Prompt: If language is ever shifting, and if we have
more recently seen a massive shift in communication practices both in terms of
presentation tools and global connections, how should rhetoric shift in terms
of its instruction?
We have been reading and discussing the major shift in rhetoric from being concerned with the qualities of the rhetoric because those are the things good rhetoric must have, to a greater emphasis on what the audience needs in order for the rhetoric to be effective. I think that is even more necessary today; however, it is also much more difficult. We discussed and agreed that there is no universal audience, which means there is no one group we can direct our rhetoric to in the hopes of making it effective for the largest group of people. But now with the prevalence of the Internet it is impossible to truly narrow our audience. Although certain people tend towards certain sites and forums (ex: Instagram is now incredibly popular with younger users) all users can access most sites, which means it is more about marketing demographics - who has a larger tendency to view my argument/material/rhetoric?
How should this affect the instruction of rhetoric? I think the primary way is that we need to emphasize the ever shifting audience and the need to know as much as you can about that audience. We can never reach everyone, but if we know who would probably read/view our content and who would benefit most from it, then we can construct our rhetoric to more accurately reach that group. I guess I'm saying that the instruction of rhetoric should, in some ways, meld with marketing courses. There is no longer a "one size fits all" set of guidelines that equates to successful rhetoric. We need to now help ourselves and our students to see the global audience and strive to appeal to it as much as possible. (I say that with the previously stated opinion that there is no universal audience.) This implies a greater need to emphasize the rhetorical situation as a whole, and audience specifically.
I think we also need to expose students to how rhetoric can be produced and experienced/viewed online. We traditionally direct instruction - and research, really - towards very print-based means. Even when we have students research though the library, the sources are generally digital versions of something they could access in print. But that is now how the world works now. Content is designed specifically for the web. The colors, layout, font, length, word choice, images... everything is presented in a particular way because this content will be viewed on a computer or a smart phone. This is something that the younger generation takes for granted because they grew up with it. Those of us who are a little older, however, view the Internet with a bit more skepticism (or awe) because we remember a time when print was it. Many of our students do not think, let alone think critically, about what they find online - the content, the layout, or the context - which is why I think new studies of rhetoric need to focus on those elements. Because what they publish is so widely seen, students need to know how to produce effective rhetoric and how to avoid creating an online persona that could be damaging - or simply misrepresenting - them now and in the future.
Would you say we are more interested in audience today? I think audience and situation or context. Sometimes we write with audience in mind, but it's for a particular purpose that, perhaps, moves beyond a specific audience toward that universal understanding of audience. While there is no one size that fits all, we can't keep up with shifting audiences in some ways with content. I think it's a combination of audience and situation that we pay particular attention to today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your notes about modality, too. Content in one dimension is not necessarily the best content in another. So we must look at differences between text and digital. So with content comes modality and, as you say, location. Where content is meant to be viewed becomes very important. This isn't something we've seen in quite the same way through our studies in rhetoric as of yet. Perhaps we're getting it with Burke, though, and the dramatistic pentad.
I like that you address the issue of the "digital world." It's very true that people, especially young people, automatically believe what they read on the Internet. It's a scary concept, what can we believe when being published may not mean the content is reputable.
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