After reading what Doug Eyman had to say on the topic of “text” in “Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice,” I realized that the term is not very easy to understand. You see, “text” is not just the thing you do when you send your friend a message updating them about your day. And it’s also not just the words on the page of the book you’re reading. “Text,” in terms of today’s digital world, is much more than any of these things. Essentially, the word encapsulates a wide variety of methods of communication.
Eyman quoted Stephen Mailloux in his chapter, stating that “texts” are simply objects of interpretive attention and specifically mentioned speech, writing, non-linguistic practices (like bodily gestures or graphic organizers), and all kinds of human artifacts (like tools, clothing, or art created by humans). So with this, its quite hard to land on a definitive definition of “text” since it encompasses so many different things.
Picture This. . .
Close your eyes and imagine watching and listening to someone give a speech. They are most likely talking about something they did research on and write about. They also are probably moving their arms and hands to emphasize some of the points they are making. And maybe they are also using a projector to share photos or graphic organizers related to the topic. The speaker might be wearing a shirt with their company logo and slogan on it to ensure that their audience knows where they are from. Every single aspect of the speech is a form of “text” because every aspect sends a particular message. With this, intertextuality was born! But I’ll spare you the trouble of reading about that here since I already have a blog posted that talks all about it!
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