In The Multimediated
Rhetoric of the Internet, Carolyn Handa brings us through a study that
discusses how websites are used for rhetorical performances that socially
impact our lives and our world. She
explains that social sites aren’t always what we think that they are. Its
common to think of a social site as a means of communication like Twitter or
Facebook but it can be as simple as a site that connects a community together (Handa
p.117). As long as a site impacts a
community then it can be considered a social site. Handa also states, “…the importance of
staying ahead in the competitive world of technology, and the importance of
making education relevant to minority students…” are two exigent circumstances
of rhetoric (Handa p. 118). She brought up a website that the Southern Illinois
University, Edwardsville has to help explain her ideas.
The SIUE has a Black Studies Program which ahs a website.
The point of the website is to create a place for African American studies to
communicate in order for the to get more involved and stay in school. According
to many studies, “African American students have fewer retention rates than
their white counterparts” (Handa p. 142). This website makes sense as a
rhetorical exigence because as M. Jimmie Killingworth stated in Appeals to Time, an “exigence suggests
that topics emerge as urgent considerations at a particular historical time”
(p.38). At this point in time the retention rate of African American students
is a problem so a website dedicated to getting them more involved will give
them the motivation to stay in school instead of dropping out.
Handa describes that there was urgency in exigence but also
that there was kairos, which is another rhetorical concept. According to
Killingsworth, kairos is “finding the right argument at the right moment” (p.
38). The argument that Handa talks about
is the retention rate of African American students compared to white students
in our universities at this time. It is
a situation that needs to be fixed so they used a website as a rhetorical
performance to try to raise the retention rates.
The website is designed to show the ethos, pathos and logos
of the rhetorical situation. They used the Black Power fist on their page in
order to gain some emotional response from the students to make them realize
that getting involved in things on the website will make them stronger and able
to succeed. They used different things from the African American culture that
would really stand out on their page to give them a place that they felt as if
they belonged more, which is an emotional stance. It also has a blog for people to communicate
making it a modern space for students in the now to be able to use it to their
advantage. It uses the appeals of time
by Killingsworth by using epideictic speech, or present day known as
instructions, to point students in the right direction based on what is
happening now.
The site uses advertising in order to tell students what
opportunities there are to get involved in now. Killingsworth states, “The aim
is to move consumers to buy new products. The idea of progress, with the
suggestion that technology…continuously improves the conditions of human life…”
(p. 40). Handa and Killingsworth both argue how important technology can be in
our lives and how much it can impact how successful our lives can be. I think
that as much as technology has taken over our lives it can also be a huge
benefit if it is used in a positive way instead of just sitting on Facebook or
Twitter all day. People look at social sites as distracting but if they view a
social site as a website like a university site, it is a way to communicate and
get involved. As long as it is set up well then it will be beneficial.
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