Web Rhetoric: an oral essay, with visuals 200 points Present by end of business Thursday 1/26

Conceive and deliver a unique idea in which you discuss an element of the web as rhetoric. Open-ended, original. There is no formula, rubric, or text for success, but you must be original and focused, and do an effective job of explaining a concept of web rhetoric using some combination of insights into ‘old’ rhetoric, technology, psychology, or marketing.

We have studied the standard tools, terms, processes, and purposes of rhetoric. Apply these to the way our new technology works, but move beyond their old-technology applications. A simple 1:1 or A=B formula will not suffice.

PAF

● Form: a solo stand-up presentation, aided by any tools you care to use. 4-8 minutes.

● Audience: the class, but mainly me.

● Purpose: define and explain a technology or web-induced or web-focused or web- driven shift or innovation in rhetoric.

Suggestions for presentation

● Many websites you may want to use are blocked. Solve this problem well in advance. You are responsible.

● Some concepts will be technically complex. You may need to develop effective simplifications for this audience (ie, me).

● Drive your analysis into speculation, discussion, judgement, and argument. Description is inadequate.

● Informal and casual, but authoritative. You may take questions, make mistakes, back up and correct, change devices, etc.

● Powerpoint or Prezi is fine, but not required. Try to show rather than tell; style and interesting presentation count.

● Approval is required. Duplication is not permitted. Do not proceed until you know you have dibs on an idea.

● Most tech innovation is not simple. Most websites, social media sites, or trends are made up of multiple concepts. You must present on a single concept.

Précis

● As you start, hand me a précis--main points, ideas, thesis, evidence, conclusions. One page. Wide margin on the right.

Should Nots:

○ be “on a website,” no matter how cool or important. Begin with “Uhh…I did Snapchat….” you will instantly fail.

○ Do not bore me. Explain at an effective minimum. Your idea can be a dog, but your writing must be solid.

○ Never read from a powerpoint. We can read. If your powerpoint doesn’t provide necessary information in the best possible form, ditch it.

○ Do not fail to establish your base concepts, probably in pre-web or early web observation. Discussion of ‘after’ without a ‘before’ is the definition of an unsubstantiated assertion.

Shoulds:

○ Think about and discuss what we do. Not what a website or a piece of hardware or an algorithm does. We.

○ Control the idea of change. Consider some form of ‘before’ and ‘after’ to explain and comment upon change.

○ Not lock on to an idea easily. Consider ‘worst case scenario’ about your understanding. Try to kill your idea—I will.

○ Present evidence of a ‘new’ rhetoric, perhaps in contrast to an ‘old’. Beware unsubstantiated or unexamined assumptions.

○ Discuss forces that drove the change, supporting your assertions with evidence.

○ Argue the change as the result of something—not just ‘there.’ Some of these should apply: Sudden or gradual, driven by users or by sellers, by competition, by innovation, by demand, by supply, by analogy to the flight of birds…understand and describe the how. Application followed technology…or technology evolved to fit application. Figure it out.

○ Discuss importance, effect, impact. Is this change enormous—a paradigm shift? Or is it generic—application of an idea to a new group or class of problems? Or is it specific—a particular solution to a particular problem?

○ Discuss the nature of the change: Is the change visible only in the medium, or is it reflected in the behavior of the user—or in some combination of the two?

○ (if necessary) invent your own tools, terms, purposes—making sure that the invention is warranted and logical.

Idea building:

○ Remember medium—phones, pads, computers that exchange information; screens, fingers, mouses, cameras; servers, users, programmers; passwords. School- issued vs. personal. App, code, game, online community—all the parts.

○ Think small. Rhetoric is a big picture built upon words, sounds, expressions, body language, and other components. What are the components, parts, elements of your idea? Screen name, e-mail, hyperlink, keystroke, login, password, and a hundred other small and often overlooked parts make up our daily interactions with the web. These are the best ideas.

○ Consider what stays the same after the web takes over our lives: personality; task; curiosity; education; attraction; help; duty; responsibility; community; cruelty; lust; digression; purpose; energy; fatigue; apathy; intensity; anger; affinity; and all the various realities that drive people to act, interact, express, purchase, contribute, ignore, and so on.