What is Intertextuality?
When looking up the word Intertextuality, the definition that I got was “the relationship between texts, especially literacy ones.” Basically meaning how texts are related to or reference one another. For example as college students we are required to complete a research paper at some point of our academic career. When we do research online we are comparing different authors’ work on either the same or similar topics. We do this to grasp a better understanding of context. In Eyman’s article, Warnick mentions this. He claimed “contemporary users of Web-based discourse have at their fingertips resources that enable them to seek out information in the moment in order to more fully understand and appreciate an intertextual reference.” I’ve practiced intertextuality without even knowing what the word meant before reading this article.
In one of my English classes my Professor always says there’s not an idea out there that somebody hasn’t already thought of. That’s exactly what intertextuality makes me think of. Whether it’s digital resources or printed, there are books, news articles, websites, and social media pages that display examples of other people’s ideas. Other people feed off of other people’s ideas and may interpret things differently and create another thought bubble. It’s a never ending cycle of sharing ideas. That’s what’s so interesting about writing, the different perspectives and interpretations.Warnick mentioned identifying the “probable roles of Web users as readers when they interpret and are influenced by the texts they encounter.” Which goes to prove my point the way we encounter different texts, new ideas are born.
Eyman then also made a point on the importance of studying the historical context of how the internet became what it is today. As well as coming up with new approaches and methods for analysis. Where old and new approaches should both be included towards developing digital rhetoric.
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