It’s easy to consider digital rhetoric and writing in terms of always-advancing computer technologies. This isn’t inaccurate, and keeping our fingers on the pulse regarding the rhetorical affordances of new software makes for innovative digital writing, research, and pedagogy. At the same time, however, it’s helpful to remember that digital rhetoric is more than what’s possible through recently released products. In “Wampum as Hypertext,” Angela Haas expands our digital scope beyond the computer screen by reminding us that “[a]ll writing …
Lesson Plan: Visualizing Difference with Tableau Public
In his much referenced TED Talk, David McCandless says that “if you start working with [data] and playing with it in a certain way, interesting things can appear and different patterns can be revealed” (5:57-6:14). And Virginia Kuhn argues that there are “two main uses for information visualization: discovery and representation.” With this in mind, data visualization software can certainly be a productive tool for research and invention. We can begin to identify patterns in what might otherwise be a …
Lesson Plan: Transforming Data Visualizations
Contemporary rhetorical theory privileges a view of rhetoric as dynamic, where texts circulate both spatially and temporally to myriad effects. For instance, in her influential article “Unframing Models of Public Distribution,” Jenny Rice pushes against a view of rhetoric as contained and static, arguing instead that the “rhetorical situation is part of . . . an ongoing social flux” and that rhetorics “evolve in aparallel ways” (9, 14) as they circulate. Mary Queen, in “Transnational Feminist Rhetorics in a Digital …
Workshop Recap: Visualizing Rhetoric with Emojis and GIFs
In the DWRL’s most recent workshop, staff members looked at two of the most apparent–but perhaps most easily dismissed–exemplifications of visual rhetoric: emojis and GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format). Although we’ve all no doubt interacted with both emojis and GIFs before–whether you see them as a mildly amusing (or annoying) novelty or an essential part of how you communicate with others–we wanted to do more than glance at these visual vehicles of expression, and instead explore their affordances and limitations. Splitting …
Remixing the News
In the last couple weeks, we’ve heard a lot about fake news, and “post-truth” was recently named by Oxford Dictionaries as its word of the year. One of the things this has had me thinking about is not only how news stories proliferate online, but how information transforms as it circulates. In particular, I’m interested in how information from one text is translated or “recomposed” into another–whether it’s commenting on an article shared on Facebook, summarizing an argument via a …
Lesson Plan: Peer Recordings, or Revising Peer Review
An important component in the composition process is peer reviews. In fact, it’s a requirement for RHE 306 courses. But when instructors assign digital writing assignments–particularly those like infographics that have a visual component beyond alphanumeric text–a question emerges as to how students can best provide helpful feedback. In “Can You Hear Us Now,” Julie Reynolds and Vicki Russell argue that audio-recorded feedback on student writing encourages them as instructors to “focus less on lower-order writing concerns (such as spelling, …
Affectively Interactive
One of my favorite data visualizations concerns the Beatles. Created by Adam McCann from Dueling Data, the graphic, amongst other things, lets the user hover their computer cursor over illustrations of band members to see how many hit songs those members have written and when. I find the visualization memorable, no doubt, because I find the content interesting (e.g., the Lennon/McCartney duo falls off toward the end), but the graphic seems to resonate beyond that. This partly has to do …
Lesson Plan: Visual Literacy and Infographic (Re)Composition
In Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, Stuart Selber discusses the importance of pedagogy that cultivates, what he refers to as, multiliteracies, where students strive to be “users of technology . . . questioners of technology . . . producers of technology” (25). This idea of multiliteracies pushes beyond a focus on teaching students the technical functions of technology (though that still has a place) to emphasize that students also need to hone their rhetorical and critical capacities. Working with visual …
Workshopping Our Web Presence
If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you’ve already heard about the importance of managing your web presence. Often, the issue is presented as a warning about the damage “inappropriate” photos or posts on social media can do as you seek to enter (or remain in) a profession. In this sense, managing your web presence is approached as a negative. That is, it’s framed as the absence or the removal of information that could hurt your professional ethos. At the …
Learning to Learn, Digitally
A couple years ago, I enrolled in my first digital rhetorics course. I was excited, but also insecure, certain that I was out of my league compared to my classmates, all of whom I assumed were naturals when it came to all things digital. Even though I knew this way of thinking didn’t make sense, I constructed a digital literacy binary of sorts: either you’re naturally techy, or not. A wizard born with magical powers, or not. In a sense, this …