Theorizing Digital Rhetoric takes up the intersection of rhetorical theory and digital technology to explore the ways in which rhetoric is challenged by new technologies and how rhetorical theory can illuminate discursive expression in digital contexts. The volume combines complex rhetorical theory with personal anecdotes about the use of technologies to create a larger philosophical and rhetorical account of how theorists approach the examinations of new and future digital technologies. This collection of essays emphasizes the ways that digital technology intrudes upon rhetorical theory and how readers can be everyday rhetorical critics within an era of ever-increasing use of digital technology.
Each chapter effectively blends theorizing between rhetoric and digital technology, informing readers of the potentiality between the two ideas. The theoretical perspectives informed by digital media studies, rhetorical theory, and personal/ professional use provide a robust accounting of digital rhetoric that is timely, personable, and useful.
Contributors |
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viii | |
Preface |
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xiii | |
Acknowledgments |
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xv | |
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1 Introduction: Theorizing Digital Rhetoric |
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1 | (16) |
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PART I Philosophical and Rhetorical Conceptualizations of Digital Technology |
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17 | (66) |
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2 Critique of Digital Reason |
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19 | (13) |
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3 The Terms of Technoliberalism |
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32 | (11) |
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4 Rhetorical Affects in Digital Media |
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43 | (12) |
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5 Digital Rhetoric and the Internet of Things |
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55 | (13) |
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6 Towards a Minor Assemblage: An Introduction to the Clickable World |
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68 | (15) |
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PART II Digital Intrusions in Rhetorical Theory |
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83 | (84) |
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7 From Coercion to Community Building: Technological Affordances as Rhetorical Forms |
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85 | (13) |
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8 Fluidity in a Digital World: Choice, Communities, and Public Values |
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98 | (14) |
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9 The Rhetorical Agency of Algorithms |
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112 | (14) |
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10 The New Data: Argumentation amid, on, with, and in Data |
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126 | (14) |
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11 Where is the Body in Digital Rhetoric? |
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140 | (13) |
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12 Reviving Identity Politics: Strategic Essentialism, Identity Politics, and the Potential for Cross-Racial Vernacular Discourse in the Digital Age |
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153 | (14) |
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PART III Being Rhetorical Critics in Our Digital Lives |
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167 | (67) |
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13 Toward a Digital Methodology for Ideographic Criticism: A Case Study of "Equality" |
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169 | (15) |
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14 Hashtags and Attention through the Tetrad: The Rhetorical Circulation of #ALSIceBucketChallenge |
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184 | (12) |
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15 Ethics, Agency, and Power: Toward an Algorithmic Rhetoric |
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196 | (13) |
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16 Pinning, Gazing, and Swiping Together: Identification in Visually Driven Social Media |
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209 | (15) |
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17 I Am What I Play and I Play What I Am: Constitutive Rhetoric and the Casual Games Market |
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224 | (10) |
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Afterword: Digital Rhetoric at a Later Time |
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234 | (6) |
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Index |
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240 | |
Aaron Hess is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Arizona State University. He is the co-author of Participatory Critical Rhetoric: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Studying Rhetoric In Situ (Lexington, 2015). His research follows two primary avenues: the participatory elements of rhetorical advocacy and digital rhetorical expression. His work can be found in a variety of scholarly journals, including the International Journal of Communication, Critical Studies in Media Communication, New Media and Society, and Media, Culture and Society.
Amber Davisson is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Keene State College. She is the author of Lady Gaga and the Remaking of Celebrity Culture (McFarland, 2013) and the co-editor of Controversies in Digital Ethics (Bloomsbury, 2016). Her interdisciplinary scholarship on identity, politics, and digital technology has appeared in journals such as Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Transformative Works and Culture, Journal of Media and Digital Literacy, Journal of Visual Literacy, and American Communication Journal.