Discourse Community Response

Discourse communities are just about everywhere. Being able to participate in them gets people to communicate and share ideas they have in common. I belong to several discourse communities and I have four main ones. They consist of family and friends (personal), REDA member (civic), Customer Service Specialist (professional), and a UTEP student (academic).
The most important discourse community I belong to is family and friends. We all share a common goal which is to keep in touch with each other and help each other out when in need. We keep in contact with each other through phone calls, text messages, emails, Skype, and even the old fashioned letters. The type of writing is very informal and when writing to each other some words are abbreviated. The topics that I talk about with my family include school, current events (i.e. birthday parties), friends, and other things that come up while having a conversation. When I talk to my friends we talk about school and a lot of the times work related events. When talking to everyone I am courteous and respectful. Since a lot of my family speaks Spanish most of the time I also try to speak Spanish when I am around them. For the most part when I am with my friends I speak English.
Another discourse community I’m in, which falls under the civic category, is being a member of the Regional Economic Development Association (REDA). We communicate with each other via text messages, emails, and phone calls. When we have meetings we talk about upcoming projects, assign topics so we can write articles on them, and discuss community service opportunities. When we try to reach the public about upcoming events we are hosting or new articles on the web site we usually have posters up or spread the word with people we know. The type of writing we do is always very professional. The common goal is to help out the community and inform them about the economic development in this region.
Working at office depot involves a lot of writing to communicate to other employees and customers. We usually write memos to communicate with each other and post them in the break room. There are also posters and all sorts of different visuals in the break room to try and keep us updated with things (i.e. new products, extended hours, and meetings). There is even more writing within the copy and print department. I usually have to send out emails to customers explaining their order, how long it will take, the price, and that I need their approval in order to continue with the process. This is usually involved with big orders especially stamps and business cards. This discourse community is very fat paced and consists of a lot of formal writing. The common goal for this community is to have a 100% customer satisfaction.
Lastly, I am a student at UTEP. In this discourse community there is a lot of professional writing involved. The writing consists of emails to professors, writing memos, and research papers among other things. This isn’t one of the easiest discourse communities I’m in because it involves a lot of writing, not just for one class but for many. The common goal I share with other students is to get a better education. I am planning to double major in accounting and finance and there is specialized language that I have to understand.
There are more discourse communities that I am apart of and they all help me improve my writing skills. It is always good to be a part of them. Although they can be stressful sometimes there are other times that they are really fun. I enjoy writing for most of the discourse communities I’m in.