Recovering Digital Delivery

Summary

·      The word “technology” comes from the Greek word techne, which represents a type of art and knowledge.  It requires a theoretical understanding and a practical know-how working together.  Rhetoric is considered a techne when it is taught as a form of knowledge with a critical understanding and how to achieve effects.

·      Even in a digital format, rhetoric is still very important when trying to persuade an audience.  Porter believes that in order to ensure a strong digital presence, you need to focus on body/identity, distribution/circulation, access/accessibility, interaction and economics. 

·      The body/identity aspect reflects on how you address yourself in an online situation.  People can quickly form an opinion on what you are like based off of many things, like the layout of a website or how you dress an avatar in a role-playing game. 

·      The next factor of a digital rhetoric is the distribution/circulation of an article.  You should try to choose the publisher of your article based on when the article can get published and also the audience.  You need to also make sure that you produce your work in the correct format, like a PDF file or an HTML code. 

·      Access/Accessibility refers to the average consumers availability to an online source.  Just because over 220 million people have access to Internet does not mean that all do whenever necessary.  You should ensure your audience could easily access your work.

·      Interaction between the audience and the writer is very important in digital formats.  The audience is more likely to be interested in an article that engages them and encourages discussion between them and the writer.

·       When someone produces a work, economics is important.  The writer wants to make sure to get credit and residuals for their piece.  In the digital age this can be more difficult because of the easy access to taking a screen-shot and other ways to reproduce copyrighted material. 

Comment

·      I completely agree with what Porter has to say.  When you are preparing a speech to be said in person you go through the different canons of rhetoric to ensure a good reception of it, and it should be no different when producing a piece for a digital format.  

Question

·      How are the canons of classical rhetoric and digital rhetoric similar? How are the different?  Could you use any classical canons in a digital atmosphere?