Courtesy: Boston Museum of Science
Rhetoric of the Internet
Topics for Consideration
We will treat the following three general topics:
- Rhetorical Dimensions of Design. This unit is not concerned with
the technical dimensions, but with the rhetorical dimensions of web page and
website design. Rhetorical dimensions are concepts such as audience, organizational
structure, rhetorical occasion, stylistic appeal. We will be especially sensitive
to how the rhetorical principles of web design differ from those in other
media such as oral and written. We will examine web pages and websites to
use our understanding in efforts to recommend improvements.
- Internet as Rhetorical Space. We will consider the ways in which
the technology that is the internet shapes rhetorical activity. We will consider
such issues as public versus mass communication; push versus pull technology;
information versus framing; virtual geography; virtual community; identity
and anonymity; the digital divide (by gender and class). Our interest is how
the internet changes the structure of rhetorical space when compared with
oral or print media.
- Internet and Socio-Political Change. We will consider how those engaging
in social and political strategies to change society have employed the internet.
Our study will concentrate on sites from across the spectrum of support and
opposition to change. We will explore the implications of the internet environment
on how they seek to achieve their goals.
Methods of Instruction
The instruction in the course will be mainly inductive. That is, we will be
spending much time working from the web and analyzing the things we find there.
Concepts that we use to understand what we are finding will come from reading,
web material, and discussion. In such an environment, the student's task is
not so much memorization of concepts but use of concepts in analysis of communication.
Some group work will be employed to prepare for classroom discussions.
Methods of Evaluation
Required Prior Knowledge and Skills
- Students need a facility with preparation of webpages and websites. They
may use Netscape Composer, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Hot Dog, or similar software
that does not require knowledge of html or xml.
- Students will need full access to the internet. They will be expected to
have access daily and to spend some time each day surfing.
- COMM 401 will be of assistance to students in knowing how to analyze rhetorical
strategies. This will not, however, be a prerequisite.
- Ilise Benun, Designing Websites for Every Audience. Cincinnati: How
Design Books, 2003.
- Leonard J. Shedletsky and Joan E. Aitken, Human Communication on the
Internet. Boston: Pearson, Allyn and Bacon, 2004.
- David M. Anderson and Michael Cornfield, eds. The Civic Web: Online Politics
and Democratic Values. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.