Statement of Purpose REVISED

My purpose is to highlight how communication on the internet has changed, and not necessarily for the better, by developing a satirical web comic using nothing but instant messaging acronyms like "LOL" and "ORLY?".  I think that this kind of speech has evolved and expanded to the point of being ridiculous, and will continue to do so...what will come next?  While maintaining the argument that this form of speech is getting out of hand (you see it everywhere on the internet now, WTF?), I will be appealing to the humor in a context that is very common in web comics.  My overall goal is to provoke thoughts on how overused this form of speech has become and that--while useful when pressed for time--it shouldn't become the primary source of speech on the internet.  WHILE my personal view is that it's good practice to type out full sentences on a keyboard, that point is less humorous and more difficult to portray in a short, juxtaposed medium, so I will instead make the argument on how out-of-place full sentence typers like me have felt in the internet world these past years.

My audience will be my classmates, as well as anyone on the internet who can appreciate satire--my target audience will have had experience with the internet, be very internet savvy, be familiar with instant chat speech, and will most likely be in my age range (as many internet users who view comics are anonymous, who can say how old they really are?).   They should be familiar with the subject this comic will be referring to, and like me they probably enjoy making fun of themselves.

I expect the viewer to read my comic, smile, chuckle a little, and say something along the lines of, "Yeah, I can see how that's partially true." I say "partially" because for comedic purposes, and in spirit of CLASSIC satire, I''m making a gross exaggeration of what is really just a minor problem, if one at all (to anyone who's read "A Modest Proposal," you will understand what I'm talking about).  I expect this piece to provoke thought, to put in the corner of my audience's mind the idea that communication on the internet is getting a little crude and a little lazy.

So far the only remaining problems I have to resolve are in the choice of dialog (there is a LOT to work with, in order to accomplish an entire conversation) and in the fact that I simply do NOT know where I can post this comic when I'm finished with it. Beyond that, I have a clear idea of how I want to accomplish my goal, and I have a great idea for a design plan thanks to researching dozens of web comics for some basic characteristics. These details will be outline in the design plan following this post.