Hour of Code and my computer science major best friend are the small foot in the door I have when it comes to code. Reading Kevin Brock’s “Toward the Rhetorical Study of Code” was like mixing our areas of study. After reading, I never thought I’d see how much could be learned by bringing together what I thought were polar opposites.
The Algorithim
Once again, we have come back to the algorithm. Social media affects much of our world, and much of that impact comes from the posts pushed onto our screens. What we like, what we click, and which profiles we view are all tracked by our algorithm. These tracking codes, which remember preferences and interests, are what make “For You” pages so personalized and tailored to each user. To further analyze how code influences this, we have to look beyond the actual videos themselves. Look beyond the audios. The images. The words. We have to go beneath the surface. Into the code of these apps and platforms, and the rhetoric found within them.
Procedural Rhetoric
Procedural rhetoric, coined by Bogost, is “the practice of using processes persuasively.” Besides the literal content of videos that make you want to keep scrolling, how does the platform’s coding and processes persuade us, as users, to “doom scroll”? For example, TikTok was designed to have continuous scrolling. On a website, you usually click through to posts that interest you. However, on TikTok, you scroll down, and down, down the rabbit hole. There really is no end. The software design for this process keeps people in the app and guides them on how to engage with the platform. These features are related to “procedural construction,” where the code guides users on what to do. A small message even pops up at the bottom of your screen showing you exactly how to do it. This is only one example of how rhetoric in code persuades our actions, behaviors, and meaning-making through social media.
Leave a Reply