Throughout the semester we have dove into understanding the term rhetoric. Rhetoric is a persuasive phrase, question, or action in the form of words or symbols to make a point. Digital Rhetoric is rhetoric that takes place within a digital sphere or community. These terms are relevant throughout the semester and always seem to come back around. Now we are moving forward and developing an understanding of new forms of rhetoric. Doug Eyman introduces us to this within Defining and Locating Digital Rhetoric.
Electric Rhetoric
To begin, Doug Eyman points out that Welch’s take on electric rhetoric interweaves itself with digital rhetoric even though it does not move beyond print. I agree that using a term like “electric” is too broad of a term for what she describes. With this Welch starts a greater discussion.
She states, “Electric rhetoric, an emergent consciousness or mentalité within discourse communities, is the new merger of the written and the oral, both now newly empowered and reconstructed by electricity and both dependent on print literacy. Electronic technologies have led to electronic consciousness, an awareness . . . that now changes literacy but in no way diminishes it” (Welch pg. 104).
I agree with the idea that there is a new consciousness of the abilities surrounding digital rhetoric. This goes beyond just print. We live in a time where video, music, podcasts, and “Shorts” or “clips” should fall under this umbrella. To zone in on the idea of digital “shorts”, media has grown a custom to quick spurts of information. On TikTok, you can consume an overwhelming amount of information in one sitting. This is what these electronic technologies led and trained us to create and consume. Less is more. Electric rhetoric should focus on the speed at which information is distributed and processed through these electronic platforms.
Computational Rhetoric
The way I have consumed this idea of computational rhetoric is focused on the word “compute”. To compute is to understand. The text explained artificial intelligence as an example. One of the issues that come into play with AI is that it is unable to compute emotions. There are current instances where these technologies have shown signs of understanding “emotions”. Not to an extent that they can fully understand what emotion is. The algorithm of these technologies has not developed this idea of computational rhetoric.
As Eyman describes, “A more recent trend has been to argue that the humanities have neglected the possibilities of computation as a method and that we could develop a “computational rhetoric” that would bridge qualitative and quantitative/algorithmic approaches to humanities research” (Eyman 42).
Artificial Intelligence continues to grow strong and more effective by the day. Programmers will down the line be able to develop this idea of computational rhetoric within these technological entities. Allowing them to persuade and argue with meaning.
Technorhetoric
The term “technorhetoric” describes the rhetoric that involves the practices and understanding of digital rhetoric. It is a combination of “technology” and “rhetoric”. Jimmie Killingsworth defines it as, “the study, practice, and teaching of electronic literacies, as in the fields of new media studies and computers and composition” (Killingsworth pg.77). Technorhetoric is a phrase for digital rhetoric.
Connections
This reading allows for the term “digital rhetoric to be extended even further. Each of the terms above ad substance to the definition of digital rhetoric. In return, it develops a deeper understanding of the digital sphere around us. Allowing us to navigate and understand the rhetoric embedded in our everyday online activities.
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