In the “Digital” section of Chapter One, “Defining and Locating Digital Rhetoric,” of his book, Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice, Douglas Eyman continues his endeavors of defining “digital rhetoric” by dissecting the word “digital.” “Digital” is often understood as synonymous with electronic technology. However, its meaning has much more to do with the history of communication than one might assume.
The Difference Between “Digital” and “Analog”
The difference between “digital” and “analog” helps to define the former. Take, for example, the difference between a digital and analog clock. An analog clock provides a continuous range of times– because time itself is continuous. A Digital clock rounds to the nearest hour and minute. Eyman paraphrases Ray Horak, writing “digital systems are made up of discrete values whereas analog systems feature a continuous range of values.” Digital systems select distinct data points from the “continuous range” within analog systems, to provide an estimation that is less accurate, but easier to read. Analog systems are accurate, but relatively difficult to read, because they provide all of the ‘in-betweens’ of the data set.
My Take on “Digital Rhetoric”
What I find most interesting about the “digital” concept, is its infinite applications to not only computerized systems, but to non-computerized systems as well. The fact that writing is a form of digital content makes me wonder about its connection to all communication tools. I think this is what Eyman means, when he writes about the intrinsic connection between “digital” and “rhetoric.” “The digital then,” writes Eyman, “both as a new form of production enabled by information and communication technologies and as a reference to the human history of written communication (from nonalphabetic writing to what we traditionally consider “print”), provides a bridge between textual production (broadly defined to include multimedia) and rhetoric.” In other words, writing is digital, but writing is also an act of persuasion upon the reader. So, writing is also rhetorical. Therefore linking “digital” with “rhetoric” through the history of the written word.
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