Miami-Dade County Animal Shelter

“The idea of ‘discourse community’ is not well defined as yet, but like many imperfectly defined terms, it is suggestive, the center of a set of ideas rather than the sign of a settled notion” (Swales 218). A discourse community may seem like a complicated concept at first, but it is pretty simple, with just six straightforward characteristics that define a discourse community. A discourse community has to have an agreed set of goals, mechanisms of intercommunication, methods for information and feedback, one or more genres, specific lexis, and a varied level of members (Swales 221-22). Discourse communities can possibly range from sports teams, companies, restaurants, to sororities, fan groups, and religion.

A discourse community will have an agreed set of common goals that all members have an understanding of and work to achieve these goals every day. For example, a football team will have a goal to win their games. Along with goals comes mechanisms of intercommunication among members. Basically, this means how members communicate, whether it be by meetings, emails, or online discussions. In addition, a discourse community will use these methods to provide information and feedback to further their goals, opportunities, and improve in any aspect needed. Discourse communities will also have one or more genres, the term genre referring to text, or how things get done using language. Genres have a variety of forms, from websites, magazine articles, blogs, or menu’s. With owning genres comes acquiring specific lexis, certain words and terms used and highly understood by members. For instance, a business community can use “bang for the buck” which means to get the most for your money or a police community will use “10-4” over the radio, which simply means ‘ok’ or ‘I understand’. Lastly, there will be a varied level of members that make up the community, with novice or experienced individuals with different levels of expertise. With that being said, the discourse community I have chosen is the Miami-Dade County Animal Services, “Connect. Adopt. Love.” (Animal Services). With a common set of goals for the animals, ways of communicating with meetings or emails, feedback from adopters, genres, like the website, specific lexis, and a level of members, from novice to experienced, the Miami-Dade County Animal Services serves as a discourse community.

Miami-Dade County Animal Services has a varied level of staff along with volunteers. New staff members go through orientation and training to start their journey of working with the animals and helping with adoptions. Experienced staff members help clean the animals, feed them, and take them out for people to connect with them. Higher up, the managers oversee the work of everyone and further advertise their services and organize adoption events. Along with experienced staff, there are the vets to give the animals their shots and checkups, and photographers to take cute, appealing pictures of the animals for their adoption profile. In addition to staff, there are individuals who volunteer to help. These volunteers also have to accomplish orientation and training and will go on to volunteer at the shelter, addressing questions from possible adopters, bringing animals to photographers, or putting the animals back from playing with people. Also, the volunteers can sign up to help work events and get as many animals adopted. This variety of experience and individuals keeps the community growing, learning, and advancing to their goals. With as many different members with varied expertise as there is, they all share the same common goals.

Miami-Dade County Animal Services has many common goals, all aimed to support and aid the animals in the shelter. Every year, Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department provides refuge for approximately 30,000 unwanted dogs and cats (Animal Services). Animal Services highly encourage and pursue enforcement services, like investigations of animal cruelty, pick-up of strays, injured, sick, mistreated, and the administration of the rabies vaccination and dog licensing programs. Furthermore, staff and volunteers work to save the lives of abandoned animals, reunite lost pets with their owners, protect the pets in the community, and ensure the public's safety. One main goal is to make Miami-Dade County a no kill community. Through adoption programs, adoption events, rescue partnerships, pet retention programs, educational programs, free and low-cost sterilization and vaccination services, and a trap, neuter and return program for community cats, Animal Services work towards this goal every day. For instance, Animal Services are soon to have pet adoption events at multiple commonly known areas by the community, like the Marlins Stadium, Dadeland mall, and Tamiami Park. Hosting weekly events, they also offer special discounts in adoptions, spay/neuter services, microchip, registration, etc. With their no kill policy, both cat and dog save rates have gone up from 18% and 61%, to a pleasing 90% in 2015 (Animal Services). Miami-Dade County Animal Services is making it easier for people to adopt and offer forever homes to their animals. To correctly perform in their work, events, and adoptions, mechanisms of intercommunication are needed among the members.

To excel in their everyday work, members must have a regular means of communication in the community. Miami-Dade County Animal Services has multiple ways of communicating among its members. The main source of communication is by email. There will be emails sent to managers, staff, or volunteers to provide information about adoptions, events for the animals, meetings, volunteer work, or training days and orientation for new staff or volunteers. Another key source of communication is meetings. Meetings will be held by experienced staff or event coordinators to converse with other staff and volunteers about any news of adoptions, policies, training, future events, or provided services, like neutering, spaying, or shots. Other means of communication are text messages, calls, or advertisements and posters. “The participatory mechanisms will vary according to the community: meetings, telecommunications, correspondence, newsletters, conversations and so forth.” (Swales 221). These means of communication among members keep everyone in the community well informed and updated about information concerning adoptions, events, and any news relevant to the services they are providing and the goals they are working to achieve, with no one left in the dark. These mechanisms produce opportunities to observe information and feedback to then use to further their goals.

Along with Animal Service’s means of communication to keep their members informed and up to date, these mechanisms are used to provide information and feedback for their community. Members can use the meetings they use to communicate to suggest any strategies, tactics, or ideas to further promote and help adoptions. Future adoption events can be proposed and discussed, along with advertisement and information for the public. Members can also observe the rate of adoptions as feedback to see what can be improved and changed to increase adoptions and continue to their goals. “The secondary purposes of the information exchange will vary according to the common goals: to improve performance in a football squad or in an orchestra, to make money in a brokerage house, to grow better roses in a gardening club, or to dent the research front in an academic department.” (Swales 22). For example, staff and volunteers in a meeting can look at past adoption events and analyze what can be changed, improved, or performed better to have more publicity, awareness, and adoptions for future events. In addition to using feedback to further their goals, members also make use of their genre to additionally promote and provide information of their goals and intentions.

“A genre is a text that helps facilitate communication between people, and in this example all communication takes place within the discourse community.” (Branick 267). Genre, simply referring to any text being used to achieve something, is used by Miami-Dade County Animal Services in the form of a website to encourage and support their aims. Their website is further divided into certain topics for easy navigation and use by adopters and other individuals. From pet adoptions, spaying or neutering appointments, to licenses, pet safety, pet laws, protection center, and contact information, their website provides any information needed for their animals, care, and services provided. There are also online services provided, like pet accounts, lost and found, or license tag look-up. This website, as a genre, helps in educating the public about any possible concern or information needed to adopt and in helping the community protect and care for all animals. In addition to owning genres with all different areas of information, comes acquiring specific lexis in the community.

Animal Services has a unique set of words they use to communicate among members and some that have more complex meanings than what the public perceives. Some specific lexis for staff and volunteers are “adoptable”, “sterilize”, and “euthanasia and disposal services”. “Adoptable” varies widely to members. An animal’s adoption profile can have the tag “adoptable”, but the animal could possibly be ill or suffering but in a condition to them that they could still be adopted. Sterilizing their animals means to remove an animal's reproductive organs, whether by spaying or castration. Their “euthanasia and disposal services is a service provided for owners electing to have their pets humanely euthanized due to a medical condition. However, if the pet is not ill, Animal Services has the right to refuse to euthanize any pet. This specific lexis among members is used to communicate efficiently and excel in their everyday duties and work concerning the animals.

Overall, Miami-Dade County Animal Services serves as a discourse community among its members. The members all have common goals they strive to achieve, mainly being to make the community a no kill community that cares and protects any animal. They communicate through emails, texts, or meetings, and use these ways to provide information and feedback used to improve in any aspect and further adoptions for their animals. Members possess genre, their website, to further promote their aims as a community and acquire specific lexis to communicate thoroughly among each other, especially when concerning the animals. In addition, the members that make up the discourse community all range from novice to experienced, and from managers to volunteers that all work to teach others and support each other in the community. Miami-Dade County Animal Services works to improve the community and county as a whole and improving the lives of residents and animals every day.