The Code

This week my wonderful Tutor got my thoughts rolling on the relevancy of ‘telling of the code’ in the 21st century. Wieder was writing this in the 70s when social networking sites did not exist yet a lot of the order of talk that occurs is now more public and written down as well. For example there has been a change in what is acceptable to write on Facebook. Most people don’t care about the menial everyday status updates, yet we continue to do them (and complain about them). But then, if we post narcissistic or gossipy comments they’re totally unacceptable as well (and we again complain). Yet all of these are a part of ‘facework’ (as Goffman would like to say) and the creation of a code (Davies 2012). These codes have been written down plain for all to see so the subversive and inside knowledge of the code has altered the way the code can be used. Another example is THE GAME (haha you just lost!).

NB: Rules of The Game are:

1. Each person in the whole world is part of the game and playing
2. As soon as you think about The Game, you lose
3. Losses must be declared through the statement ‘I just lost The Game’
(The Metro 2012)

We speak about The Game in terms of understanding that we’re all actually only ever going to lose the game but try to get people to lose anyway. The question becomes: is this a code if everyone knows about it? In our day and age, rules are published online and obviously stated everywhere so is there any room left for a theory in which information is rife and these codes are well known? I found this links with the recipe of knowledge of ethnomethodology: we don’t technically know the game (unless someone tells us that we are actually playing the game). Yet – we have access to the sites on which we can find out about these ‘secret codes’. Interesting? I think so.


References
Davies, J 2012, ‘Facework on Facebook as a new literacy practice’, Computers & Education, vol.59, no.1, pp19 – 29.

Wieder, L, 1974, 'Telling the code', in R Turner (ed), Ethnomethodology: Selected Readings , Pengiun Education, Harmondsworth, pp144-172.

Unknown 2012, ‘Three rules of The Game’, accessed 10/9/2012, http://www.metro.co.uk/news/430704-three-rules-of-the-game.