New ways of relating to rhetoric seems to be a never ceasing discussion. From the sophists who detested rhetoric to Aristotle who believed it had a time and place. But those ideals of rhetoric were formed centuries ago…what about now? With all the technological advances and an overall different way of being, where does rhetoric fit? Digital rhetoric; that’s where.
According to Doug Brent, the ‘New Rhetoric’ goes beyond its original definition. It is now more than just oral persuasive arguments with writing as a tool. Instead, we can see it now as interactions, conversation, and a joint construction of knowledge. Something that is done digitally everyday.
New (Digital) Rhetoric
James Zappen went farther and came up with ‘New Digital Rhetoric’. Digital rhetoric encourages self-expression, participation, and creative collaboration. I wonder if the word, “encourages,” could soon substitute “persuade,” all together. This definition along with visual rhetoric fascinated me the most as I think they apply to my discipline the most.
Visual rhetoric can contain: audio, video, animation, or any other interactive processes. The idea of multi-sensory communication/rhetoric beyond oral and even beyond just writing, really resonated. As a poet and an overall creative person, I’m always looking for new ways to make my audience feel something. ANYTHING. So long as it evokes something in them that wasn’t there before. Whether that’s inserting an audio of me reading the poem, coupled with a video, or, a painting one of my friends created. Other times I’ll even go as far as trying to bring the poem to life with a photoshoot. I always thought these extra “aesthetics” (coined by Warnick), gave a little extra help in production quality and intention.
More studies/research still need to be done for a concrete theory of digital rhetoric and all it pertains. As someone born into the world of digital, I can say with full confidence our ideas will keep changing. Because technology keeps changing. Who knows, maybe one day we can create a whole VR experience. To really bring our audience into the worlds of our choosing. Into a space we’d want them to go.
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