An Archaeology of Rhetorical Criticism and Internet Communication – Zemmels

This reading was interesting to read after Barbara Warnick’s piece because it referenced many things she said in her article. I find that very cool because I have the background information prior to reading this article. This one started off by introducing the umbrella term “Internet studies” (1). I like this distinction, because it acknowledges that there are so many areas of study on the internet today. The article also mentions Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) right away. This was also cool to read, because from my studies in the past and what I am interested in for the future, I am interested in the subject of HCI and usability. So I like that that was mentioned.

This article said, “New Media is more narrowly defined here as aural and visual media production, distribution, and consumption” (2). This was a good distinction to me, though it still seems a bit broad. I understand this to mean any sort of imagery online, including its distribution and consumption. This ties in very well with my research topic (Pinterest) because it’s based on imagery and how it gets distributed, so I may have to remember this source for a future paper!

Another thing that stood out to me was that “scholarly research in this area is still relatively new and no universally accepted terms, definitions, theories or methodologies have emerged” (4). This is really cool to read because I personally love that my university offers courses that enable us as students to really get in the field and do our own research and findings, as opposed to just reading about what others have done and leaving it at that. I also find it interesting because it means (to me at least) that I chose the right area of study because this stuff is crazy interesting!

This article, like many before it, also talks about the identity of the user. I find this area of study really interesting, and the fact that it’s mentioned in nearly every academic article we read really highlights its importance. This article says that users “often switch genders”, which lead them to “become the authors not only of the text, but of themselves, constructing new selves through social interaction” (9). This helps to create an ethos (or distract from it) when a user is reading text online. Following Warnick’s article, this leads me again to question the importance of credibility and traditional notions of authorship.