Blog Response to Wysocki Lynch

Designing Compositions Rhetorically

By: Julia Weiss

         I enjoyed this reading more than most of the others so far this semester.  Why you might ask? Well, for one it spoke of rhetoric (which the reading gave a wonderful link to learn more information about) – which I am fascinated by. Two, it made me view arguments in a different perspective (informal/formal). Three, it told an easy to read, easy to relate to, and entertaining story with a purpose what happens with miscommunication/interpretation. Finally and most importantly, it has presented ideas and concepts that are helping me to organize my own thoughts on how to construct my rhetorical digital media artifact.  I have to admit that the upcoming project has me on edge and out of my comfort zone. Thankfully, this reading has given me some sense of comfort and idea of how to go about this seemingly daunting task.

          Rhetoric in my opinion is the idea of being aware of the connection between emotions/feelings and then communicating them to your target audience. I began to think about rhetoric and just how many views of rhetoric alone there are. Between the sophists, Aristotle, Socrates, Cicero, Plato and the various changes in rhetorical views over time, political alteration in ancient Greece and then reading the Wysocki and Lynch piece I have come to the conclusion that just like rhetoric is viewed with many perspectives, the way I construct my project can be done in many different ways, but that still leaves a bit of space for option confusion and stress.

          To help with this confusion the Wysocki and Lynch piece presented several helpful and directing concepts; mainly audience context and purpose. If used accurately, these key aspects will help to establish a solid relation with your viewer/decoder. To help better establish understanding of what consists of the processes within these key aspects page 28 in the reading has a nice diagram emphasizing what to think about when creating a rhetorical argument: such as, medium, arrangement, sense of purpose, developing the statement of purpose, and finally testing the product. 

         When going about his project I need to think of place, time, potential outcome, arrangement, context, audience, purpose, strategy, medium, larger context, visual information, general purpose, and what to expect from the audience in return. It is important to note that I as a presenter not only have to be prepared and attentive, but in order for my product to be successful, so does the audience.

I am most definitely going to use this reading as a source for inspiration and guidance when choosing my method of production for this next big assignment. I found the quote on page 30 to really help guide my thoughts on how to judge my product from start to finish,

“In all of this, rhetoric and design work hand in hand: you will be asked to say, to the best of your abilities how every choice you have made in your production of a piece of communication contributes to the purpose of the communication”