Rhetoric is the cornerstone of all writing. Without it, there isn’t really a reason for the writing to exist. It’s a necessary feature of writing.
New media is a term used to refer to technology in the newer age. Some examples are computers, cell phones, tablets, and pretty much any digital media that can be used for writing. Almost anything with a screen falls under this.
How it intertwines with new media
Doug Applen in “New Media and Literacy” shares several ideas that contribute to this idea of how the medium and content of the writing go hand in hand with rhetoric. Since rhetoric is a key part of writing and changes with the medium, it’s expected to be no different for new media.
Our responses to writing have changed depending on the medium. We respond to oral arguments differently than we would with print-on books. In this case, the text on the screen isn’t fixed. We can interact with the text, almost assuming the role of writer. Not only that but compared to books, the textual meaning has more interaction.
Due to the nature of online writing, we can alter things such as font sizes with just a click. We can make adjustments to the text as we read, and to us, it feels more dynamic and changeable. The technology is modular and retains its independence even when updated.
More conventional forms of media, such as printed texts, are based on narratives. The scenes by themselves can be read and enjoyed but these narratives are built on the specific order of scenes. In contrast, the article states that digital technology can take separate modular elements to combine them in any way. The order doesn’t matter as each element is just as significant as the previous one.
In general, new media allows rhetoric to be a lot more open and less dependent on narratives. The modular nature of it allows for more openness and interactivity.
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