Rhetoric and Writing in Electronic Environments

Rhetoric and Writing in Electronic Environments Prepared by Julia Romberger For English 307

What will I discuss in this presentation? • Key Definitions • The Rhetorical Triangle • Rhetorical Canons

Key Definitions • Text - includes the visual, textual and interactive components • Composing - communicating through textual and visual forms • Rhetor(s) - the person(s) who develop a text for the use of a given audience in a specific context

What is the rhetorical triangle?

Rhetorical Triangle Context Context

Audience When considering your audience you need to determine: • What they already know • What they are interested in knowing • What they need to know • How they will access the information • What communication technologies they use/like

Rhetor or Author As an author you need to be aware of how your audience perceives you – your Ethos. Ethos is connected to: • Your authority & competence • Your professionalism and ability to communicate purpose • Your ability to create easily navigable communication • Your ability to use conventions

Working your Ethos How can you improve your Ethos? • Use of adequate evidence and research • Awareness of your audience’s needs regarding technology literacy and content • Convincing arguments and clear purpose • Professional presentation • Understanding limits of audience’s time and tech savvy

Message and Purpose A text may have one or more purposes: • To inform • To earn or maintain good will • To persuade • To amuse, please, or entertain • The ultimate purpose of composing in general is to effect positive action and improve relations between people.

The Text A text is structured according to a genre such as: • Tutorials, Memos, Instant messages, Web Pages, Wikis, etc. New technologies are making these genres more flexible than ever before, and new genres are continually emerging. Conventions shift and change almost daily.

Computer-Mediated Texts Computer-mediated versions of texts general are comprised of: • Text • Visuals linked to text and context • Interactivity

Context Context is the situation surrounding the text’s origination. It is linked to: • The need that spurred the writing of the text • The position of the writer relative to the audience • The technologies used to access the text • Expectations of the person who initiated the writing of the text

The 5 Canons

Invention Invention concerns finding something to say. Certain common categories of thought became conventional to use in order to brainstorm for material. These common places (places = topoi in Greek) are called the "topics of invention." They include, for example, cause and effect, comparison, and various relationships.

Arrangement Arrangement concerns how one orders speech or writing. In ancient rhetorics, arrangement referred solely to the order to be observed in an oration, but the term has broadened to include all considerations of the ordering of discourse, especially on a large scale.

Style Style concerns the artful expression of ideas. If invention addresses what is to be said; style addresses how this will be said. From a rhetorical perspective style is not incidental, superficial, or supplementary: style names how ideas are embodied in language and customized to communicative contexts

Memory Memory is much more than memory aids; it clearly had to do with more than simply learning how to memorize an already composed speech for re-presentation. The Ad Herennium author calls memory the "treasury of things invented," thus linking Memory with the first canon of rhetoric, Invention. This alludes to the practice of storing up commonplaces or other material arrived at through the topics of invention for use as called for in a given occasion.

Delivery – classical definition Delivery, the last of the five canons, concerns itself (as does style) with how something is said, rather than what is said (Invention). One Greek word for delivery is "hypokrisis" or "acting," and rhetoric has borrowed from that art a studied attention to vocal training and to the use of gestures.

Impact on the Canons • Delivery – Delivery becomes a greater issue than before. There are multiple ways to send the same information. • Arrangement – Every delivery method has its own tendencies toward arrangement. More attention must be paid. • Style - There are many different styles for different media. Kairotically appropriate style must be chosen for each one.

Delivery has Expanded Questions that need to be asked when considering delivery: • Where will it be read • How will it be read • What media will be used for transmission • How much control will the reader have • What are the advantages/limitations of the media These choices are all linked to purpose

Rhetoric and Writing in Electronic Environments