Cybertypes

I just finished Lisa Nakamura’s 2002 book Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. Among other things, I was struck by the amount of change that happened unnoticed over the past 8 years. When this book came out, I was graduating college, and yet when I read through this book, some of the things [...]

Convergence Culture

I just finished going through Henry Jenkins’ 2006 book Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide. I picked the book up because of the buzz word of ‘new media,’ but also because of the idea of convergence. It sounded like something important. So what is convergence? Jenkins tells us that “By convergence, I mean [...]

Figures of Speech

Today I’m looking at Arthur Quinn’s great book Figures of Speech: 60 ways to turn a phrase. It’s a very short book about style, about the different ways to play with words and when to do them. More importantly, it’s a pretty comprehensive glossary of terms, so that I know that when I spell something [...]

Online Pedagogy and the problems it brings

This entry is going to cover two articles. There’s Anonymity versus Commitment: the dangers of education on the Internet by Hubert L. Dreyfus (2002), and Respond Now! E-mail, Acceleration, and a Pedagogy of Patience by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (2004). So there is at least a common theme: online pedagogy. Which I’m interested in. I included [...]

Schiappa and Rhetoric (the early stuff)

The following several entries are going to be mini reviews of things I’ve read, so that I have references for myself during my exams. Today, I’m looking at two works by Ed Schiappa. I’m not planning to talk about Ed (who is a nice guy), just about his work. Specifically, The “Stronger and Weaker” Logoi [...]

Understanding Comics (The Invisible Art)

So a little while ago, I read this book. It’s called Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. It was written by this guy here. Scott McCloud. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. The guy pictured here is the comic version of Scott McCloud. He’s the narrator of the book, which is told by way of a comic. [...]

Epideictic Rhetoric

So I’m trying to get a better understanding of epideictic rhetoric. My adviser holds the opinion that the way Aristotle presents this type of rhetoric basically dooms it to obscurity, that his example is wrong for what this rhetoric really is and what it’s used for. My job is to prove him wrong. To construct [...]