In “Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice,” Doug Eyman goes over the meaning of “digital” that is relevant to his article. He defines it as anything that relates to toes or fingers, and categorizing information. This is starkly different from what most of us would think defines digital: anything to do with the Web, internet, computers and devices alike, and online. Neither definition is wrong, though; they can both be accurate explanations, depending on the context.
Context
The first example that comes to mind of how context changes meaning would be cursing—especially the word “fuck.” It can be a statement of frustration, enthusiasm, agreement, or insult. It just depends on your tone and the situation.
Another instance I thought of is the Chinese character “温.” One of my Chinese friends told me how they thought it was funny that the character was used in the Japanese word for “hot spring” (温泉). This is because, in Chinese, the character means something along the lines of “soup.” Meanwhile, in Japanese, it means “warm.” Apparently, it can even be used to refer to someone as an “idiot” or “slow.”
Let’s not forget, either, that the meaning of words also changes with time. So, while digital might have meant “encoding” in Latin long ago, its meaning has changed over the years to encompass anything to do with the internet in day-to-day speech. It’s all fair game.
The situation
Regardless, in my situation, Eyman’s definition is what I need to keep in mind while taking Writing for Digital Spaces; I’d get lost if I were to continue using the meaning of digital I’ve been using outside of this class.
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