Analytical Essay for the Sci-Tech Blog
To decide upon the subject of my Sci-Tech blog, I decided to
focus on something that would be prevalent in modern blog discussion. In other words, I focused on kairos. Kairos, as described by Carolyn Miller and
Dawn Shepherd, is the correct timing of rhetorical discourse. The dilemma originally presented in the
sci-tech blog is that of the misuse of such technology. This misuse I focus on is using computers as
a distraction in the classroom and its effects on learning. As Miller and Shepherd state in the “Kairos
and the Blog” subsection of their Blogging and Social Action piece, “the
inexhaustible stream of enormously diverse and ever-changing information that
comes flooding out of the ISP connection can make constant monitoring seem
necessary (par. 13).” This theory leads
to the debate of whether or not the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to the
use of laptops in the classroom.
However, the distraction problem is only one side of the story. This is where exigence is involved.
The discussion of kairos ties into a concept explained by Keith
Grant-Davie in his text “Rhetorical Situations.” The concept he expounds is on the term “exigence,”
which, considering his definition is “some kind of need or problem that can be
addressed and solved through rhetorical discourse (pg. 265).” The exigence, or
problem in need of being solved through rhetorical discourse, which I battled
in my Sci-Tech blog is that of the use of technologies in the modern
classroom. Fifteen years ago, the laptop
was not nearly as prevalent as it is today, and with technology becoming more
advantageous the presence has increased in relevancy.
The first set of questions laid out by exigence include that
of “‘what fundamental issues are represented by the topic of discourse?’
(Grant-Davie, pp. 267).” At this point, I
point the Sci-Tech blog to answer this question. The answer found was that there are
disadvantages of typing notes as compared to handwritten note taking. I spun the blog to a more scientific side of
the issue, explaining how the sensorimotor portion of the brain affects
learning and how typing notes uses much less of this brain activity as compared
to hand-writing. This leads to the cause
and effect explanation presented by the second set of questions that
Grant-Davie proposed concerning exigence.
As he illustrated in “Rhetorical Situations,” “we might define a
rhetorical situation as a set of related factors whose interaction creates and
controls a discourse” (pp. 265). The set of ‘related factors’ create a line of
cause and effect, which trickles throughout the entirety of the piece beginning
with how persons were unwilling to allow laptops in the classroom, moving to
the mental and educational effects of laptop use, and finally ending at
possible solutions that have been devised.
At this point, it is time to turn to the work of Porter in
the article “Intertextuality and Discourse Community.” To start at the fundamentals, a blog is meant
to be a thing of intertextuality. I had
to keep in mind that the Sci-Tech blog was in fact a blog and not only
rhetorical discourse. With the use of
hyperlinks, I was able to provide intertext on a variety of levels, beginning
with using various points given from my sources to giving the reader a quick
shortcut to the sources themselves. As
Porter explains, “examining texts intertextuality means looking for traces, the
bits and pieces of Text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to
create new discourse” (pp. 35). This is
the foundation which I used for my blog post: metaphorically sewing together
the different portions of the internet with the use of hyperlinks and quotes. “The creative writer is the creative borrower”
(Porter, pp. 37) if I do say so myself.
In borrowing from the various texts, I became a part of the specific
discourse community related to the issue of laptops in the classroom. This community comprises of professors,
students, a number of researchers, as well as anyone interested in the
subject. On a deeper level, I was
already a member the day I decided to bring my laptop into class, and by
creating the Sci-Tech blog I have finally become an active participant in the
issue. Another side to the creation of
the Sci-Tech blog is to metaphorically work with Porter in the case of lowering
the emphasis on “the autonomy of the writer” (Porter, pp. 42). The set-up of the generalized blog was made
almost exclusively to reveal the plurality involved in the creation of the
blog. This goes back to the use of
hyperlinks and the graphs which I presented.
In essence, I was able to take fundamental ideas from at
least three of the critical texts to shape the discourse of my Sci-Tech
blog. The use of “Blogging as Social
Action” by Miller and Shepherd allowed me to explain the use of kairos and how
it related the topic of the blog with a modern debate and possible
solutions. From Grant-Davie I was able
to draw the issue of exigence and how the different levels of discourse
questions guided the cause and effect process which led the Sci-Tech blog
through the various sides of the issue.
Finally, I was able to use Porter’s principles of intertextuality and
the discourse community to integrate the various sources and opinions which
were elaborated upon in the Sci-Tech blog.
Works Cited:
Miller, Carolyn R., and Dawn Shepherd. “Blogging As Social
Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog.” Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric,
Community, and Culture of Weblogs. Ed. Laura J. Gurak, Smiljana Antonijevic,
Laurie Johnson, Clancy Ratliff, and Jessica Reyman. June 2004. Web.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogging_as_social_action_a_genre_analysis_of_the_weblog.html.
Porter, James E. “Intertextuality and the Discourse
Community.” Rhetoric Review 5.1 (Autumn 1986): 34-47. JSTOR.
Grant-Davie, Keith. “Rhetorical Situations and Their
Constituents.” Rhetoric Review 15.2 (Spring 1997): 264-79. JSTOR.
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