Rhetoric Online Chapters 1 and 2

If I am understanding this correctly, I think that chapter one is supposed to act almost like another preface to the book. It lets us know that the book is about describing the digital world in a public sense. It will explain the rhetoric of the online world through discussing various economic and political shifts. They use this as a way to explain the shift in the digital sphere because a lot of the activity that goes on online is related to social and political shifts within the world.

Chapter two goes in to explaining more of how rhetorical theory gives us the tools to study the relationship between technological and cultural change. In the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama was able to use the web as a very successful way to attract voters and revenue for his campaign. In the 2010 election, however, this activity decreased. There were more ways to learn about the candidates (apps, social media, etc...) but this was probably the same reason that activity decreased. The reputability of the candidates went down because they had more than just one website (and not too many people trust what they hear on social networking sites).

I'm curious, however, how identity comes into play with politics. Candidates (and those already in office) have been shifting more and more towards putting more information online, but what is their identity in the digital sphere? We know ours just by looking at our Facebook's or Twitters or other social networking sites (you can clearly tell from mine that I'm a journalist), but can you tell who they are? Other than a politician, obviously.