Comm 10 - MODULE 1

1. How does persuasion work in online communication? How are the rhetorical strategies of persuasion deployed in online spaces? In online communication, there are four basic qualities, which are: Speed, Reach, Anonymity, and Interactivity. Speed enables communication online to be casual, Reach enables for online posts and texts to be easily accessible with a wide reach to the public, Anonymity enables people to explore and experiment with ideas, and Interactivity enables instantaneous feedback and widespread avenues for discussion. With  these four qualities in tandem, creating persuasive text through the online mediums is made possible. These four basic qualities also allow for Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to be deployed in online spaces. These 3 rhetorical strategies are deployed through text posts, websites, forums, and the like. 2. How do computer programs function as persuasive technology? Computer programs serve as persuasive technology by being a too...

1.) Of these strategies, which have you encountered during political campaigns? The first persuasive strategy mentioned is “how speakers may present their own rhetorical projects as exercises in political consensus” or Taking and Avoiding Sides. This is when a communicator decides to simply side with one group against another to address the problem of audience diversity. One example is when politicians present themselves and speaks as “just an ordinary citizen, with views just like the common folk” rather than a member of the political circle. The second is “appealing explicitly to broadly defined ingroups” or Explicit Appeals to Common Ingroup Membership. Communicators try to appeal to diverse audiences by looking for ways to find common ground between them – a single overarching characteristic for an entire group. The diverse audience must be regrouped into a single category, the leader/communicator’s proposition must meet the needs of this category, and the leader/c...

                                               1.) What is Bitzer’s definition of a rhetorical situation? Although the concept of the rhetorical situation has been examined throughout history, one of the first modern scholars to explore the fundamentals of the rhetorical situation was Lloyd Bitzer. In his thought provoking article, “The Rhetorical Situation”) Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1968) he wrote “Rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to a situation in the same sense that an answer comes into existence in response to a question, or a solution in response to a problem.”  In stating that rhetorical discourse happens as a follow up to a rhetorical situation, he clearly identifies three elements that define every rhetorical situation. Those elements are defined below. As Bitzer found, the three elements that comprise...