Zachery Archie

Professor Rines
UWRT 1101
18 April 2015
My Micro-ethnography
An Observation and Analysis of Ventureprise
According to acclaimed linguist John Swales, a discourse community is a group of people
that share common goals, have mechanisms of intercommunication, systems to provide
information and feedback, different genres utilized to further their goals, a unique form of speech
that they have developed, and a threshold number of members. These are Sawles six
characteristics for determining if a community is a discourse community or not. I have observed
and studied a community at UNC Charlotte. I will use Swales six characteristics, mentioned
previously, to determine if this community is a discourse community or not. The particular
community that I selected to study is the community that is housed within, and operates largely,
in UNC Charlottes Portal building. This community is known as Ventureprise.
Ventureprise is a non-profit organization dedicated to the success of start-up companies,
and assisting early-stage entrepreneurs. One of the leaders of the Ventureprise community
further explained to me that Ventureprise also seeks to foster entrepreneurship and innovation in
the entire Charlotte area, not just UNCCs campus. These are the communitys common public
goals, and these goals fulfill the first requirement Swales has for determining a discourse
community. During the time of my study of the Ventureprise community, it was clear that the
main mechanisms of communication, Swales second requirement for a discourse community,
were telephone calls, emails, and meetings. I gathered this information by interviewing two

individuals from the community, Mr. Wetenhall and Mr. Mark (this an alias and not his/hers real
name). They both explained to me that returning emails, and taking and making telephone calls
are a large part of a normal day in their respective offices. These same mechanisms that are used
to communicate, are often times utilized for providing information and feedback to colleagues in
the community as well. Emails and phones calls for instance, are used within the Ventureprise
community for both communicative purposes and in the event that feedback needs to be provided
on and idea or product. It is also common for members of the community to hold meetings in
order to communicate with each other face to face, and to hold meetings to give each other
feedback and information. This, providing information and feedback, is the third requirement of
Swales characteristics of a discourse community.
The forth requirement of Swales characteristics of a discourse community are the use of
one or more genres to further the communities goals. While conducting my observations of the
Ventureprise community, I was able to directly observe the fulfillment of the characteristic that
Swales described. There are multiple genres being put to use within the Ventureprise
community. These genres include flyers, Power Points, as I mentioned emails, telephone calls,
meetings, and dry-erase boards. The genre of flyers is used to spread awareness about the
organization and upcoming activities. The genres of emails, telephone calls, and meetings, are
used share information, communicate, and give feedback. Power Points are used to present
information and new ideas; and dry-erase boards typically used to remind one individual member
of what he or she has achieved, and what still needs to be done.
The fifth requirement of Swales six characteristics of a discourse community is the
formation of a specific lexis within a community. In the Ventureprise community there is indeed
a specific lexis that has been constructed by the members of the community. From my

observations of the community, this specific lexis seemed less apparent than the different genres,
and mechanisms of communication and feedback; but the lexis was certainly present in the
community. I wouldnt go as far as to say that an entirely new language has manifested itself, but
there are words that the community has developed and use often. The following words that I
directly heard members of the Ventureprise community use include: NDA, patent, Provisional
patent, Utility patent, market analysis, business plan, demand, gap in the market, niche,
innovation, inventing, profit. These words and terms are words that often are used when talking
about new companies, new businesses, and ways of protecting new inventions.
For example, and NDA, refers to a non-disclosure agreement. This is an agreement
between an inventor, and a company or an investor. The agreement allows an inventor to show
his invention to an investor or company with confidence that the investor or company will not
disclose his idea to anyone for a certain amount of time. This time is usually a few years. These
terms, unusual words, and unique diction fulfills the fifth requirement Swales gives for a
community to be a discourse community. The fulfillment of this requirement is the fifth
requirement out of Swales six characteristics of a discourse community. Other examples of the
Ventureprise communitys unique diction would include terms like Utility patent and
Provisional patent. A patent is something that allows an inventor to claim the rights to
exclusively make his or her product. A patent is also a way for companies to know if an
invention is credible or not. A Utility patent is one that is much more substantional, and
expensive, than a provisional patent. A Utility patent protects a product form being produced for
many years, and costs thousands of dollars. In contrast, a Provisional patent costs only a few
hundred dollars, and protects a product for only one year. Clearly there is substantial evidence
for the Ventureprise community having formed a specific lexis.

Before getting to the final characteristic of Swales six characteristics that describe a
discourse community, it is worth mentioning some of the important things for outsiders to know
about this community. This community is filled with a variety of people. The education levels of
members fluctuate. Some members of Ventureprise have a Ph.D. and some do not. I was
informed in my interview with Mr. Mark that it is not particularly important to be an extremely
smart individual or have a masters degree; rather the most important thing is to show interest in
everything and explore the products that people have.
Along with assisting early-stage entrepreneurs and start-up companies; this community is
responsible for a large portion of the business ventures that UNC Charlotte takes on. Any patents
that UNCC comes into possession of, is likely a direct result of this community. This
community, and its members, must be able to recognize potential products that UNCC may need,
or wish to acquire the rights to. The members of the Ventureprise community must be
knowledgeable about the process by which UNCC comes to own technologies or products.
Members of this community must have an ability to find interesting products and ideas UNCC
may be interested in, and must also know how to help foster innovation on campus.
I have also found, through my other interview with Mr. Paul Wetenhall, that some
of the members of Ventureprise are extremely accomplished individuals. Mr. Wetenhall
informed me that in his career he has: worked for a Xerox company, helped to build a company
that employed over 100,000 people, 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 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 about 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. Having accomplished members like Mr. Wetenhall working within Ventureprise,
shows the legitimacy of the organization, and gives the organization some recognition. A leader
as accomplished as Mr. Wetenhall, can help to inspire other Ventureprise employees, and also
give them a sense of comfort knowing they have an experienced leader in the community.
One of the more difficult things to determine about Ventureprise was its threshold
number of members. Due to the size of my community, it was a difficult number to acquire.
However I was able to determine, after reaching out to several individuals, that the
threshold number of members that the Ventureprise community must have in order to
function is 2. The actual number of member working within Ventureprise is just over 100,
however the number of people actually on the pall roll for the school is 2. Two people must
be involved in order for Ventureprise to remain and organization. This fact means that it
does indeed have a threshold number of members, which is Swales sixth and final
characteristic of a discourse community, and is without doubt an example of a discourse
community.
In conclusion I would say that Ventureprise is certainly a discourse community, judging
by the six characteristics of Swales. The Ventureprise community fulfills each characteristic
outlined by Swales including: an agreed upon set of public goals, mechanisms of
intercommunication, systems used to express information and feedback, the utilization of
different genres, the formation of a specific lexis, and a threshold number of necessary members.
The Ventureprise community also seems to include some very productive individuals, who work
extremely hard to further the prevalence of entrepreneurial activities in the Charlotte area. They

are very kind, and are willing to listen to anyone if they are expressing interest in
entrepreneurship, or have an innovative idea to enter into the Venture challenge. This hospitality
would explain why people are so willing to approach the discourse community with their idea
and begin collaborating with people form the Ventureprise community. 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 community perpetually
working, 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 the area. I also
predict that the school will 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 students in the future.