To help keep us focused on your selected project for the semester, we will read from very few outside texts. The calendar below outlines the concepts we’ll discuss and the main readings we’ll draw from. What we read for this class is largely theoretical in nature. The authors aim to help you re-imagine how rhetoric works in digital spaces. Further, those authors expect you to apply the theories to examples from your own experience. You’ll work with these theorists to help you think carefully about how and why you create digital texts.
Overall, our goal this semester will be to go slowly and deliberately. That goal is reflected in the calendar below. Our pace should help you build a deep and complex understanding of how writing works in digital spaces. It will also allow you time to experiment with, and work on, your individual project.
Below are simplified calendars of weekly reading assignments and broad project goals by unit. A complete course calendar, best viewed on large, wide screens, is also available. That complete calendar includes dates, all readings, and detailed weekly project goals in a single grid.
Readings Calendar
| Unit/Week | Readings | Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & Agency on the Web Week 0 [prep work] | “Understanding and Maintaining Your Privacy When Writing with Digital Technologies” from Lindsey C. Kim (2022)“Messy and Chaotic Learning” (text or audio) from Martha Fay Burtis (2015) | |
| Writing & Rhetoric, Tech & Texts Week 1 (Sep 14) | “Introduction: What Is Rhetorical about Digital Rhetoric? Perspectives and Definitions of Digital Rhetoric” from Justin Hodgson and Scot Barnett (2016)“Ways of Knowing and Doing in Digital Rhetoric: A Primer” from Matthew Davis, Stephen J. McElroy, and Rory Lee (2016) | Create class blog account + blog post |
| Digital v Material, Hypertextual v Connected Week 2 (Sep 21) | “Intertextuality” § in “Defining and Locating Digital Rhetoric” from Doug Eyman (2015)“Wampum as Hypertext: An American Indian Intellectual Tradition of Multimedia Theory and Practice” from Angela M. Haas (2007) | Establish a domain and hosting + blog post |
| Context: Rhetorical Situations, Networks, & Circulation Week 3 (Sep 28) | “Going Public in an Age of Digital Anxiety: How Students Negotiate the Topoi of Online Writing Environments” from David Gold, Merideth Garcia, and Anna V. Knutson (2019)“Composing for Recomposition: Rhetorical Velocity and Delivery” from Jim Ridolfo and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss (2009) | Install publishing platform (likely WordPress) + blog post |
| Interfaces & Affordances Week 4 (Oct 5) | “The Design of Web 2.0: The Rise of the Template, the Fall of Design” from Kristin L. Arola (2010)“Ethos, Hexis, and the Case for Persuasive Technologies” from Steve Holmes (2016) | Select a theme + blog post |
| Algorithms, Platforms, & Data Week 5 (Oct 12) | “Google and the Misinformed Public” from Safiya Umoja Noble (2017)“Sneaky Rhetorics, Habitual Media, and the Affective Politics of Lurking on Facebook” from Maggie Fernandes, Matthew Homer, and Jennifer Sano-Franchini (2022)“Living With Algorithms: Power, Agency, Resistance” from Tiziano Bonini and Emiliano Treré (2024) | Build placeholder pages + blog post + Synthesis 1 |
| Attention, Persuasion, Resistance Week 6 (Oct 19) | The Social Dilemma (2020) [in-class screening]“A Theory of Persuasive Computer Algorithms for Rhetorical Code Studies” from Estee Beck (2016)“Algorithmic Harms beyond Facebook and Google: Emergent Challenges of Computational Agency” from Zeynep Tufekei (2015) | Website Review 1 + add placeholder text on all pages + blog post |
| Identity, Culture, Sovereignty Week 7 (Oct 26) | “Black Digital-Cultural Imaginations: Black Visuality and Aesthetic Refuge in the M4BL Classroom” from Carmen Kynard (2022)“Student Perceptions of Anonymous Applications” from Sara West (2023) | Adapt theme and install plugins to support desired site features + blog post |
| Accessibility as Rhetoric/Justice Week 8 (Nov 2) | “Working Toward Social Justice through Multilingualism, Multimodality, and Accessibility” from Laura Gonzales and Janine Butler (2020)“Where Access Meets Multimodality: The Case of ASL Music Videos” from Janine Butler (2016) | Complete layout mockups + blog post |
| Multimodality & Visual Rhetorics Week 9 (Nov 9) | “Thinking across Modes and Media (and Baking Cake): Two Techniques for Writing with Video, Audio, and Images” from Crystal VanKooten (2023)“Understanding Visual Rhetoric” from Jenae Cohn (2020) | Synthesis 2 + finalize advanced content layouts + blog post |
| Information Architecture & Design Justice Week 10 (Nov 16) | “Introduction” + “Design Practices” chapters of Design Justice from Sasha Costanza-Chock (2020)“What Can Design Thinking Offer Writing Studies?” from James P. Purdy (2014) | Finalize visuals on all pages + Website Review 2 + blog post |
| Knowledge & Ethics, “Open” & “Public” Week 11 (Nov 23) | “Framing Open Educational Practices from a Social Justice Perspective” from Maha Bali, Catherine Cronin, and Rajiv S. Jhangiani (2020)“Open Pedagogy Benefits and Challenges: Student Perceptions of Writing Open Case Studies” from Deborah Chen and Christina Hendricks (2023) | Finalize text on all pages + blog post |
| The Rhetoric, Metaphors, and Persuasion of AI Week 12 (Nov 30) | The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (2026) [in-class screening]“Making a Webtext with ChatGPT” from Doug Eyman and ChatGPT (2023)“Postplagiarism: Transdisciplinary Ethics and Integrity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Neurotechnology” from Sarah Elaine Eaton (2023) | Aesthetic details finalized + blog post |
| AI as Rhetorical Subject, Actor, Tool Week 13 (Dec 7) | “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?” from Emily M. Bender, et al. (2021)“Whose Time Is It Anyway? Writing, Labor, and the Illusion of Efficiency” from Jason Tham (2026) | Website review 3 + blog post + Synthesis 3 |
| Digital Labor: Testing, Revision, Maintenance Week 14 (Dec 14) | “Student-Authored Textbooks: Challenging Expertise, Establishing Authority, Shaping Discourse” from Chris Friend (2024)“Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?” from Sandra L. Giles (2010) | Blog post + Textbook Chapter |
| Publication, Presentation, Praxis [Exam] Week 15 (Dec 21) | N/A | Course Audit + Final site/grade conference |
Website Project Calendar
Because website creation and design is a creative, iterative, experimental process, our weekly goals need to be flexible. Early in the semester, you’ll create specific weekly goals for your project, and we’ll revisit those goals as the course progresses. Broadly stated, we’ll do the following in class:
| Topic | Project Goals & Assignments |
|---|---|
| Digital Situationships [Wks 1–4] | Establish a domain & hosting + Install publishing platform (likely WordPress) + Select theme + 4 blog posts + Synthesis 1 |
| Power Distribution [Wks 5–8] | Build placeholder pages + Add placeholder text + Install plugins to expand functionality + Complete layout mockups + 4 weekly blog posts + Synthesis 2 |
| Public Audiences, Public Authors [Wks 9–13] | Finalize content layouts + Finalize visuals + Finalize all text + Address aesthetic details + 5 weekly blog posts + Synthesis 3 |
| Writing Humanity [Wks 14 & 15] | 1 blog post + Course Audit + Textbook Chapter |