I agree with VanKooten’s argument in “Methodologies and Methods for Research in Digital Rhetoric” that researchers can study digital rhetoric in many different ways because technology is constantly changing the ways that people talk to each other. I found it very interesting that she identifies four different ways to researching this topic. She uses hermeneutics, digital composition, empirical observation, and self-definition to explain the different ways that researchers can study digital rhetoric. They do not have to focus on just written texts by themselves. They can also study social media and the ways that people interact with technology. I also agree with the idea that researchers can learn by observing how people use digital technology.
Platforms like social media influences what people see and how they respond to different topics. The way people interact with posts, hashtags, and comments can also affect how a message will be spread to others. This shows that digital rhetoric involves more than just what a person says online. It includes how technology affects the way people understand a message. Something else that I found interesting was the idea that researchers can use digital composition as a method of research. Instead of only writing about digital technology, researchers can use technology themselves to help understand how digital communication works better. VanKooten’s article helped me understand why there is not just one way to study digital rhetoric. Since digital technology includes so many forms of communication, researchers should be open to use different methods of research depending on what they’re studying.
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