E 309M Computers and Writing

Project 2, Task 5

Before revising the second project, you should reconsider some of the terms that you can use to talk about the audience of a newsgroup, MUD or IRC. The graphic below illustrates the major elements of any rhetorical situation. Note that there are three major elements in the situation and any of these can play a part in your analysis.

Perhaps the easiest way to begin talking about the speaker or the audience is through the message. It is the message that addresses an audience and that illuminates the position of the speaker. If a message is belligerent, then it reflects something about the character of the speaker. If several messages in a dialog cite passages from articles, then you can draw conclusions about the audience as well. If most messages are sarcastic or playful, then we can determine something else about the readership.

The additional terms that you see in the illustration--ethos, logos and pathos--will give you a way to talk about the rhetorical situation. The ethos refers to the persona that is presented by a speaker. The belligerent message reveals a speaker who has constructed a limited ethos, while a message that suggests and open-minded speaker demonstrates a more believable ethos. If a message is full of gory details about human suffering, then it may be trying to appeal to the pathos of the audience, to move them pathetically. The logos refers to the logic of the message itself. How well is an argument or statement constructed? Does it support its stance with evidence? Does it include acknowledgements of different positions on the isuue, which will build up the ethos of the speaker?

These are some of the major terms and ways to approach analysing a newsgroup, MUD or IRC. The rest of the assignment for today involves brainstorming about these ideas in an IRC channel. We will try to jump from this page to an Internet Relay Chat line. You will need to be using Netscape and may need to download the IRC helper application.. After getting and setting up the IRC client, or if you are in the CWRL using a Macintosh you can join the IRC channel Rhetoric.

If you cannot get into the IRC channel or if you have finished brainstorming, then you can add your insights about rhetorically analysing a newsgroup, MUD or IRC to our community message forum.

Return to the Online Highbeam to the E 309M page or to the CWRL.