About the Course
ENG 508 - Digital Rhetoric and Design
Spring 2009, January 27 - May 12
T 4:30 - 7:10pm, IN 333
Instructor
Office
Office Hours
Phone
Douglas Eyman
A 405B
T 3:15 - 4:15; R 6:00 - 7:00; or by e-mail/appointment
703-993-9759
deyman@gmu.edu
No longer are media separate, but instead they are woven and interconnected, often relatively seamlessly. We would argue that all writing is computer-mediated; all writing is digital. That writing today means weaving text, images, sound, and video — working within and across multiple media, often for delivery within and across digital spaces. (DigiRhet.net, "Teaching Digital Rhetoric")How has YouTube changed the nature of political campaigns? How do Internet memes — like LOLcats and rickrolling — develop and circulate? How have social networking applications, wikis, blogs, twitter, IM, and SMS texting changed the way we approach everyday written communication tasks? What's the definition of "New Media"? Can we apply classical and contemporary rhetorical theory to video games? Who is Strongbad? *Did* Cat set us up the bomb? Who stole the walrus's bukket? These are some of the key questions that will be explored in English 508: Digital Rhetoric and Design.
In this course, we'll explore the dynamics of online, networked reading and writing practices by examining the rhetorical, social, cultural, political, educational, and ethical dimensions of digital texts. We'll look at historical patterns and trends that have shaped the Internet and the WWW as well as examining contemporary online communication practices. We'll look critically at how individuals, businesses, government organizations, and others construct and distribute knowledge within and through electronic spaces. We'll also analyze a variety of web sites to better understand effective-and not-so-effective-web design and to identify trends in digital design and information architecture.
The coursework will be a mix of discussion, online exploration, application of theory, and the design and implementation of digital projects. We'll learn about network theory while we design with XHTML and CSS. We'll look at open-source writing tools (for text and multimedia composition). Together, we'll define digital rhetoric *and* put it into practice.
In this course, we'll be focusing on three main questions:
- How do we define digital rhetoric?
- How does classical rhetoric engage digital texts? What theories have been developed with regard to rhetorical practices in online networks of digital production?
- What research methods do we have for engaging, analyzing, and learning from these practices?