Sometimes I can be a bit naïve when it comes to researching information online. When I was younger, I used to believe everything that I found online because no one explained to me how to research the proper websites.
Thoughtful, interesting introduction.I like the connections you make to your own experience. Remember to introduce all quotations.
Career wise, I aspire to work for ESPN and entertainment platforms.
Many thanks for sharing this!
exaggerated the threat of crime in the New York City suburbs, lamenting how Long Island’s parks have become ‘bloodstained killing fields’.” Trump even polarizes gang members by suggesting that police officers us an “us against them” mentality. If gang members are equal to animals, the police officers may believe they are above gang members and in turn treat them as so, potentially leading to higher violence and police shootings.
Promising - the analysis starts to get interesting but finishes too early. Remember homework assignments should be more developed and the analysis more detailed than reading responses.
Also, when discussing a target text try to analyze that text rather than a secondary reading. You can use a a secondary reading to support your interpretation.
– “It obscures the uneven distribution of technological skills and media literacy across the youth population, presenting an inaccurate portrait of young people as uniformly prepared for the digital era” (179). – “It assumes [the] level of privilege required to be ‘native’ ” (180).
These are two of her main claims regarding negative impact of the definition.
paragraph then finally say her main claim. I would say the main overarching claim is that learning about technology takes time and effort, no matter who you are. Some quotes I found include…
Good, but try to distill the main claims rather than list quotes.
“Comfort with technology is often a prerequisite for obtaining even the most basic of jobs” (198). This is something I have found to be very true within my major and classes. Professors do not teach us about the current technologies and programs that are popular, but rather how to teach yourself how to use each program and solve the problem of not knowing how to use the program through giving us projects to teach ourselves.
Good observation. This has been my experience also.
Myspace for a couple more years than me. When I started on Facebook you could just go to a website to pick a background, log in and they would load the code for you. However, I know the basics because even a simple smiley face had to have a certain code you had to know.
Yes, it was a similar trip down memory lane for me.
Based on Ong’s perspective of oral communication, I believe that this form of communication plays a different but comparably important role in our society compared to written communication. For one, the majority of the population back in the days were illiterate and being able to read was either a luxury or a part of life in church. This made the story readily available to a large population. Second, that whoever listened to this epic could have their own ideas and interpretation based on the previous storyteller’s voice, something written stories lack. Ong’s text proves that a single story could have many versions with different ideas and interpretation. These are the characteristics that helps keep Sundiata’s epic alive to this day.
You provide an interesting, thoughtful general discussion of issues raised by Ong. But the homework asked you to apply Ong's concepts to the Sundiata text and show where they apply. For example, Ong suggests oral texts contain a lot of repetition, formulas/sayings, paratactic language, language that is close to the human lifeworld, etc. You could point to examples of these from the Sundiata text and discuss how they fit Ong's framework.
I was interested in the facts that rhetorics nowadays is more often used as a tool to convince of even control what people think. And this claim is certainly true with politics where certain politicians would use a specific term to gain points with a certain audience. Take for example Obama or Trump during their campaign speeches, both used different rhetorics to fit the audience’s appeal. There is thus pros and cons to having an audience. One could simply adjust his or her writing based on who the audience is only to make ends means.
This contains interesting material, some good writing, and some connections to your experiences that were illuminating. But this could do more to answer the homework questions, and focus more on the details of the text. These are things to consider in future responses and homework.
Another example on Cloyd Rivers’ account includes much of the ideas listed above such as polarization and in-group and out-groups. Cloyd Rivers’ also takes a stance on the recent protests in the NFL and brought up by Colin Kaepernick. The far right and Cloyd believe that the people kneeling are disrespecting not just the flag but the people that fought in America’s military as well. This is a very popular opinion throughout America but it is not a polar subject. There are not only two sides to the argument presenting itself. Much of Cloyd’s time is spent praising the people who say that they will always be standing for the anthem. Another thing that he does is scapegoat the out-group, this is one of Roberts-Miller’s main characteristics of a demagogue. The scapegoating of Kaepernick is evident throughout his twitter profile. Since Kaepernick was the leader of the inequality movement in the NFL
Good general discussion of how RM's concepts can be applied to a specific text. I like the work you do on polarization. The political cartoon is an interesting text to examine. Your work on athletes starts to take shape but needs to be connected to RM's concepts and to include textual examples.
It is defined as popularizing propaganda that motivates an in-group to hate the scapegoated.
Nice - good account of RM's definition of demagoguery.
Boyd also argues that the rhetoric of digital natives has some problems. These teens are not all digitally literate and are learning these technology on their own as they grow up. She feels as if they are being exposed if because they are not able to “critically examine what they are consuming.” I think the solution that Boyd presents matches the problem that she explains. Being more knowledgeable about digital literacy would make our youth and nation as a whole more knowledgeable about what they are reading constantly online and with technology.
Interesting, thoughtful discussion of Boyd. You capture some of her main claims and talk about some connections to your own experience. In responses work a little more on capturing claims precisely, and try to supply some quotations or textual evidence to support and illustrate your points.
digital literacies that are evident in a worldwide webpage. Through exploring the literacies about “America’s civil war” from people around the world and the other side.
Good - could say a bit more about why B thinks wikipedia is a useful resource.
dditionally how people would function without these resources before we had them and how stories would be told with no textual information.
Solid homework assignment. You clearly have a good sense of Ong's argument and give a nice account of his key claims. You note the relevance of Ong to the Sundiata text, but I would have liked to see some textual evidence presented and discussed. So in future homework assignments focus on that, and on slightly more "polished" analysis.
This was fun to read and shows you are reading texts carefully and thoughtfully.
of a demagogue. I think that by framing someone around that and listing their rhetorical strategies. I think Miller’s argument shows that there are two sides to how we label someone for their speech or seeming persuasive.
Starts to sound interesting but need to develop a more sustained analysis of the target text. This means taking concepts from RM (polarization, demonization, motivism, fallacies, etc.) and showing examples in the
In Robert Miller’s article Demagoguery (Denver Talk) Miller outlines the problems with the definition of demagoguery such as, “ the way it emphasizes the identity and motives of the rhetor, and that emphasis comes from what I think is a methodological error. Scholars begin by compiling a list of prominent and powerful individual they consider dangerous. They then look to that set of individuals to see what they have in common in order to define what is wrong with that rhetoric”(1). He then goes on to list specifically the “six problems to consider with the methodological problems with the infer rhetors I hate”. His main argument is that, “I think we can distinguish demagoguery from other forms of persuasive discourse on the basis of the presence of certain rhetorical moves, not the identity of the rhetors. I think, also, we should talk about the effectiveness of demagoguery in terms of how it plays into the information worlds that people inhabit. Demagoguery isn’t an identity. It’s a relationship”(2).
Nice overview of Roberts-Miller's main claims.
n Miller’s article, “The Smoker’s Plea”, Miller implies the correct way to look at both sides of an argument. He suggests, “Miller criticizes the implications that follow from his opponents position.
Seem to mix up Miler and the text on assumptions? (I wrote that).
of the argument and implies through his critique on the argument that he does not agree with the smoking ban, but takes the argument from two different angles.
OK, but this seems very general and does not really evaluate the two target texts.
The assumptions such as, “Understanding what holds an argument together, Identify the writer’s primary audience,
I think of these less as assumptions and more as rhetorical knowledge and critical thinking skills. (Maybe check use of assumptions?)
I agree with Boyd, because I feel like now days unless you’re going to school and constantly learning your way around technology that you’re not going to learn how to be a critical thinker. Young people today need to not believe everything they see, learn about both sides of an argument, and learn how to navigate the digital age
Good points on critical literacy and life long learning.
Boyd’s argument in this article because he makes the claims that the younger generation is not as knowledgible as they may seem. The younger generation is set in what they know how to use and often do not know what the interworkings of social media and the internet are. This is why I agree with Boyd and his claims in this article.
Solid, thoughtful, interesting discussion of Boyd's text. Try to make the account of claims a little more precise.
This forces the younger generation to limit their knowledge of social media to what they know.
On the right track, but not quite what Boyd argues.
Boyd argues in her article that teens may be active on social networking sites but it doesn’t mean they are knowledgeable about how the internet works.
Good - this captures some of her overall argument, but there is more that could be added (e.g. the problem with mainstream definitions of digital literacy, esp. the idea digital natives/immigrants))
Boyd’s article, It’s Complicated the social lives of networked teens,
That's the name of the book. The chapter is called "Literacy: Are Today's Youth Digital Natives?"
Just as the information is received, there is a point of process engaged by recipients contributing to an overall narrative. Given the diversity of narratives surrounding media, Roberts-Miller gives specific deconstruction in her literary discussion Characteristics of Demagoguery.Roberts-Miller defines demagoguery by classifying an in-group and out-group. The in-group being the majority population and the out-group being the minority population. Members of these groups are included but not limited to classifications of religions, political identity, ethnic or cultural background, as well as, likes and preferences. The problem with in-groups and out-group functionality is when it becomes illegal to challenge the hegemonic values imposed by an in-group or the dictator of the hierarchy. The continuum of demagoguery is attributed to the who continually back the mainstream claims, defending against the notion of accusations, -imposing a general acceptance as things are the way they were meant to be. In not rocking the boat, so to speak, propagation is furthered. The solution to this is in the activism in the area of media source transparency. The general public ought to critique credibilty of claims imposed in order for the general public to make (a) decision(s)/judgement(s) which are contingent upon quality of information given through media.
This is interesting, but it seems you only start to unpack Roberts-Millers' main claims/concepts, and have not applied them to a target text.
With Palczewski teachings I am able to apply categorizes to deconstructing rhetoric as: symbols, symbolic action (expressive human actions), identification, agency, social reality, and reality understood (Palczewski:16). Conversely, Palczewski names and discusses constraints acknowledging we do not share the same experiences and therefore, are limited with shared interpretations of experiences.
Nice overview of Palczewski et al's work. You are ahead of the game (we will return to this text soon).
Humanity has a history of progression in terms of the matter, for instance the creation story, where in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam the task of naming the animals, or how Egyptian cuneiform was intended for business yet contributed to the formation of a universal written communication form. The Gutenberg press also receives much credit for the progression of shared communications, and of course the internet has globalized humans.
This is a rich, eloquent discussion rhetoric and writing studies. I enjoyed reading it!
Giving account to a teen’s quality and quantity to technological access must also be considered around this rhetoric. As it is not safe to generalize, in this matter, we must. Socio-economics play a role in the quality and quantity teens have access to. In turn, the quality and quantity of access play a direct role in the amount of information and activity a teen participates in online. There is still much debate around funding of the educational system, this is mind, comes the implementation of programs and regulation. Much discussion has recently emerged around teens and technology as access causing for progressive dialogues and possible solutions continue to surface.
Solid account of Boyd;'s text. It could do more to capture some of her other key claims.
Boyd recommended teens not disqualify Wikipedia completely as often times professors and scholars are uploading the data. Furthermore, the history pages reflect scholarly debates on facts allowing teens to collaborate data and conclude upon a decision.
Good discussion of Boyd's argument about Wikipedia and Google. Clear, accurate and articulate.
An important point Boyd brings up for discussion is, we cannot assume teens can be critical of content (Boyd: 177). On the flip side, we cannot assume parents, teachers and educators are equipped to inform teens to be critical of content as technology has only recently emerged. To ponder if a critical lens matters when comparing the interactions of digital “immigrant,” “native” and question the matter, -is to see we don’t know, what we don’t know. For this reason, the discussion is timely. The reshaping of society has been attributed to recent technological growth. The emergence of unexpected impacts upon society, such as how teenagers gauge appropriate use with such a tool.
This gets at elements of Boyd's main claim, but could capture it more precisely.
The literacy chapter goes through arguments and claims about teens and digital literacy which come across as intended, -to provoke thought.
Nice introduction!
As we continue looking at Gage’s video, remember that RM wrote “demagogues typically appeal to popular images (often visual) This appeal reinforces those images, even when they have nothing to do with reality.” I was struck while viewing the video by the number of memes Gage used. Memes are popular images that balance between funny and true, for whatever your humor or “truth” is. See below for a gallery of the memes found in Gage’s video. All are pejorative towards liberals.
This is a model analysis of how demagoguery plays out in a target text (with great images and examples). It is also entertaining and instructive. With your permission I'd like to share this with other students in my classes.
“entitlement, double-standard, rejection of the notion of reciprocally binding rules or principles,” the presenter’s “heavy reliance on fallacious arguments,” and his propensity for “pandering to popular prejudice and stereotype” in the video
A nice i alarming collection of key characteristics
Call me a peace-loving hippy, but I am staunchly opposed to anything that derives its power or followers from hate.
I will call you a reasonable person who cares about democratic norms.
sn’t this a great image
It is indeed a great image
But to be a powerful citizen doesn’t demand being able to code or not; it demands being literate, being able to understand the implications of a technology
I like the way you keep raiding interesting, knotty questions!
I suspect she might agree. Perhaps this comes back to the question of production and participation. Do we need to teach students technical skills (not necessarily complex ones) that enable them to produce (with code or without) and participate in the ways she suggests? Some literacy theorists argue that certain kinds of high level literacy require that one have knowledge of production as well as reception.
The issue here is not that the biases are present, as much as the biases being present and enacted without the receiver of the search results made aware of the biases.
Yes, an important distinction.
d how source accuracy is understood in public education by comparing the views on Wikipedia and Google.
Nice overview of her argument.
f I’m being perfectly honest, I found that Boyd made some accurate claims, but nothing that was unexpected in a reading about digital literacy. In fact, I predicted from the first page of the reading what her arguments were going to be, including analyzing the use of the phrase native/immigrant from an anthropological point of view, and discussing access
This is likely because a) you are a smart person who is familiar with these issues, b) Boyd's ideas both draw from others quite a bit, and have become well known.
Weaknesses: I didn’t really find any weaknesses in Shieh’s argument, only in his presentation of evidence. I couldn’t discern which CA EPA study he used as evidence, so I went to the CA EPA website. There, I found nothing but negative reports of tobacco smoke and second-hand smoke. Rhetorical strategies Syncrisis – comparison of diverse or contradictory things – SDSU and Chinese village
Hey, for a "beginner" you have produced some great rhetorical analysis (close reading skills translate nicely, so I think you have already been doing such analysis under a different name).
Titled a “Plea” but is really a tirade. I was expecting one type of method of persuasion, and was bombarded by another.
Indeed - a tirade that perhaps anticipates the age of rage we find ourselves in (Miller is a major force in the current administration).
the interface, and teaching people that biases and humanity is literally coded into everything on the internet, is far more important that teaching people to code.
Great point. Boyd is now part of a research group that does work of this sort - so I think your suggestion is relevant.
So, when boyd kind of ignores this necessity in this chapter, I’m frustrated. The need to be critical is not new or tied to the ‘net, it’s been long required.
I suspect she would agree. She does talk about media literacy. This may be a question of emphasis.
The writers come across as bitter, angry, and rude both argue for the benefit of smokers ignoring the rest of society and attacking the school systems for wishing to limit the exposure to smoking.
You seem to conflate the two articles. But Miller and Shieh take different positions and argue in quite different ways. A deeper engagement with the textual details of their argument is needed - try to include in future posts.
bility to smoke at any time they desire with no consideration of where they wish to smoke.
I'm not sure the Shieh piece does this.
ol for propaganda and manipulation, those exposed to the internet must approach it with skepticism.
OK, but try to include quotes and textual evidence to flesh out your analysis.
etation is what we all need
This post does good work. You identify some of Boyd's central claims and provide a thoughtful discussion of them. Work on giving our reader the "big picture" argument and tightening your account of claims a little. Enjoyed reading this.
e speaks of the responsibility of educators, parents, and policymakers to educate all in the navigation of an “information rich environment” she speaks of essential knowledge of rhetorical writing; knowing, identifying, and interpreting rhetorical writing will allow you to better understand the goal of an argument.
Yes - good point. I strongly believe rhetorical knowledge ought to be a key component of digital literacy.
Google gives unreliable results and it’s the user’s responsibility to realize this and filter the information.
Not quite what she says - it's more we don't know how the algorithms work and the whole process is not transparent, the way it is with wikipedia.
Danah Boyd author of “Are Today’s Youth Digital Natives?” examines the disparity between youths who have access to technology and those who don’t. Boyd goes on to asset that today’s youths lack digital knowledge and skills, youths lack essential understanding of fundamental flaws of technology. She begins her analysis by stating that technology is not universal, many lack the opportunity and access to digital devices, resources, and knowledge. She points out that untrustworthy information litter the internet; untrustworthy information meant to sway or mislead users and youths lack the knowledge to distinguish the difference between trustworthy and misleading news.
Solid intro, but don't forget to mention her central claim - that the definitions many have used to talk about digital literacy are inaccurate and harmful.
In all i think that just from looking at one comment on a website, that she was right in that there are certain characteristics that pop up to notify you if a rhetor is using demagoguery based rhetoric. Things like the “us” vs “you” mentality, playing the victim, demonizing/ dehumanizing of the out-group, heavy reliance on fallacious arguments, and pandering to popular prejudice and stereotype all help identify demagoguery based rhetoric and almost all of these popped up in the comment we took a look at. Miller hit the nail on the head in her assessment of the characteristics of demagoguery.
Fascinating stuff. You have located some great target material and you correctly identify the relevant characteristic of demagoguery. This has a ton of raw potential. But it does seem to need revision to clarify and tighten up the analysis.
infestaion” that costed them the war, instead of actually taking blame for getting into a shitty war.
A lot of potential in this analysis. You understand RM well. But this seems to need revision - more precise expression and more precise account of the concepts you will apply.
pro-slavery didn’t
watch for missing words
Characteristics of Demagoguery,” and ” Rhetoric and Demagoguery” both written by Patricia Roberts-Miller explore the idea that demagogic rhetoric has certain key characteristics that distinguish themselves from other forms of persuasive rhetoric.
Nicely put.
After searching ,on different search engines, the sources Miller uses in his article seem to be non existed which makes me believe everything he said was just talk to try to persuade you his how while adding fake sources and studies to make his arguments seem legit.
I'm also skeptical, but I think part of the problem is locating these sources, and that is rather complicated.
on data driven argument when i felt his data was not really reliable to begin with
I think you are right to be suspicious.
Boyd claims the “rhetoric of digital natives” has been damaging for one because it “obscures the uneven distribution of technological skills and media literacy across the youth population, presenting an inaccurate portrait of young people as uniformly prepared for the digital era and ignoring the assumed level of privilege required to be “Native”
Excellent. This is clearly one of Boyd's key claims. You capture it nicely.
le have little training in being critical of the content they consume.” This quote from Boyd proves that she feels our do not have the proper skills we need to be successful in this new age driven by technology. B
Yes, a you say an important issue these days.
l the people of this great sovereign State and nation, both white and black” (7). While African-Americans are considered evil, Wallace’s words make it seem like he is trying to save them from pure evil, and giving them the opportunities he believes they deserve
Strong analysis - nice job.
Almost all the claims made by Patricia Roberts-Miller in “Characteristics of Demagoguery” were very intriguing to the mind. It makes you think of the tactics that famous figures utilized to become so successful in their agenda. How exactly did Hitler create an army that subjugated and killed Jews, and get away with it for so long? How do particular religions gather followers and create such deep commitment for their beliefs? How can Donald Trump, as radical as his words and speeches are, become elected as the leader of the United States?
This introduction does a nice job getting the reader's attention and making the issues come alive.
It would be difficult to have professors and adults guide them while the youth attempt to independently navigate the digital world.
Good point. But the alternative is, one supposes, to figure this out alone.
actually does a “fundamental disservice”. I compare this to parents who fear their child getting hurt by the outside world and therefore shelter them from the harmful bacteria or roughness. While they have good intentions, these parents are keeping children to being exposed to the outside world and building their immune systems. Likewis
Intetesting analogy.
This also relates to the claim that assuming all youth are digital natives “obscures the uneven distribution of technological skills and media literacy across the youth population, presenting an inaccurate portrait of young people as uniformly prepared for the digital era and ignoring the assumed level of privilege required to be native” (179-180).
Nice - this is one of B's central claims. You capture it well.
I occasionally dreamed about being Internet famous, whether it’d be through a blog, Facebook, or Instagram. So who knows? Maybe writing on here without having to awkwardly saying it face-to-face could help us connect! I hope we all learn a bit more about each other through the semester and have a great time.
Thanks for sharing Giselle. There is still time to be internet famous. Perhaps this could be the topic of your final paper.
The video creates polarization from creating two standpoints, you either agree with Donald Trump or you disagree with his opinion.
This looks promising but seems brief, and the analysis only starts to get traction. Is the rest somewhere else?
Miller and Shieh argue smoking should be allowed on campus. Miller’s argument is based on comparative health benefit such as poor diet and exercise. Shieh’s argument emphasizes on students handling stress at school. I think Shei creates a stronger argument with pathos and pulling on the readers emotions to sympathize different ways to relieve stress. The weaknesses in Miller’s argument is comparing health risk with poor eating. The argument that smoking is healthier than too little exercise and poor eating choices is a weak argument. Miller does not really explain these different health issues and how they impact your body now and to the future. Miller also has a weakness in sources, which are not so reliable and outdated.
This is a little brief and the analysis thin, But I see you have also done good work on Palzewski and Landrieu. That is not yet due but looks promising.
the internet is very useful. In today’s extensive use of social media being one of the main outlets where we receive news, being able to analyze the biases and credibility of the information is important. This is especially crucial with the uprising of fake news. People need to analyse the outlet they receive news. I think Boyd could have created a stronger argument by mentioning fake news and see why critical re
Good points. You are right that fake news really adds an urgency to the issues B describes. When her text was written fake news was not really on anyone's radar.
nalyzing the assumptions that digital natives is a label for all youth. She goes on in the chapter that assuming all youth is part of this digital culture is wrong though the support of digital inequalities. She dedicates a section about digital inequalities and that not all you have the same access to technology, but also do not have the same opportunity to become fluent in the digital age. The label digital natives also takes away the idea that adults and the older generation cannot be efficient with today’s technological advances. The solution she offers to this problem is that
Promising, but needs a clearer, more precise account of the claims you describe.
Boyd has several claims in this chapter. I think her main argument is that it is dangerous to assume all youth are automatically informed in digital literacy and that older generations cannot interact or offer anything to the new digital age. She claims the both generations, young and old, have to become more digitally literate and have to consume knowledge from social media and internet information with a critical lense. She argues that everyone should analyse the content they are consuming.
Great overview of key claims
people have a critical eye when reading information. Another interesting point Boyd makes in the chapter are the inequalities in accessibility with technology, but also acquiring skills in using the internet and social media. I think the chapter is interesting how Boyd brings up provocative claims made by others that all youth are digital natives and create a divide between generations.
Nice intro, overview and discussion of connections to your own experience.
interpurates
Not sure I follow
or example, as Sundiata’s mother sings her lines, we see repetition of her words that convey a sense of desperation and urgency in her embarrassment. In the first text, we visually see her frustration written out, but not to the degree of the second text, when it can be assumed how hysterical and upset she was at their situation.
Good - I like the way you show that features like repetition can be part of both the dynamics of oral composition and also part of artistic effects.
Thank you for reading this little blurb about me! I look forward to working with everyone this semester.
Wonderful - thanks for sharing!
In the end the person who made the comment on the holocaust found himself/herself in a never ending “discussion” against users who all they had in their minds, while leaving their replies, was “really?” or “are you stupid?” It is also an example of what Miller explained about demagogues, and how some of the characteristics he mentioned can be seen every day. Even outside social media.
You show a good grasp of Roberts-Millers' concepts. The online debate you mention is really interesting but seems to provide only limited "traction" for applying RM's categories. That is, while it is interesting, it may not be the easiest text to apply most of these concepts to.
he author also adds that those who follow this belief tend to focus more on obeying and promoting on those symbols, whereas those who follow patriotism are more concerned about having effective policies, social security, a healthy economy and others (Miller). Learning about this made me think of today and how you often see those two kinds of people around.
Yes, this also struck me as an important distinction.
iller does use a lot of studies to persuade the reader to believe what he says. I find the British Medical Journal interesting because of how its search engine works. Miller’s writing is from 2007, and if you write “smoking” in search you probably won’t be able to find where Miller got his information from. However, you will see that the latest article that has been uploaded in BMJ is very recent. This means that this source is constantly upgrading its data. There are probably newer articles of recent studies that could be utilized to enhance or maybe go against what Miller writes in his paper. Miller also uses an article, “Lies, Damned Lies, and 400,000 Smoking Related Deaths,” to support another claim. If I am not mistaken, the article is from 1998, which for Miller was just 9 years ago before he wrote his paper. Although the article does what an article is supposed to do, it makes me thoughtful of whether it should or should not be considered relevant since it’s too old now. Clearly there are newer articles with stronger points and more credible studies covering the topic of smoking. Share this:
You advance the discussion of Boyd fairly well.
Good discussion of Miller and Shieh, the strategies they use. The discussion of sources shows promise. You pose many important questions. I think there is more that could be said about these sources, but this shows good evaluative instincts.
The suggestion Boyd makes of equipping young people with critical digital literacy skills is definitely something to consider. It is something that they must learn from a young age to know; to have the skill to ask questions about the construction and dissemination of particular media artifacts (181). This would give them the chance to ask questions, wonder about something that appeals to their interests.
Nice work - I see you capturing the author's claims more precisely and developing a more detailed analysis.
btained by social media (186). Hence we all get different results even if we are trying to find the same thing. These along with what she said about Wikipedia are the ones that kept my gears thinking as I was reading.
Good, smart overview of Boyd's argument.
It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, I feel compelled to say that the section where she discusses Google and Wikipedia was really unexpected. In high school I would hear teachers say many times, too many times “If they see you using Wikipedia in college, they’ll laugh at you.” Perhaps not with the mock tone, but what they were trying to convey through those words was still the same. Reading Boyd pretty much opened my eyes and illuminated me with a better sense of what Google is and how it differs from Wikipedia. The studies Boyd mentions are really interesting and also relatable. I really like how she was able to change my perspective on Wikipedia, now I understand that Wikipedia is a work in progress that changes over time as new knowledge and material is introduced (Boyd, 191).
Great introduction - I enjoyed reading this. Your response (re Wikipedia and Google) is one many have shared.
Indeed, Roberts-Miller lays out the features of demagoguery in her Denver talk, “Rhetoric and Demagoguery” and article, “Characteristics of Demagoguery,” paying more attention to the inaccuracies of how it has historically been defined in the first. Specific features of demagoguery Roberts-Miller identifies and discusses can be found in Taste of Country’s YouTube video, “Megan Linsey Kneels After Anthem: Who’s With Her?”
Nice work. You lay out RM's main claims and key concepts and successfully apply them to your target text. I was impressed with how precisely you capture RM's argument and how well you find examples in the Linsey video comments.
One of the main claims Roberts-Miller asserts in her Denver talk is that people traditionally have failed to deliberate about and settle upon improved policy in times of great dissention, such as when slavery existed (3-5). Instead, people have separated and reduced themselves into two distinct camps: an “ingroup” which they are a part of and an “outgroup” which represents the opposing (and inferior) view (3-5). Instead of debating what should be done about the situation at hand, these groups of people engage in a verbal and/or written fight about their group superiority, and this is the type of rhetoric that demagoguery incorporates (5).
This is a wonderful distillation of RM's central claim.
Overall, both Miller and Shieh make frequent use of logos and pathos in their respective articles. However, often the appeals to logic are incomplete or the conclusions derived from them lack logic themselves. Also, the word choice the authors make to appeal to the reader’s emotions actually work to erode their arguments in some instances.
I really enjoyed reading this. Your analysis and evaluation of both texts is intelligent, thoughtful, and thorough. Impressive.
the way Miller presents this statistic is questionable, as it sounds like a generalization that lacks specific crucial details.
My own reading of the original source supports your hunch.
She does not mention specifically what she means by this idea of youth constructing their own spaces, but she does allude to the importance and usefulness of having a basic understanding of code to build a website in her anecdote about MySpace’s early days (182). Though I think trying to get all youth to learn some code and build a site via that code might be too idealistic and impractical, I agree with Boyd’s overall idea that youth need to gain more understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of technological systems so they will gain greater power over them
The same thought occurred to me. Research on "PLNs" or personal learning networks addresses much of what Boyd talks of. I was surprised she did not mention this.I agree the MySpace example is interesting but does not exactly provide a blueprint for the kind of instruction we need.
Especially when individuals are young, but throughout their lives, they need to safeguard their information and not share too much of their identity with the world, so that they are not put in harm’s way.
Adults too, as the recent Equifax disaster suggests.
Indeed, in her chapter “Are Today’s Youth Digital Natives?” Boyd makes some claims that people should really pay heed to, such as the claim that algorithms that power search engines contain biases, Wikipedia is valuable for gaining an understanding of how knowledge is established, and labels can have different implications than people intend. Her overarching argument in this text is that the term “digital natives” masks the lack of in-depth digital knowledge teens actually possess, but her solutions for helping teens gain the digital prudence and skills they need are not thorough enough and are thus not helpful.
Another model post. This is smart, thorough and detailed, and it is always grounded in careful textual analysis. This was a pleasure to read.
Are the sources listed? and Does the site end in edu? which help point to more credible sites), though overall, I believe this criteria could have been more thoroughly expanded and focused on in my education.
That is good to hear. This could mean things are changing, and Boyd's concerns are being addressed, she overstates the problem, or your education has been more sophisticated than most.
will note the parts of Boyd’s text I found most intriguing and note what I feel are her most important claims. I will also list some problems Boyd associates with the rhetoric of “digital natives” and assess her solutions, evaluate her suggestions for helping youth become digitally literate, and discuss whether she leaves out anything important.
Nice statement of purpose/metadiscourse.
(“Sundiata: Two Versions” 449). This phrase incorporates repetition of the short “i” sound in “Tis” and “thickener,” repetition of the “th” sound in “the” and “thickener,” and repetition of the “gr” in “grown” and “grave
Yes, although because it is in translation it's hard to know how much these aspects of the language can be analyzed in such terms.
Sundiata is additive, aggregative, repetitive, and overall rather formulaic. Such features ultimately help carve out a rhythm within the story. This rhythm imprints the story into the griot’s memory and allows him to continuously repeat it over time and pass it on to members of the culture and other storytellers.
[My previous comments seem to be missing. Here are some new ones] Homework assignment one is excellent. Demonstrates good understanding of Ong’s key concepts, and outstanding application to the Sundiata text. Your work on aggregative and additive language, parallelism, redundancy, formulas and repetition is outstanding. I am particularly impressed by the quality of close textual analysis – detailed, sophisticated, developed. Nice work!
This shows that this source is not credible because it is basically just a marketplace for opinions. I thought this was funny because just looking up one statistic can completely irradiate the reliability of this op-ed. If I looked up quotes and saw “.org” or “.edu” I would believe his statements much more because these are credible sources. This is just another example of how “Fake News” is actually everywhere and that people don’t always research what they are posting when posting it publically.
Interesting. This is a good look elements of the source quality.
I think overall the strength of Millers’ op-ed is that he is very passionate and uses language to build up and rile up the reader. He uses “facts” all throughout the essay to encourage his point, as any persuasive writer would do. However, I think he lacks the basic knowledge that smoking is in fact bad for you. He instead highlights that smoking isn’t “as bad” for you as other things like low-exercise and a bad diet. I think had he gone for a more compromise approach his argument would have been more effective.
I agree with all of this. Your analytical instincts are good. Just try to add more on the specifics of what makes a claim source or piece of evidence weak/strong.
think teaching people the importance of “fake news” and spreading it is an essential item we should focus on. I can’t count how many times I log onto Facebook and see someone share a link that is false. Whether its spreading misinformation about someone or something,
Perhaps a potential research topic?
was adding music and creating pop—ups on my page, which is crazy to think about now. These days no kids are really learning about anything on technology besides social media.
Interesting - your experience seems to echo Boyd's claims.
To me, the most critical claim that was made was, “teens will not become critical contributors to this ecosystem simply because they were born in an age when these technologies were pervasive,”. In order for teens to have a high media literacy they need to learn the ways. Nobody is born just knowing things, and media and online literacy is included in this. I agree with Boyd when she makes suggestions about making digital literacy skills more attainable. In our day and age it is very important that we stay up to date with technology as the future generations are the ones that will continue to grow and expand.
Good - this is indeed one of Boyd's key claims and one of the most important.
When I was growing up all throughout middle school and high school we were told to never trust “Wikipedia” and such. I find it comedic though that it was said to trust google always. Google is just simply a search engine, and you can find false information all throughout it.
Yes, a lot of people have this reaction to Boyd's text. I like the connections you make between Boyd and your own experiences and observations.
Alike Ong, I think both versions communicate their point in understanding and intellectual manners. I believe for myself personally, that Johnsons version would be more beneficial for myself because I find it easier to comprehend and recall the information in that sort of format. I also think that I can relate better to this type of writing because I am use to writing how I speak. Therefore I am able to understand others better when its written in more of a vocal climate than the other. Neither culture is considered better than one another, just more or less a different way of learning and communication
Again, I enjoyed reading this post. There is some insight and useful observations about Ong and SUndiata. But the response is general, and tends to bounce quickly to your own comments. I suggest in future posts you try to focus on the assignment questions, capture authors' claims more precisely, and discuss quotes from the texts.
One of the most interesting parts of the text that I found was the comparison of Rhetoric and Community. Its not a common thought of mine that rhetoric builds communities and that a lack there of can be devastating to a community. I think this is very applicable in the world right now, where everyone is throwing there opinions on the internet and instead of having an intellectual debate using rhetoric, people are choosing to make a division. This division is caused by rhetoric of each other and the lack of understanding and willingness to try and see the other side. I found this concept very interesting and applicable in our lives currently.
There is a lot of good insight in this post. You make some useful observations about Thompson and Herrick. But the response is very general, and tends to bounce off the texts pretty quickly into your own comments. I suggest in future posts you try to focus on the response questions and the key claims advanced by each author, and you ground both in textual evidence.
somethings can relate with. I am big on Instagram and Facebook when it comes to sharing photos and achievements with my family and friends. I have come to realize that it is an easy platform to share photos and information on, whilst reaching almost all the friends and family I need to! I use twitter to stay updated with breaking news happening around the world. From this class I’m mostly excited to see how advertisements, social media sites, blogs, images and media influence my life. I am really excited for a great semester!
Thanks for sharing Hailey.
ahead and read the comment section on Chris Matthew’s report on infowars. I looked for comments that could relate to Miller’s key points that she discussed in her article. It was fairly easy to recognize Miller’s points while reading the comments since most are liberal or conservative views. In many of the comments the “in” group of referred to as the republicans, they are
This is promising but could do with development. It needs more explanation of RM's claims and the rhetorical characteristics she assigns demagoguery, as well as more analysis of the details of the target text.
However, Miller’s weakness is that his argument would be much more valid if he used pathos, or emotional appeal, so the reader would feel a sense of connection with this topic,
Interesting discussion of Miller. Good overview of claims and some useful evaluation. This part of the evaluation seems a bit general (he could have used more pathos).
This just goes to show how important it is to look up resources and question credibility of articles found on the internet.
Yes, good point. Good discussion of sources. You pose many important questions. I think there is more that could be said about these sources, but this shows good evaluative instincts.
ne’s value whether they smoke cigarettes or not. I thought his article was very strong in arguments and properly used rhetorical strategies to convince the reader to believe his opinion. I do not think he had any weaknesses in his a
Smart discussion of Shieh. Nice.
ut it.
But could go further and address RR2 questions regarding critical digital literacy.
Although I think Boyd made an incredible argument, I think she could have mentioned more general benefits of the internet age and how it is positively affecting both youth and adults. She could have compared learning and living in both this youth, and the times when adults now were young. It would have been interesting to compare the use of rhetoric between the two. Although I would have liked to read that, I did not think that Boyd left anything else out. she did a great job in explaining her argument and teaching about the new internet and digital ag
This is stronger reading response. You provide a more detailed, precise account of the author's claims, making important distinctions as you proceed. You also cover of the reading response questions - nice job.
digital rhetoric in different emerging technologies. It blurs the lines of people who may not have access to certain technologies and people who have different levels of learning and understanding. This rhetoric just reinforces inequalities at a digital and technologica
Excellent - you capture this central insight well.
ortant to understand the nature of websites such as these two and understand true credibility in order to be successful in understanding rhetoric and the internet, and often youth do not do that.
Good - but need to explain why she reverses the usual way of valuing Wikipedia and Google.
Another important claim that Boyd makes is comparing wikipedia to google, although very different websites.
Need to formulate this as a claim - this seems to describe a comparison.
He mentions it is important to understand that both youth and adults have much to learn. There is no relationship between age and skill.
Well put. This is indeed one of her main claims.
He
She
They are confused and feel like they do not understand the new generation and what our live’s are centered around. Like a new world that they are new too. I found this term interesting because it made me consider ho
Nice intro - I like the way you find so many personal connections to illustrate Boyd's claims.
quality and contains a lot of expression, it does not compare to the other writer’s prose
I don't recall him comparing Okolloh with novelists.
He argues that although people may be writing more, the quality of writing may not be better when compared to before the age of the internet
I don't think this is quite his point. He admits a lot of the new writing is bad, but he suggests that 90% most things are bad, and we are seeing an explosion of good writing.
This post is only one example of the common dogmatic nature of anonymous message boards. It is not about being conservative, liberal, democratic, republican or anywhere in between. Using demagoguery as a way to bully people into your viewpoint leaves no one more intelligent about the situation. In fact, the closed mindedness is a way to stifle the overall intelligence of the article in question. Relegating us back to screaming and throwing tantrums to get our way.
This is an interesting, promising discussion of the 4Chan "pol" discussion group. You point out some troubling dimension of these texts, weak reasoning, conspiracy theories, etc. Your homework could do more to connect Roberts Miller's key concepts to the target texts.
I used this list as a lens to view the arguments of 4chan.org/pol/ otherwise known as politically incorrect.
You are a brave man.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
Nice quote!
er than he should be able to smoke because he didn’t learn it’s bad young enough.
Interesting and promising - you just need to evaluate these texts more deeply and in more detail. You have good evaluative instincts. Give yourself more time to make the case.
nformation by a man on campus with a sign, giving me statistics with a slightly raised voice and little facts to back up his claims. Miller used sources vaguely like, ‘A study in the British Medical Journal reports…’, or, ‘renowned Cato Institute, a lib
Good point about some problems with the use of sources in Miller.
el bad that he comes from a country where they don’t know that smoking is harmful.
Don't think he is from China, just visited
ouraged to learn C++ or Latex as a coding module. I do not think this extreme measure is needed for the average student, but I was surprised to see that nowhere is a digiatal literacy course required at SDSU. By the time I graduated, I could know an almost dead programming software front and back, but never learn Microsoft Office. It seems that a fundamental learning objective is put on the back-burner of colleges, much like learning taxes in high school was.
Interesting - I enjoyed reading this thoughtful, provocative connection between Boyd and your own experience. This response was fun to read. I think you could have explained what Boyd meant by critical digital literacy (see also the other reading response questions) in more detail.
end for themselves in terms of how they receive information. Further amplifying the idea that the way we learn new concepts is through practice.
Your final paragraph starts to tackle Boyd's main claims, but this seems a little late. This response also does not address the main reading response questions, and could discuss the text in more detail.
The younger generation is more apt to use tools to further their informational reach than the adults that solely trust an encyclopedia for all their information
Not sure this gets at the heart of Boyd's argument.
oyd’s text mentions the creativity and progression of MySpace. Growing up during the time that MySpace started, I remember the progression of my friend’s pages. They started small, adding a music player or collage. Soon the pages were out of control with streamers, auto playing videos and 3 dimensional pictures on a website that was made to load on NetZero’s internet bandwidth. T
Interesting connection to Boyd's discussion of MySpace. I remember some similar stories.
fend for themselves in terms of how they receive information. Further amplifying the idea that the way we learn new concepts is through practice.
Your final paragraph starts to tackle Boyd's main claims, but this seems a little late. This response also does not address the main reading response questions, and could discuss the text in more detail.
he younger generation is more apt to use tools to further their informational reach than the adults that solely trust an encyclopedia for all their information.
Not sure this gets at the heart of Boyd's argument.
Boyd’s text mentions the creativity and progression of MySpace. Growing up during the time that MySpace started, I remember the progression of my friend’s pages. They started small, adding a music player or collage. Soon the pages were out of control with streamers, auto playing videos and 3 dimensional pictures on a website that was made to load on NetZero’s internet bandwidth.
Interesting connection to Boyd's discussion of MySpace. I remember some similar stories.
Walter Ong writes about the sounded word being of power and action. The nine different methods talked about can be summarized as: aggregative rather than analytic, redundant or ‘copious’, conservative or traditionalist, close to human lifeworld, agonistically toned, empathetic and participatory rather than objectively distant, and situational rather than abstract. These characteristics can contrast the two versions of the same story both written and orally reproduced.
Good overview of Ong's main claims. Your comparison of the two versions of the story is thoughtful and smart. This overview of Ong happens at the end, and these concepts could be connected to the specifics of the second version. Going forward, try to add more analysis of the specifics of texts in your homework assignments. I enjoyed reading this.
king’s palace, the second versions food, culture and names can be interchanged to fit other regions in their narrative. By painting a picture of the story so well, we are not able see outside of the situation that is currently in front of us.
Found this part of your analysis a little hard to follow.
The fact that most of the lines are dialog between two or more people further emphasizes the empathy that we as an audience are meant to feel
Yes, good example of the participatory character of oral performances.
he first version, a work by D. T. Niane describes the tale in written form to be read by their audience. The second version is transcribed to text by John William Johnson as a spoken, call and response story told verbally to an audience.
Nice overview of the differences between these two texts.
hustle of the city life. Generally, I don’t have a lot of free time between work, school, and family but I do enjoy watching movies or playing video games with friends. I do not particularly like social media and rarely find it a good idea to post your location or personal information online for free. I hope to learn more about critical thinking and logic in writing, even though I do not normally blog.
Thanks for sharing James. Nice first post.
uring the primary race for South Carolina Trump said, “My opponents lie …Especially Cruz. He’s the single biggest liar I’ve ever seen.” He continued to effectively trademarked the name “Lying Ted Cruz” doing significant damage to Cruz’s election chances.
Good example of insulting language. The examples are interesting and reveal ad hominem (a fallacy RM associates with demagogues) but I'm not sure they are dehumanizing or demonization.
Interesting, lively analysis of Trump's rhetoric using RM as a lens. I do think you could zero in more on the characteristics she stresses. However, this is thoughtful and shows promise.
There is often an incredible amount of animosity between republicans and democrats and this is divide expands with demagogic rhetoric.
Yes, and I think these two dynamics reinforce each other.
iller describes demagoguery as, “is polarizing propaganda that motivates members of an in-group to hate and scapegoat some outgroup(s), largely by promising certainty, stability, and … “and escape from freedom.”
Excellent account of Roberts-Miller's definition of demagoguery (watch typos).
While I could not find a source to confirm or deny the statistics Shieh gave on second hand smoke, many sources adamantly deny his claim that second hand smoke is harmless. However the majority of sources posting about the dangers of second hand smoke are special interest groups like the ones Miller talked about, so it is important to acknowledge their bias, and take their warnings with a grain of salt
Good work on claims and appeals for both texts.
I think you could push your evaluation of evidence, sources and strategies further. For example, you seem to accept Miller's claims that there is a monolithic "anti smoking lobby/special interest group," rather than lots of research from many different organizations.
You do start to look at Shieh's use of sources but this doesn't get far, and you could dig deeper into Miller's.
While I whole-heartedly agree that these skills are necessary to become a fully involved citizen, Boyd does little to teach these skill. Boyd focuses on why digital literacy is crucial to our new society, but it would be helpful for her to give ways to learn, or teach these skills.
Indeed. Although given how long books take to publish there may have been a strategic decision to outline a framework and leave it to others to fill in the details.
That is a project that could be investigated in this class.
She argues that mere internet access may allow you to participate, but without a certain level of technical acumen, you will not be able to be a fully engaged citizen. The other main skill Boyd promotes is the ability to differentiate between good and bad sources of information.
These two skills are certainly important, but she does mention other skills.
She compares the need for media literacy today to that of post-WWI Britain, and the United States in the 60’s.
Yes - she suggest we face a comparable set of challenges, although one could argue the need is even greater today.
The ability to use technology to find information can only get you so far if you don’t understand where or who the information is coming from.
Good point, and surely one Boyd would endorse.
By telling students what sources to use or not use, you remove the need for a student to analyze a writing, and the biases and motives that may have influenced the data within it. Students should learn that sources coming from the most popular sites may hold extreme biases and may not be reliable even if they are the first result you can find doing a basic search.
Good discussion. Make sure to frame your discussion and analysis so it's clear when you are giving your view vs. describing Boyd's. Some "framing" language will help.
He
She
The phrase digital literacy describes a person’s ability to seek out information, and weed out information that may be either irrelevant or inaccurate.
Need to explain whose definition this is. Some use this - but Boyd thinks it is inadequate.
digital literacy is to break down the term, “digital natives”, and the connotations the phrase has
Yes, but I'd add another part of her purpose is to challenge its use and suggest we need new terms for talking ab out digital literacy.
Ong’s claims coincide with the claims of Young and Sullivan in that they both acknowledge that memory is the limiting factor of spoken word.
Yes, the texts clearly reinforce each other. The math example is used to support their claim that without writing their are important kids of thinking we cannot achieve.
You can also see that the spoken word is much more concise than the written story. The written version gives much more background to the story, and includes much more detail in the young king’s activities. This is because when speaking the audience can only retain so much in their memories. It is important for spoken word to minimize superfluous details, so that the audience can focus on relevant points. The written text allows for in depth descriptions of settings and characters because the reader is able to go back and re-read anything they did not retain.
Thoughtful discussion of Ong and the Sundiata text. I think you could discuss both in more detail. This starts to get interesting but finishes as the analysis takes shape. Give yourself more time in future homework assignments.
This supports Ong’s viewpoint that oral rhetoric holds more gravity than written word.
A bit vague - wasn't sure how this connects to Ong.
this kind of redundancy isn’t used solely to make the audience remember the words. This repetition adds an increased sense of drama and accomplishment when Sundiata finally is able to stand on his final attempt. While this kind of repetition would seem cumbersome in standard writing, this style would not seem so out of place in spoken word. This supports Ong’s viewpoint that oral rhetoric holds more gravity than written word.
Good point - there is a functional, mnemonic dimension and also an artistic one.
Ong’s claims coincide with the claims of Young and Sullivan in that they both acknowledge that memory is the limiting factor of spoken word.
Yes, the texts clearly reinforce each other. The math example is used to support their claim that without writing their are important kids of thinking we cannot achieve.
My name is Ian Lubliner, but a since i can remember most people call me Lub. I’m studying to receive IS3d focused on Kinesiology, and plan on graduating next may. I grew up in San Jose CA, and am a diehard bay area sports fan. When i was eight years old i picked up the two hobbies i have stuck with ever since. I my got my first drum set for my 8th birthday and had a passion for rocking out ever since. The same year i picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time, which has consumed most of my free time for the last 14 years. I rarely write for my own sake, but believe literacy is as important as ever with the limitless stream of information available which brings me to digital rhetoric.
Great intro Ian. Thanks for sharing.I like your blogs title!
at was backed up with another opinion rather than a fact that would help strengthen their argument. Although, Shieh has some strong ideas an arguments it wasn’t enough for the reader to be persuaded. As far as the sources Shieh could have used more in order to reply to counter-arguments.
Your evaluation of both texts shows promise and some good insights. I do think you could make your discussion of strengths and weaknesses more concrete through more in-depth investigation of evidence, sources and strategies. But this is good, solid work.
He should include who the authors are in order for the readers to know why we should accept that the information they are providing holds truth.
Good point. It may also be relevant that the authors are not medical researchers and so do not have relevant expertise.
To popular belief caused by government researchers as well as drug free campaigns, people who inhale smoke in the air from other smokers is in danger.
Not sure I follow this.
I also agree that these skills should be taught to young people because it sets the next generations up in becoming better digital writers.
Hear hear.
It is important to not only evaluate your own digital writing, but the creations of others online. It is important to analyze and figure out accuracies, assumptions, as well as biases that may hold truth. Speaking of truth, because the Internet and media can be available to anyone, people are able to also provide the public with untrue facts.
Yes, these two elements are an important part of Boyd's argument.
This would help me be informed on how to critically analyze the information I look up and use.
I like the way you bookend your response with personal connections. It gives the response a nice symmetry.
Boyd puts it, “sophisticated internet participants.” Social media shouldn’t be their only outlet to media literacy. Skills and active learning are needed to develop this digital age, which would help better engagement and technical skills that will cultivate the technological advanced world we have shifted towards.
Another good account of a key claim
For example, teens may have the access to computers funded by schools, but the time spent associated may not make them skillful at navigating technological tools. She claims that the “unevenness of skills, literacy, and socially meaningful access” contribute to the raised concern of the “technology advanced” generation.
This is a strong, thoughtful account of Boyd's argument
Boyd also claims that there is digital inequality and that digital natives mask the notion that there aren’t different degrees of access and skills alongside emerging technologies experienced by different youth.
Good observation - this is one of her key claims.
n particular, as I read this topic, it felt completely relatable to my views and values on credible search engines. My teachers throughout middle school and high school had also advised students that Wikipedia wasn’t a reputable source to use. I agree with her claims that teens have been in the habit of not fully utilizing these types of technological tools.
Interesting connections to Boyd's argument.
Writing is able to give us structure in the way we communicate effectively and helps jot down thoughts and messages that we want to send to others.
Nicely put.
Writing has become “dispensable” in a sense that we are shifting into the electronic age where newspapers and books are being replaced by television and radio. The way we communicate has definitely changed over the years, where it has become more accessible and convenient for society. The attack of writing argues that these shifts in today’s society has put some type of devalue in rhetoric.
Diverges from the text a little - not sure these are Y&S's claims
Why Write? A Consideration they argue that writing is usually attacked because it can induce forgetfulness and doesn’t stimulate practice their memory.
Not quite - they quote Plato as doing this. They think Plato is wrong but was asking interesting questions.
The “Sundiata” text illustrates the oral culture and it’s qualities that solidify Ong’s statements. The text consists of two versions of a story that are orally composed. Throughout the text, you can clearly see where emotion or expression is exemplified. As Ong mentions, this type of writing is able to emphasize meaning for the readers and helps them follow what the story is trying to effectively convey.
This seems interesting but a little vague. You might find it easier to talk about concrete elements such as repetition, formulas, participation (call and response) etc.
Oral culture and expression in writing gives more meaning and helps aid readers to distinguish important information from the context.
Again, a little hard to follow. Try to unpack and elaborate such complex relationships.
Ong begins with explaining orality qualities and suggests that these words are power-driven. It is compared to typographic writing and writers who focus more on names and labels.
OK - but stylistically, watch for consistency of referents (elements that establish coherence)
ng also explains and compares how orality and literacy can be linked through oral cultures and chirography.
This is a little hard to follow. Try to unpack and elaborate such complex relationships.
To further the understanding of the impact of the oral culture Ong states that within oral cultures you only know what you can “recall” where as in literate cultures you know what you can look up
Yes, one of his central claims. It is a fairly simple claim but one he believes has important implications.
subtle than the main idea that is presented as the representation of the group. As he discussed slavery there were many thoughts on the matter that were “rounded up”
Interesting, but I suggest you outline Roberts-Miller's main claims and some key concepts before getting too far into discussion.
his uses emotion, not logic to appeal to people, especially those who may be under informed on the real issues or those on the fence.
OK, but RM says that emotion isn't necessarily demagogic.
They just scapegoat the other group, whoever they may be
Good - but give RM's definition of scapegoating, then present evidence showing how it works in the target text.
This also goes along with Miller’s idea that there is often not a demagogue, rather a set of opposing viewpoints.
Not sure this captures RM's claim. You could do more to explain her notion of a culture of demagoguery.
he concept, as it is explained in the articles is now clearer than ever to me all over American rhetoric.
Yes, we seem to live in an age in which demagoguery is highly visible.
Both arguments use a lot of emotional appeal to try and connect with people outside of those who would immediately agree with them. The “Smoker’s Plea” article uses logic by citing article as well. As with most articles of this nature, though they claim to be unbiased there is always a bias towards the authors point of view. He cites older sources of information about smoking that may be out of date with current medical and research technology. Also no counter articles are presents. For instance anti-smoking articles that he might be able to find fault with. The author only uses reports that directly go along with exactly his point of view.
This establishes you understand the "gist" of both authors. But the response is very general, and does not delve deeply into either text. Try to quote the texts, use textual evidence to substantiate your analysis, and construct a more robust response.
(AJ Willingham and Saeed Ahmed, 2017).
Good research work
While, that was just one comment in particular that stood out to me, there were a lot more (761 total comments) that employed similar tactics and resorted to language identical to nomark’s. This plethora of demagogic remarks emphasizes another point made by Roberts-Miller (which is seen in connection to the notion of an “in-group,”) and that is this goal of homogeneity (8). Without the support of other like-minded people, their argument seems weak and becomes less credible. Part of their persuasion in focusing in on homogeneity is the idea that having a lot of supporters who believe the same thing, must mean their argument is logical. This is not always the case. Just because someone has a lot of supporters doesn’t necessarily mean they are supporting the right choice.
This is powerful analysis of the weaknesses of the writer's claims. You do a great job exposing weaknesses and absurdities. I do think you could do a little more to use RM's concepts as a lens - polarization, motivism, demonization, etc.
understand their reasoning.
Nice overview, but could explain her theory and claims more fully before moving to analysis.
dmit they have a motive and if they are to admit it, their motive is often “something admirable or at least complicated”
The problem is also that motivism allows rhetors to dismiss opponents without listening to their arguments, reinforces polarization, and makes policy debates (which RM thinks are crucial) difficult.
She notes that even though demagogic arguments aren’t fully logical sometimes, they rely heavily on motivism, “the assertion that people don’t really have reasons for what they do, but they are motivated by something els
Great point. Motivism is central to her account of demagoguery, and a big part of highly polarized, "tribalized" rhetorical situations.
Additionally, he cleverly titled his article in a way that depicts this issue as a community and campus problem since it’s limiting “on-campus diversity.” Thus, he is building his credibility.
Yes, and establishing connections with the values of those who may not initially agree with his position.
This claim appeals to his audience and is very persuasive because it utilizes logos effectively
I see where you are going. Let's talk about this formulation.
Good work. You raise an important objection tothe 1975 study, and I like how you discuss the title. It does seem at odds with the tenor of the rest of the article, which is not about personal experience.
that the individual smokes their cigarette outside by themselves or with other individuals in the household who may smoke thus, they don’t actually expose their spouses to the cigarette smoke
Excellent point - raises a fascinating objection.
Overall, I think Boyd does an excellent job summarizing the skills necessary that encompass critical digital literacy.
This is a strong articulation of Boyd's notion of critical digital literacy.
I do think you could take this further and delve into the "other digital literacy skills she doesn't mention that you think young people need"
“pick up the language of technology the way they pick up a linguistic tongue (178).
Yes, this is a key part of how the analogy works, and also why it is problematic.
. I believe these are useful skills for everyone in our society to have especially considering the overwhelming amount of false information and manipulative rhetoric that exists within media
Thoughtful discussion and analysis of Boyd - good work.
There becomes a shift in mindset when you embrace the digital natives’ rhetoric which presumes that digital knowledge will just develop on its own over time, which Boyd states is most certainly not the case. Rather, she suggests that we should focus on empowering our youth and adults to be sophisticated and responsible internet participants.
Nice - this captures the essence of her central claim.
Which means, they too are partly responsible for their limited knowledge and place in the digital divide.
I think Boyd would agree with this. But perhaps her focus here is on training and critical digital literacy.
at is, diverse levels of skills have developed and this variation in skills is “linked in part to differences in access to computers” (195).
Nice - this gets at one of her main claims.
generalization is flawed because true digital natives are those with critical media literacy and technical skills.
I think this partly captures her point. She does think critical digital media and robust technical skills need to be part of a more adequate account of digital literacy. But she is also skeptical that there are "true digital natives" as this divides things based on generation.
a teen who uses a library computer with filtered access for an hour a day has a very different experience with the internet than one who has a smartphone, laptop, and unrestricted connectivity” (194
Yes, an important distinction that a number of studies have recently noted.
An interesting observation I noticed within the two versions of the Sundiata text is that certain aspects of the story changed. For instance, characters names were different, the type of tree the mother requested changes, and details about how the main character receives the tree are also adjusted.
Yes, although it may also be that the compilers of the story extracted a prose version from multiple griots to create a "master" narrative, while the oral version is just one performance.
cultures might view this “formulary baggage” as perplexing or confusing, oral cultures view them as meaningful messages that should not be altered for once a “formulary expression has crystallized, it had best be kept intact” (34). Ong elaborates further and explains that these oral cultures focus on repetition to engrain information but also to establish a “highly traditionalist or conservative set of mind” (35). This is because they believe that knowledge is hard to come by and precious. As such, they believe only a select few should specialize in conserving it.
Wonderfully lucid, precise account of Ong's claims. Impressive. But again, would be even stronger if supported with textual evidence.
Niane’s version clearly highlights the focus on syntax while Johnson’s recount is much more pragmatic and formulaic.
Yes, this is a key point. Your observation would be even stronger if it included an example.
forms of rhythmic sounds that make retaining information easy and physiologically possible.
Perhaps you are demonstrating the power of repetition here? (The paragraph is repeated).
.
Nice
The first notion Ong discusses is the process of recalling something, whether it be an object, formula, or event, he claims is only possible through the utilization of mnemonic patterns.
I think that is mostly right. He might add that there are ways of moving elements to long term memory, but they are limited by constraints of oral memory, which is highly dependent on mnemonics.
Sundiata: Two Versions of an Oral Tale, by D.T. Niane and John William Johnson.
Nice introduction, overview of Ong, and project statement.
Repetition in orally culture is indeed important, Ong mentions “Not everyone in a large audience understands every word a speaker utters, if only because of acoustical problems. It is advantageous for the speakers to say the same thing, or equivalently the same thing, two or three times” (Ong, 34). As it is stated at the beginning of the Sundiata text, Niate’s version is meant to be read as a story whereas Johnson’s is meant to be performed.
Nice reading of the text with some good textual examples. I think you could have included other concepts (formulaic expression, agonism, etc.) to delve more deeply into the Sundiata text. You perform good analysis but I was left wanting more.
In Niane’s version, the woman says, “Look you, I have a calabash full. Help yourself, you poor woman. As for me, my son knew how to walk at seven and it was he who went and picked these baobab leaves” (445).
Good observations.
He also mentions that much more work and reflection is needed to deepen understanding of orally based thought (Ong, 32). After reading the Niane version of the story, I found myself struggling with the one written by Johnson.
OK, but useful to explain Ong's main claims before moving to analysis of Sundiata using Ong's concepts.