Eng. 658 - Week 5 Blog 3

Kenney's article (a joy to read), concise and clear, with numerous visual examples, defines and clarifies not only visual rhetoric but verbal rhetoric as well...

Keith Kenney, in “Building Visual Communication Theory by Borrowing from Rhetoric" (2002), lays the groundwork for the somewhat new discipline of visual communication theory that can be used by critics and scholars to understand the impact of visual rhetoric. Kenny masterfully supports his position through numerous examples of images; for example, the Tienanmen Square tank photo, that have acted in rhetorical ways upon society. Kenney’s purpose is to argue and create a communication theory that combines elements of verbal and visual rhetoric so as we may have a foundation to study the effects of visual rhetoric upon all of us. Through his well-conceived and clear understanding of the topic, along with a personable style, Kenny establishes an informal relationship with his audience of critics, scholars, instructors, and students interested in understanding the impact of visual rhetoric.

Eng. 658 - Week 5 Blog 2

David S. Birdsell and Leo Groarke, in their essay “Toward a Theory of Visual Argument” (1996), make a compelling appeal for scholars to consider the notion that visual rhetoric and visual images are indeed arguments and not simply images. Birdsell and Groarke support their claim by offering powerful examples of imagery that act as rhetoric as well as arguments; these images strike against the prevalent notion that “visual images are in some way arbitrary, vague and ambiguous” (310). The purpose of the authors’ argument is to build upon the theory that through the comprehension of visual rhetoric we will “flesh out” (319) a healthy and sturdy theoretical backbone upon which we may build visual argumentation—one which may one day rival verbal argumentation. Birdsell and Groarke develop an informal relationship with their audience of scholars and graduate students who are interested in seeing both sides of the visual argument issue.

Eng. 658 - Week 5 Blog 1

In her essay “Toward New Media Texts” (2004), Cynthia Self contends that in order not to “run the risk of making composition studies increasingly irrelevant to students engaging in contemporary practices of communication” (72), contemporary instructors raised and trained on alphabetic texts must embrace and be open to the advantageous possibilities brought about by new media. Self develops her ideas through a fervent argument that shows the benefits of bringing technology into the classroom, markedly so through visual assignments designed for even the most novice of instructors (new to media) to administer. Selfe’s purpose is clearly to educate instructors on the inherent benefits of introducing technology into the classroom in order for us not to lose touch with students raised on and with technology. Selfe creates an informal relationship with her audience of scholars, college, high school, and elementary teachers who are concerned about how to incorporate new media into the classroom.

Eng. 609 - Week 5 Blog 2

Aristotle’s topoi concerning deliberative oratory focuses on using persuasion to illustrate for a society the advantages or disadvantages of certain topics affecting the societies overall health. Paul J. Hopper's essay “Linguistics,” while focusing minimally on the negative theories affecting linguistics, markedly centers on the advantages theorists and applicationists have brought to the field of linguistics. Hence, this week I will again work on a rhetorical précis using the topoi within the précis…

Paul J. Hopper, in his article “Linguistics” (2005), conveys the major themes and assumptions (20) that have created contemporary linguistics; namely “speech production and comprehension are distinguished from a ‘mentally represented language system,’ and this language system is ‘access[ed]’ when we speak” (20). Hopper supports his overview by offering a comprehensive historical and biographical illustration of the advantageous occurrences, theories, and theorists that have created linguistics current sturdy state. Hopper’s purpose is to give a foundational painting of linguistics for readers needing to familiarize themselves with linguistics. Hopper creates a formal relationship with his audience of graduate students interested in linguistics who “need a research agenda for linguists” (20).

Eng. 609 - Week 5 Blog 1

Wow! Unless one is in the TESL track, this weeks readings consisted of some dense stuff... That being said, I'm going to do a rhetorical precis and apply Aristotle's topoi within the precis--

Heidi Byrnes, in her essay "Language Acquisition and Language Learning" (2005), articulates a general overview of modern linguistics. Byrnes accomplishes this by showing examples of the general theoretical and applicational laws (topoi) of linguistics that have molded the field into its current formation. Her purpose is to make her readers aware of the current state of linguistics and its underpinnings so they will be better prepared as scholars and teachers to engage linguistics in work environments, “knowledge is presented in the fields of linguistics, psychology, sociology and education would enable scholars to understand better something they also do, namely, teach a language” (48). Byrnes establishes a formal relationship with her audience of university students and scholars searching for a deeper understanding of lingustical laws that they can translate and apply in scholarly and intsructive pursuits.

658 Week 4 – Blog 2

How and why do certain writers create a relationship with a reader that involves trust and believability? I’ve often pondered this question, especially while reading the work of composition scholars (fiction writers have to do this. It’s the Comp. scholars that don’t have to, but I believe they miss out on truly connecting with us when they don’t develop a rapport with the reader). The question resurfaces while reading Irit Rogoff’s Studying Visual Culture (1998), and rather than concentrating on the media focus of her essay, at the moment this question attracts me more (since I write four blogs per week, once in a while I can afford to wander off). I feel the answer lies in Rogoff’s voice and tone. Rogoff doesn't take an authoritarian stance, in other words, she sets up her word choice and syntax in such a way that we do not feel we are being talked down to. Indeed, she brings us into her world through her humility. The essay’s first line creates the mood, “How can we characterize the emergent field of “visual culture”? (italics added, 381). The word “we” is the key that opens the door. I went back and reviewed some of the other essays in this anthology, and most begin with an authoritative sentence by the writer that seems to declare “This is what I think, and it is right.” However, Rogoff’s humility through the use of “we,” and the question itself shows she is confident and doesn’t need to convince us—she believes her thesis, she trusts its efficacy, and she is confident in her ability to share it. Further, and we know this from psychology, humility actually contains elements of strength, not arrogance or hubris, as Rogoff and her essay demonstrate.

Breaking off, this concludes my short foray into the reader/writer relationship (no scrolling if possible). Also, in the end, I do think this topic pertains to class. Aren’t we always seeking to create a good rapport with a reader generous and kind enough to actually take the time to read our work?…

658 Week 4 – Blog 1

Cynthia Selfe, in her essay Students Who Teach Us (2004), asserts that in this quickly changing and paradigm shifting world, teachers need to be humble enough at times to allow our students to teach us about the new and exciting uses of technology. Selfe supports this thesis through her example of a student, David Damon, who although smart and talented with computer technology, lacks in regards to transferring his talent to traditional Standard English. Selfe’s intention is to argue that even though a student may lack proficiency with Standard English skills, we (teachers) need to shift and open our perspective in order to be more open and aware to talents that students possess which do not fall into traditional paradigms. Selfe creates a relationship with her audience of graduate students and scholars who are interested in the possibilities and challenges of bringing new media into their classrooms.

609 Week 4 - Blog 2

Concerning Leah. S. Marcus’ essay, Textual Scholarship, Aristotle’s topoi focusing on witnesses feasibly applies. Marcus describes textual scholars as those entrusted with keeping the integrity of literary documents. Marcus lists numerous examples of texts changed by editors, who, although well meaning, changed the thrust of the authors writing through their corrections. In this digital age, we have all witnessed something similar. Wikipedia articles, for example, although they may not be original and canonical literature, have the ability to be altered (thereby enhancing or depleting) and edited by any registered user (witness).

Moving on, this article fascinated me as it gave insight into a librarian’s head. Although Marcus may be a textual scholar, she has strong elements of a librarian’s mindset. Hence, she allows us to witness the inner workings of texts and their somewhat changing landscape. In addition, Marcus adds to Mann’s concept that copyrights are the drive behind how a text is altered from one “material presentation to another” (153). In other words, copyrights—the money protectors, decide how we, the witnesses to these books, ingest the material inside them.

609 Week 4 - Blog 1

Where to begin…? Where to begin…?

Catherine Gallagher’s essay Historical Scholarship sweeps across the eras of written and oral history to introduce students and scholars to literature through a new historicist lens—one in which the author is placed into equal parts along with his/her piece, the era it is written, and the culture which spawned the author's intent. Aristotle’s topoi of Whole/Parts then seems a likely focus as Gallagher breaks literature down into parts—author, text, reader, literature, and finally, nation, race, and empire. Her intent succeeds as it is explicates for new scholars the finer points of keeping true to an author's original concepts as texts are republished over years and eras. The "Author" segment spent time on the new historicist approach to texts--this frustrated me a bit. From my perspective, new historicists sometimes don't take into account the sweat, toil, and heart necessary to bring a piece of literature (book, not article) to the world. Further on, the text segments concentration on textual indeterminancy highlighted again the difficulty in staying true to texts over long periods of time (millenia).

Where Gallagher does shine is in the "Reader" section. She writes, “Like the history of authorship, the history of reading has a twist at the end, when the reader, like the author, after centuries, of getting consolidated, suddenly comes apart into fragments or altogether disperses into a digital vapor” (184). Indeed, technology has affected us in numerous and significant ways, and at the moment, we’re still trying to piece the parts of technology together so we might bring it to our students in the most helpful and concise way. On a sidenote, it's interesting that as teachers we're turning to our students to teach US how technology works. The last segments on "Literature and Nation, Race, and Empire" round the piece out and bring the parts back to a whole. From a students perspective, she offers a highly in-depth view of history, literature, and new historicism.

658 Week 3 - Blog 2

...Another shot at Rhetorical Precis.

Catherine L. Hobbs, in Learning from the Past: Verbal and Visual Literacy in Early Modern Rhetoric and Writing Pedagogy (2002), shows that instructors of the language arts have always utilized visual aids and theories while teaching. Hobbs supports her theory by offering numerous examples of teachers of antiquity, beginning with Plato and Aristotle, who included visual elements in their pedagogies. Her purpose is to make her readers aware that utilizing visual elements—for example, computers in the classroom, is not new to language arts instruction nor has it ever left the practice; thus, we should embrace technology as it integrates with our classes. She develops a trusting rapport with her audience, namely graduate students and scholars, through her impressive, concise, and encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the language arts.

On a commentory note, Hobbs convinced me with her detailed knowledge of language arts history that she brilliantly knows her stuff. Further, I felt enlightened after her essay, as if I had learned some foundational facts about our shared human history. Hobbs’ ending with Da Vinci’s quote masterfully utilized Quintilian’s theory that we must bring emotions to our audience and we must ourselves be moved by our themes (58).

658 Week 3 - Blog 1

This is my second attempt using Woodworth’s Rhetorical Precis... her invention is definitely a handy tool.

Craig Stoupe, in Visualizing English: Recognizing the Hybrid Literacy of Visual and Verbal Authorship (2000), asserts that composition will flourish from incorporating technology rather than being debilitated by it. Baker supports his thesis by offering contrasting examples of visual rhetoric and print that show the two modes can co-exist and prosper when used together. His intent is to persuade compositionists that to embrace digital technology and not fear it will enhance all composition pursuits. He creates a connection with his audience of graduate students and scholars who are interested in understanding the uses, positivity, and negativity of adding visual rhetoric into the composition classrooms.

609 Week 3 - Blog 2

Charles Bernstein is clearly an authority (topoi) on poetics, composition, and style. As for his essay Poetics, it doesn’t utilize the scientific style associated with composition scholars, and for that reason his argument proved salient for me. This idea piggybacks on one of his quotes in regard to undergraduate, graduate, and scholarly essays, “…an unorganized (or differently organized) essay that suggests active thinking is often more useful in response to a literary work than a paper of impeccable logic that has little to say” (127). Because Bernstein places this observation out in the open, I’d like to follow his lead. So many times we read essays where the author has a sound grasp on composition’s scientific reasoning, in other words, the author can make a logical argument, yet there is little “meat.” Indeed, these authors can speak in the collegiate discourse, yet deep, original, self-reflective, and active thinking has not occurred. A while back when I was in the Master’s application process, I spoke with a friend in this very graduate program and asked her if I could look at one of her papers. She gave me one—I read it and then responded, “It’s written well, you’ve used elevated diction and collegiate discourse, but it doesn’t really say much.” She answered, “I know.” (She got an “A” on the paper). So when does how we say something become more important than what we say? And in the end, does it help the university to reward mediocre thinking that spews forth proficient collegiate language that is void or consists of little substance?

609 Week 3 - Blog 1

Susan C. Jarrat, in her essay “Rhetoric” (2007), shows the lineage of rhetoric—its beginnings in ancient Greece, its flourishing over the next two thousand years, its subsequent demise in the 19^th century due to advances in science, and finally that it has been reborn due to the growth of contemporary composition. Jarrat masterfully supports her notions by unearthing the auspicious beginnings of rhetoric in Greece; it was needed by citizens to argue their cases in the newly democratized country, and then she illustrates her point with prominent world figures such as Freud and Marx who clearly utilized rhetorical thinking and writing. Jarrat makes these connections in order to educate undergraduate, graduate, and academics to the importance of rhetoric not only as a field of study but as a means to show the need for rhetoric in our tumultuous and quickly-changing world. Further, she establishes an informal relationship with her audience who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of rhetoric and its applications in today’s world.

658 Week 2 - Blog 2

Wysocki's position reminds me of many "composers," she is open-minded and realizes there is no universal pedagogy that will suffice for all composition classes or situations. Where her writing begins to shine is the activities section. So many times as instructors, we are thrown into a teaching situation and just told "go for it." Wysocki gives us tools to draw the students out so we can build a bridge between composition and the world they live in. Further, I see these tools as a way to show non-English majors the value of seeing the world with a different perspective. For example, if I can use Wysocki's example of someone interrupting the class in order to pique an economics major's interest in composition (24), I feel I have won half the battle. I can utilize that initial excitement to show them there is value in many things they may not know about—namely at this point that learning composition skills will help them navigate later classes and work situations.

658 Week 2 - Blog 1

The introduction to VRDW piqued my curiosity. It asks, “Why do some writing curricula’s continue to focus only on words when today’s documents are increasingly hybrids of words, images, and design” (9). Like many Comp. majors, I have an extreme fondness for pieces of paper. As the professor mentioned last week, the texture and smell of a book are one of the joys of life. So where does the line get drawn as to when too much digital is too much? Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one’s opinion), I don’t think anyone has the answer. As teachers and researchers, this is where theory has a boundary and practical application will hold the answer for instructors. This is one of those times when we are exploring new territory—how about the analogy of exploring the bottom of the ocean or outer space? Truly, digital media and the effect it will have as a teaching aid and later as a replacement for paper are as yet unknown. As for me, I used to be more close-minded about the “intrusion” of digital media into literature, but now I’ve opened myself to the benefits. But if I die today, please bury me with my paper book—and don’t let anybody pry that tome from my rigid hand!

609 Week 2 - Blog 2

"Re-Centering Authority," Ellen Cushman and Terese Monberg reflect back on Cushman's groundbreaking essay about taking composition to the streets. How does this fit in with topoi? Because both works center on injecting smaller parts, ourselves, into the larger mass of humanity. The authors' write, "Repositioning oneself means establishing reciprocal relationships with those outside one's "comfort zone" (178). Indeed, in composition sometimes the ivory tower syndrome takes place whereas compositionists feel academia is the only appropriate place for academians'. However, the authors continually challenge us as teachers and researchers to self-reflect and see where we can step out of our comfort zone and become a part of the larger species. On a personal note, like most Master's candidates, I've had friends and family approach me for help with composing, critiquing, and enhancing resumes, advertisements, personal writing, etc. and I've found helping them to be rewarding. Further, as I lend a hand, I feel better about myself through reflecting on the growth I've made as a Comp. major.

609 Week 2 - Blog 1

Aristotle's topoi of cause and affect speaks to me in regards to Peter Vandenberg’s article, "Composing Composition Studies." Vandenberg’s clear and coherent thinking cuts through much of the muddled and egocentric thinking that fosters and creates the continuing hierarchy in English studies. Vandenberg’s last couple of sentences sum up the situation, “To the extent that the top-down relationship of “research” to teaching appears natural, logical, or self-evident rather than historical, contingent, and economically determined, the present division of labor in rhetoric and composition and the university at large is certain to persist” (29). How true! What strikes me is Vandenberg’s clarity. At times, I am guilty of thinking it is natural and self-evident research should have the limelight because it is the work “leading the way.” But who says that research entitles anyone to anything extra (effect)? Don’t soldiers risking their lives in the trenches deserve as much credit as the general leading the way atop the hill? Vandenberg’s clear wording and thinking contends historical, contingent, and economics (follow the money trail) are the actual cause of the conditions of working teachers. In one sentence, he seems to have summed up what dozens, hundreds, have tried to do in thousands of pages.

609 Week 1 - Blog 2

Following Aristotle’s topoi, I am going to try and weave a similar string between Bruce Robbins’ “The Scholar in Society” from Intro. to Scholarship and Deborah Mutnick’s “Rethinking the Personal Narrative” from Under Construction. Where the two essays seem to share a bond is in their notion that individuals willing to have an open and positive outlook can help composition flourish. Looking to Robbins, although his essay at times touches on the somewhat redundant, worrisome, and negative thinking that pervades aspects of theoretical composition (i.e. there are no jobs and there is no pay for teachers), he also brings to his argument positive aspects. At one point, Robbins focuses on the notion of inspiration and the fact that he believes students deserve to be inspired by those teaching them. He states, “Students want a demonstration that the mountain of material before them is not merely, like Everest, to be climbed because it is there but worth studying because it is significant” (317). Indeed, unlike investors investing in commodities on Wall Street, students deserve more of a guarantee that the return on their investment will reap rewards. How to stock the odds in their favor? As Robbins says, “Teachers stand up for something they believe, attesting by their investment of time, energy, and emotion that to them, personally, the subject matter matters” (317). Truly, a valid point. As students, teachers, and human beings, we sense when someone cares. Moreover, we can sense when a teacher (or student) is, to use the term Mutnick’s uses a few times, self-reflective enough to stand back and see if their investment is paying off for them.

Similar to Robbins, Mutnick is passionate about composition’s continued existence, overall health, and growth. Mutnick’s essay focuses on the debate about whether or not to use personal narratives in composition classes. Mutnick feels it is too easy to dismiss autobiographies as not ready for collegiate discourse (80). She builds her argument on students who have come from different cultures - Russian, Latina, suburban ghettos’, and shows how writing autobiographies helps students make “sense out of complex experience” (80). The positivity of her quest culminates with the essay’s last segment, which focuses on The Journal of Ordinary Thought. This publication involving parents of elementary school children in Chicago has as its motto “Every person is a philosopher.” The editor, Hal Adams, calls himself the “outsider from the university,” and Adams’ intent is to give dignity to people who feel they lead “ordinary” lives that don’t matter. This idea is reminiscent of Robbins notion that teachers should inspire students and give them inspiring positive “food” to feed on. How does the personal narrative tie in? One woman wrote about a “bad day” in which she “traipses around town failing to get her welfare check, medical card, and food no longer on sale, returns home, cooks dinner, with what she has - not enough for both her her and her family - and goes to bed hungry” (90). The power of this narrative is that students who read this narrative, elementary and collegiate, understand that “bad days” are difficult, but one can survive them with a head held high. In addition, the students realize the positive impact and importance literary texts, even written by “little old ladies,” can add to their lives.

Concluding, the string that binds these two essays is a shared hope in the people that comprise the field. Both authors point to teachers as having the capability to inspire their students, and both authors believe teachers can come together to find ways to help the field to flourish while assisting society understand the merits of literature.

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A Beginning

April 5, 2008 by gregbaran

The purpose of my blog?… The “why?”, the “what then?”, and the “how?” interest me. As someone who loves to write creatively, and whose focus is a Master’s in composition and literature, I sense an exciting opportunity here. I’m ready to learn more about how to blend electronic research with composition and rhetoric.

In December 2007, I received my bachelor’s from CSUSB’s Palm Desert campus. Looking back, I remember the first time I walked into the Electronic Library on campus. I expected to stroll in and find a large formal library with rows and rows of books and only a few computers clustered in a corner. However, what I found was the complete opposite. The library was almost completely electronic. In fact, it was the computers ordered in rows and the orphan books who were clustered in a small corner.

As I begin this class, expansion draws my attention. For instance, I look forward to an expansion of knowledge through understanding what “research as a rhetorical act” means. Further, expansion in regards to electronic discourse i.e. new method of research, materials, etc. Also, I see an opportunity to expand my knowledge of computer use in order to increase my marketability as a teacher and writer.

Maybe this is a possible research thread for me? I’m sure many of you already know how technology can be utilized to assist English professionals, but being new to the experience, I wonder how I can incorporate IT into my world and those I come in contact with–whether at work, school, etc.

Thanks for the time,

658 Week 1 - Blog 1

Lanham:

The first part of Richard Lanham's "The Implications of Electronic Information for the Sociology of Knowledge" confused me. This confusion may have come from my relativeness newness with the graduate program discourse, but it I also believe it arose from Lanham's convoluted discourse. Lanham's focus on technology took him from his obvious speciality, literature, yet when he proposes his class material (468), i.e. the Shakespeare class, he hits his stride and lays down some serious composition pedagogy that we can relate to. The notion of students perusing the class internet website, each other's work, making movies, and adding artwork to assignments - as we are now doing, is an excellent pedagogy. It delves into our humanness, our common bonds of sharing, our common fears and joys, and also breaks down walls between colleagues.

Lanham further includes a list of "fundamental changes" (472) affected by technology in the humanities operating system:

- affects the undergraduate "major"

- affects what traditional graduate disciplines will study as well as how they will study it

- affects affects libraries because it affects books, and in the most intimate way

- affects, therefore, library buildings and the budgets thereof

affects professional specializations and departmental structures, and therefore university administrative structures at all levels

In all, Lanham's observations point to some deficits, as in budget cuts, but the notions of a changing curriculum affected by the positivity of technology seems to be helpful. As for Lanham's notion that libraries and books are fading into obscurity, he need only read Thomas Mann's book on research. Having just read the first part of this influential book, which points to the fallacy of the belief that books are going the way of the dinosaur, Lanham would observe that a belief that anything can take down the trusty, comfortable, and familiar print of a book is just that, a fallacy.

Lemke:

Lemke's ideas are sincere, yet I wonder what such a virtual world takes from us. Lemke's focus is to bring technology into our lives and schools on a massive scale, and he sees this as an absolute, so he suggests why not embrace technology (87). Further, he views interactive programs of literacy not as fiction, but as soon-to-be reality. In his world, and I may have misunderstood, it seems teachers will be replaced by computer models that adapt to a students needs. Further, Lemke's essay expands out from literature into the everyday world. In his VR World, he mentions burrowing with insects, walking on Mars, or grasping molecules (90). Yet these virtual realities are only virtual, they are not real. And this feels like a weakness. Mind you, it would be fun to walk on Mars or fly to the moon, but why do we not feel content with our lives? Why do we need over-stimulants to make us feel content? And why aren't flesh and bone teachers good enough to teach our students? I am reminded of an experiment done with baby chimpanzees in the 70's. One baby was allowed to be with his mother, another to see his mother occasionally, and another baby recieved no contact. The no-contact baby soon died and the "occasional contact" baby had severe behavioral problems while the baby allowed to be with his mother grew up healthy.

So my question for Lemke is - does his model take the human out of being human? If we put a student in a VR world without interaction with a real teacher, will that create a "Stepford" child? Along with course content and learning, isn't socialization and human contact important?

In the end, I concur with Lemke that technology is extremly valuable in life and school, and I appreciate his passion; however, having lived for many years in the mountains, I wonder what it would feel like not to walk in a real forest, but to stroll under a simulated pine canopy. And as a child, what would it feel like to get my daily lessons from a computer simulation? According to Lemke, I do not have to wonder, for it is coming. Maybe, may-be...

658 - A Beginning

A Beginning

This is my second quarter in the Master's program and I'm excited about this foray into technology, digital media, and new ways of learning to communicate. My past experience with blogging has been minimal - only a bit in a class requiring a few posts. However, I am intrigued by what I don't know--like Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" (no underlining button visible). Indeed, a ten-year old child probably has more knowledge about the blogging community than me. This also interests me. I want to know what lies out there in the electronic fringes (well, to me they're fringes). I see a possibility of learning anew and then utilizing that knowledge in my writing and teaching. As I sit here in front of my computer, a sense arises that I'll have to pay more attention to the youngin's around me and ask them where this technology leads.

Turning to the technical terms and aspects, I'm unfamiliar with IMing, and Network technology dredges up the frustrated emotions I felt when linking my home computers. As for print and visual design, I would love to learn more about these aspects of computing. Right now, "print" means my HP deskjet--and maybe some clip-art.

Thanks for listening,

Greg