or married into it. Others can become members after time has proven that they are loyal, friendly, and trustworthy. That is when they receive the honorary title of Friend.
El Paso Department of Transportation
This community consists of City of El Paso employees who work for the El Paso Department of Transportation. This includes the Department Director and Deputy Directors, various section managers, supervisors and employees ranging from the licensed trades to unskilled labor.
Written communication is essential to keep track of projects, communication inside and outside of the department, requests, and required for legal protection against lawsuits.
Verbal instructions and phone calls are the norm and are usually followed by an email to begin a written record of any communications that may require a paper trail. Engineering drawings are used for communicating ideas on how and where to construct a road or sidewalk. Memos and newsletters are used for informal dissemination of information relevant to employees, whereas TV and radio public announcements are reserved for mass communication with the public.
Topics covered in writing are anything having to do with maintaining and improving the City's modes of transportation such as roadways, sidewalks and mass transportation.
Courtesy and respect is a must when dealing with the public. Being that we are constantly under the public's watchful eyes, every employee's actions can affect the City's and the government's image. Care must be taken as to our actions; what we say, what we do, physical appearance and where we are seen.
Terms such as right-of-way (abbreviated R.O.W.), NTP (notice to proceed) are common every day terms.
Applying for a job with the City of El Paso and getting hired by the Department of Transportation is the only way to become a member. Leaving can be either voluntary or involuntary.
Redhotpawn.com
Redhotpawn.com is a worldwide online chess community with over 100,000 members who share an interest in playing correspondence chess online and have signed up for either a free or paid membership. This online community is all about meeting people around the world who like to play chess. An internet connection is required to log into the website. Though the main focus of the community is chess, there are blogs, forums and discussion boards for just about any subject that interests members. Messages can also be sent between moves during a game.
The website has an extensive “terms of service” policy that covers member conduct and typical of any web service. The basic rules of chess are followed. Each game has customizable settings for move duration which can be set from 3 to 28 days per move. Since a game can sometimes last months, vacation settings are available if you have to be away for an extended period of time.
In regular chess tournament play there are only 3 words that can be spoken during a game. Check – to notify the opposing player that his/her King is under attack and must either move the King to a safe location, block the attack or take the attacking piece. Checkmate – to notify your opponent that the King is under attack and that any move the opponent makes will result in the King continue being under attack which ends the game. Adjust – to notify your opponent that you will be moving a piece on the board out of turn. This is done for pieces that are on the edge of a square or may be partially occupying another square. The piece is placed centered on its correct occupying square. Besides those words talking is not allowed. Two other special terms are which represent special moves are “castle” or “castling” and “en passant” or “in passing” in English.
To join just log on to redhotpawn.com and sign up! You have the option of a free or paid membership. With the free membership you get an in-box, can create a profile, play against any member and receive a rating based on your game play. The paid membership allows for more options such as joining tournaments, joining clans and having an unlimited number of ongoing games.
Mt. Carmel Catholic Church
The members of my church are follow Catholics in my community. Written communication within our community includes flyers and notices of events and what is going on in the community. The priest reads and lectures on a passage from the Bible. All teachings come from the Bible and any topic can be found in the Bible. All Catholics identify themselves as Christians by knowing the sign of the cross which can be considered unique to this community. Anyone who wishes to worship God and learn the teachings of Christ is welcome.
