Critical Literacy in A Digital Era: Technology, Rhetoric, and the Public interest

by Warnick; Barbara

• ISBN13: 9780805841169
• ISBN10: 0805841164
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Critical Literacy in a Digital Eraoffers an examination of the persuasive approaches used in discussions on and about the Internet. Its aim is to increase awareness of what is assumed, unquestioned, and naturalized in our media experience. Using a critical literacy framework for her analysis, author Barbara Warnick argues that new media technologies become accepted not only through their use, but also through the rhetorical use of discourse on and about them. She analyzes texts that discuss new media and technology, including articles from a major technology-oriented periodical; women's magazines and Web sites; and Internet-based political parody in the 2000 presidential campaign. These case studies bring to light the persuasive strategies used by writers to influence public discourse about technology. The book includes analyses of narrative structures, speech genres, intertextuality, argument forms, writing formulae, and patterns of emphasis and neglect used in traditional and new media outlets. As a result, this distinctive work identifies the features of online speech that bring people and ideas together and enable communities to form in new media environments. As a unique study of the ways in which ideology is embedded in rhetorical texts, this volume will play a significant role in the development of critical literacy about writing and speech concerning new communication technology. It will be of interest to readers concerned about how our talk about communication affects how we think about it, in particular those interested in communication and social change, public persuasion, and rhetorical criticism of new media content.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction: Rhetoric and Critical Literacy	1	(5)
Critical Literacy	6	(2)
Technology Issues and Media Policy	8	(2)
Public Awareness and Media Literacy	10	(4)
Rhetorical Criticism as Analytic Method	14	(5)
The ``New Frontier'' in Cyberspace: Wired at Work	19	(44)
New Libertarianism: The Ideology of Wired	23	(5)
The Writing Formula: A Set Piece	28	(11)
Association and Dissociation---``Style'' as a Form of Argument	39	(6)
Race, Gender, and Wired	45	(5)
The New Wired: A Change in Character?	50	(6)
Bill Joy on the Future: A Signal Event	56	(3)
Conclusion	59	(4)
Masculinizing the Feminine: Inviting Women Online ca. 1997	63	(24)
Hierarchical Appeals in Invitational Discourse	67	(4)
Converting the Uninitiated: Appeals in Print Media	71	(7)
Cybergrrl Discourse on the Web	78	(4)
The Web's Changing Nature: E-Zines and Other Alternatives	82	(3)
Conclusion	85	(2)
Parody With a Purpose: Online Political Parody in the 2000 Presidential Campaign	87	(28)
Political Participation and the World Wide Web	90	(5)
Bush-Gore Parody Sites: ``Saying'' Something While Saying Nothing	95	(9)
Textuality: Controlling the Reader's Point of View	104	(4)
The Changing Political Web: Parody in 1996 and 2000	108	(3)
Conclusion	111	(4)
Conclusion: Whom Does Technology Serve?	115	(14)
Deliberation and Its Absence	116	(4)
Rhetorical Response: The Need for a Counternarrative	120	(9)
References	129	(10)
Author Index	139	(4)
Subject Index	143