Zachery Archie

Professor Rines
UWRT 1101
6 April 2015Zachery Archie
Micro-ethnography
A discourse community micro-ethnography is a particular
community, typically within a much larger community, that shares a
common goal, venues in which they work, shared methods of
communication, and usually a form of speech unique to that particular
community. The individual community that I selected and chose to
study, is the community of people that operate mainly within Portal
building at UNCC charlotte. This community is not extremely large.
Fromorm what I have seen they have approximately 30-40 people in
their midst. This group is dedicated to helping small companies who
are just starting out, fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in the
charlotte area, and having inventors compete against each other in
competitions for prize money to further their innovative products.
While conducting this micro-ethnography I studied and observed both
Mr. Wetenhall, and Mr. Fach Ventureprize organization located in of
UNCCs Portal building. I also had the opportunity to sit down and
interview them as well. The interviews I conducted were very
informative, and went very well.
In my interview with Mr. Fach I was able to learn what it is that
Mr. Fach does on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Fach in formed me that a

typical day for him included: reading and responding to emails

regarding patents for the school, talking and collaborating with coworkers, talking on the phone with potential inventors or attending a
meeting, lunch, and working on extra projects that he finds interesting.
I had an idea of what his job consisted of based on minor past
experiences I had with Mr. Fach before this project. However
conducting this interview and observation really helped me to fully
understand his job and his role at UNCC.
Mr. Fach conducts research in the Charlotte area, and tries to find
innovative technologies that UNCC may be interested in developing
further and implementing on campus. Mr. Fach informed me that the
school applies for approximately 20-30 patents a year, and that a large
portion of the work that he does involves tending to this patents and
securing the rights of the technologies for the university. Based on the
information I was provided with, I would conclude that Mr. Fach is
directly responsible for a fair amount of the innovative technologies
that are put to use on UNCCs campus.
The other individual that I interviewed from Portal buildings
business development community, Mr. Wetenhall, is the President of a
non-profit organization called Ventureprize. Ventureprize is an
organization affiliated with UNCC that is a competition for local
inventors in the area. The competition features small start-up
companies, or products that are in the earliest stages of development.

These companies and products are entered in the Venture challenge,

and are judged by a panel to decide which inventions are the best and
most innovative. The inventions that are selected as finalists of the
Venture challenge can win cash prizes. These finalists are also granted
with an opportunity to present their idea in front of an audience of
investors and company representatives. I myself have participated in
the Venture challenge program by submitting with my own products.
Unfortunately, I was not selected as a finalist.
I did not spend as much time with Mr. Wetenhall, as I did with Mr.
Fach. Mr. Wetenhall was very busy with his work of responding to
emails, and leaving his office for meetings with other companies that
Ventureprize works with. However I did gain information about Mr.
Wetenhalls work from both the interview I conducted, and the
observation time I had with him. Mr. Wetenhall seems to have been
very successful over the coarse of his career. He not only informed of
me of his routine that most often occurs, which includes: responding to
emails, taking telephone calls, doing presentations, and attending
meetings with companies and potential Venture challenge applicants.
But, we also discussed his past achievements over the couarse of his
life. These achievements were, in a verythe most sincere way possible,
most impressive. Mr. Wetenhall informed me that throughout hisin his
career he has: worked for a Xerox company, helped to build a company
that employed over 100,000 people, and launched a company with a

colleague and brought new spell checking technology to Microsoft,

apple, and others. Mr. Wetenhall also helped develop some cutting
edge technology in the field of with the earliest hand-held devices. He ,
and others, were able to take the bible, the random house
encyclopedia, and the physicians desk reference, and put them into a
hand-held device in the early 1990s. Additionally, Mr. Wetenhall has
helped approximatelybout 130 companies start businesses in the
technology sector. Most recently, Mr. Wetenhall has helped establish a
better approach to supporting entrepreneurs within the region of
Charlotte North Carolina.
From what I gathered in my observations, it seems that this
community in UNC Charlottes Portal building is a community that
doesnt particularly interact as much as an individual may expect. Or
rather, very little amounts of this interaction was directly observed by
myself. A large portion of the communication that takes place within
the community is accomplished with telephone calls and emails. There
is a surprisingly low amount of physical interaction, and face-to-face
communication according to my time spent within the community.
Physical interactions typically only take place in the early morning
when co-workers speak to each other and ask about what each
member of the community is working on, and in special meetings they
have for various purposes.

In regards to Swales criteria for a learning community, I believe

that the community I have chosen to study and write about meets all 6
of the requirements. Within the Portal building a community with broad
common goals can be found. The Entire community, even the
individuals I did not get a chance to interview or observe, are
dedicated to increasing the amount of entrepreneurship and the
number of partnerships with private companies. As far as mechanisms
of intercommunication my community uses a few different means of
communication. These methods of communication are word of mouth,
meetings, cell phones, and emails. As far as I am aware the
participatory mechanisms for feedback within my community are the
same methods that allow my community to communicate. My
community also has within it a unique form of diction, and a threshold
number of members, 20-50. My community uses words that may or
may not be familiar to outsiders such as: patent, provisional patent,
NDA (non-disclosure agreement), licensing, etc.
With this assignment I learned that the community I studied is
very diverse. Not everyone has a Ph.D., not everyone is just starting
out, and some of the most accomplished individuals are people who
have not earned a Ph.D. I enjoyed my time studying this community as
it features an area that I am extremely interested in, entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is an area that can turn creative and imaginative
individuals into billionaires, while at the same time changing the face

of the planet. I find it very interesting that a person can become

extremely wealthy, and change the world for the better, all from one
area. I found it interesting that the individuals that are a part of the
UNCC Portal community, in the cases that I studied, work together for
the completion of the same goal. All for the sake of bringing innovative
technologies to the Charlotte area, many people are working together
with different past experiences and a common goal.
From what I could derive from my time in Portal, the members of
the community seem to work together very well. In relation to
exclusively the two individuals I observed and interview, it seems that
they could accomplish a lot just between the two of them. Mr.
Wetenhall spends his time talking with companies and individual
inventors who are potentially going to work with the organization
Ventureprize. Mr. Fach spends a large majority of his time collaborating
with co-workers and patenting technology for the school that UNCC is
interested in. These two jobs alone, talking with inventors and
companies and patenting potential technologies, seem like they would
be highly effective in bringing innovation to Charlottes campus and
encouraging entrepreneurship.
My favorite part of this entire community is there willingness to
be approached. I have been into the building on campus called Friday,
and the building called Smith as well. While exploring these buildings I
was attempting trying to find some form of mentor, or at least a bit of

guidance on what I needed to do to get my products to the market. My

own product that I have designed perform the following tasks:
decrease the risk of shark encounters for beach-goers, reduce the risk
of hydroplaning while driving a vehicle, make backpacks easier to carry
for troops and campers, make planes road-guards more safe. I father
has also created a new form of camouflage, while my colleague has
designed a much cheaper form of basketball return. . In these
buildings, and approaching these communities, finding guidance an
advice was very difficult. The professors seem to be far to busy with
their own work, understandably, and do not have time to assist me
with my personal goals. However, withiniat UNCCs Pportal
communitybuilding things are different. The community is very inviting
when it comes to new products that can possibly provide innovation for
the Charlotte area in the future. They are very happy to set aside time
to meet with, an answer questions that some students have. They
have entertained my inquires about what it takes to get my own
products into the market. My products that I have designed perform
the following tasks: decrease the risk of shark encounters for beachgoers, reduce the risk of hydroplaning while driving a vehicle, make
backpacks easier to carry for troops and campers, make planes roadguards more safe. I father has also created a new form of camouflage,
while my colleague has designed a much cheaper form of basketball
return. Even if you happen to come into the building randomly and

unannounced, you can typically count on a kind member of the

community to set aside 5-10 minutes for you. I was truly impressed
with the kindness and willingness to help of the individuals who work in
UNCCs Portal building.
In conclusion I would say that UNCCs Portal communitybuilding
seems to be home to some very productive individuals, who work
extremely hard to raise the level of entrepreneurial activities in the
Charlotte area. They are very kind, and are willing to hear anyone out if
they are expressing interest in entrepreneurship, or have an idea to
enter into the Venture challenge. From what I have gathered with my
interviews and observations the community seems to be very
organized and qualified. They come across as a group of people that
are truly committed to the completion of their goals, and genuinely
wish to see the Charlotte area become a more prominent place for
innovation and entrepreneurial efforts. In the future, with the help of
this perpetually working group of individuals on the job, I suspect that
Charlotte North Carolina will continue to grow leaps and bounds in
respect to the amount of entrepreneurial campaigns that are being
conducted in this area. I also predict that with the work of Mr. Fach and
others, the school will certainly continue to grow in regards to its
possession of patents for new technologies. Hopefully the school will
continue to implement many of these new technologies on campus and
make campus-living more safe, fun, and interesting for future students.

I enjoyed reading your draft and learning about your community. In order to improve, I
have a number of suggestions. First, the focus of this paper should be how your
community fits the criteria of a discourse community as outline by Swales. This means
that the bulk of your paper should discuss what Swales argued and how your community
does or does not fit Swales characteristics of a discourse community. You might need to
reevaluate how you are analyzing your community. Second, make sure that you more
fully address what the reader should know about the community. You spent a lot of time
focused on you and your experiences. This is not a reflection. You should be making
claims that are supported by the data you collected, but you as an individual should not
be overtly present in the paper. Third, I would like to see a conclusion that really explains
what you have learned and synthesizes everything you have discussed in your paper.
Fourth, I would like to see you incorporate your data more. You frequently made claims
but they werent always supported by information from your interviewees or from your
observations. Make sure the reader knows where you are getting your information.
Finally, while your writing style is not bad, your sentence construction could be much
tighter and stronger. Be deliberate in your word choices and think about how you are
phrasing your thoughts. If you have questions regarding this aspect, either make an
appointment with the Writing Resources Center or come talk to me.
The following is the rubric for the assignment, including what you would have received
had this draft been your final draft. This grade will not be recorded anywhere. It is simply
a chance for you to see where you stand.
Category

Content
(65 points)

Organization
(10 points)

Scoring Criteria
Is focused, clear, purposeful, and meets the needs of the audience
Properly addresses the question, What are the most important things for
an outsider to know about this community?
Describes Swales characteristic #1 (common public goals)
Describes Swales characteristic #2 (mechanisms of intercommunication)
Describes Swales characteristic #3 (participatory mechanisms)
Describes Swales characteristic #4 (utilizes genres)
Describes Swales characteristic #5 (specific lexis)
Describes Swales characteristic #6 (threshold level of members)
All claims made are supported. Writer uses specific references to data
and/or sources to support claims.
Introduction establishes a framework for the rest of the paper and
includes a thesis statement
Conclusion summarizes the paper and pushes the reader to think about
specific issues/concerns outside of individual discourse community.
Utilizes a strong internal structure and purposefully moves the reader
through the text

Total
Points
5

Score
3

10

5
5
5
5
5
5

3
2
1
1
1
2

10

10

Style and
Conventions
(25 points)
Score

Sentences are all well-crafted and consistently varied in structure, length,

and beginning. Vocabulary and word choice are precise and varied.
The writer demonstrates a firm grasp of the conventions of written
English (spelling, capitalization, punctuation etc.). There are no typos.
Is formatted according to the conventions of MLA
Is 1500 2500 words
Total Points

10
5
100

5
5
54