Humane Society Charlotte

5/1/2013

[Edition 1, Volume 1]

HUMANE SOCIETY

Humane Society of Charlotte

The figured world I intend to observe is the Humane Society of Charlotte. The humane society is a nonprofit private organization that tries to help homeless and/or unwanted animals find a suitable home where they can be taken care of. They are an adoption guarantee organization, meaning that no animal accepted there will be euthanatized no matter how long they are there. The types of discourse communities I anticipate seeing will probably range very drastically between my observation periods. Some of the discourse communities (different cultural settings, artifacts, and actors that have different roles, significance, and purposes within a particular environment) I might see are families, couples, teenagers, friends, men/women groups, adults by themselves, or dog/cat enthusiasts. These were just to name a few and I believe there will be many more once I actually initiate the observations. These discourse communities such as volunteers will interact with the animals (artifacts) by playing, feeding, and keeping the animals and their cages clean. They will probably be played by actors that are adult males/females, teenagers, adolescent children, and probably young adults. The rules and conventions for this figured world are much less stringent compared to my last figured world of the Atkins Library. Due to the Humane Society of Charlotte being located outdoors and next to a highway, it tends to have a very noisy atmosphere between the dogs and the vehicles driving by. The rules at this location are to sign in before viewing the animals, keep your hands off the cages, and not entering any buildings that are labeled staff only. If someone is interested in one-on-one contact with an animal, a staff member will direct that individual to a particular caged in play area so that he/she may become more acquainted with the pet. Because the staff there tends to love animals all around and the people that visit the humane society usually are looking to adopt, this experience should be an enjoyable one when observing the happiness of individuals whom are adopting pets.

HUMANE SOCIETY

RESCUE A LOVING ANIMAL

Have you ever thought about making an addition to your family? The Humane Society of Charlotte has puppies, dogs, kittens, and cats of all ages waiting to be rescued from a loving and caring family like yours.

Observation 1 Notes: 03/23/2013 at 12:15 p.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Different types of artifacts: kennels, dogs, signs (telling people to keep their hands and fingers off of the cages), play pins to play with the dogs, small concrete walls to keep people slightly away from the cages, chew toys for people to use while playing with the dogs, the thought of visitors adopting a dog while at the Humane Society, dog training buildings towards the back of the entire facility, for the most part the area were people look at pets is outside. Learning Practices going on: dog training session that are held at the humane society, staff telling visitors how a particular dog acts when the visitor asks to play with the k-9. Discourse Communities: one discourse community I observed is those that break the rules. For instance, an actor in the figured world putting his fingers inside of a dog cage, when artifacts such as signs posted are not to do so. Different types of discourse communities: staff of the humane society,

volunteers are the humane society (this community keeps the kennels clean at all times, helps feed the animals, and assists visitors with getting in contact with staff if they would like to see an animal one-on-one), couples looking for dogs, families looking for dogs (there are pictures on the next slide of this), single individuals (male/female) looking for k-9s. Actors in the figured world that I observed consisted of: Older Adults both male and female, Younger Adults both male and female, Teenagers, and Adolescent Children Another type of discourse community that was abundant, were families/couples playing with a dog in the play pins for the first time while see if they get along with the pet enough to take them home. Specialized language being used: adoption (buying an animal to become their owner), fostering (being a temporary caretaker of an animal, usually for 2 weeks at a time), and medical conditions in case an animal has a disability or is hurt.

Observations Day 2: 03/25/2013 at 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Interview of an actor playing the role of a volunteer discourse community. Q/A
Whats your name? Leanne Pick How long have you volunteer here? Since March 14th. Why do you volunteer at the Humane Society? The animals are a lot more appreciative than a lot of the people I have volunteered for and they are really in need of volunteers here. They are short staffed. So thats why you have chosen to volunteer here instead of somewhere else such as a hospital? Yes, you dont have to deal with rudeness from people or the unappreciative people that just think youre their slave. These dogs really appreciate what youre doing for them and without volunteers here, these dogs would probably die. Are you planning on adopting any animals here or fostering? Yes, in August I will want to adopt a puppy here. How many one or two? Two. Which dog is your favorite here thus far? Probably Africa. Shes really playful and really sweet. Every time you come near her she is the happiest dog in the world. At this time in the morning, the Humane Society was not open to the public. The two types of discourse communities present between these hours were really the staff community and the volunteer community. Here is a link to the Video of the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpjT17z9vX c&feature=youtu.be Link of Leanne playing with Africa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPu8hwQ UwM

Observation Day 3: 03/27/2013 at 3:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Interview of an employee discourse community. Q/A

What is your name? Cat Belteau. What is your job title and responsibilities? Right now, here at the Humane Society of Charlotte for five years Im the volunteer coordinator. Their first full time volunteer coordinator, so I get in all of their volunteers and get them up and running and make sure they behave themselves. How imperative is it that the Humane Society continues to get volunteers? We cant do anything were doing now without the help of our volunteers. They really supplement the staff, they just through February have donated over 9,000 hours. Thats 210 people, so that allows us to adopt out more animals and spade and neuter more animals. How important is it that society knows about fostering or adopting animals here? We think its vitally important. Wed like to see adopt instead of shopping for animals. In this community we have a serious issue with stray animals and animal care.
What is your sense of accomplishment from working here to help find a better for dogs and cats? Oh wow! In five years it was nothing. The average volunteer did about 2 hours and donated, the whole volunteer pool donated less than 3,000 a year. Last year the average volunteer had 35 hours a year and the whole volunteer pool donated $83,000 in cash out of their pockets as well. Awesome volunteers, we got incredible volunteers. Here is a link to the Video of the interview: http://youtu.be/ik0Vvgaz9n4

The link below directs you to my storyboard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYvVzl5wXWg&feature=youtu.be