Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-083: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • ENGL 2116 sec. 083 Major Assignments (Summer 2020)
      • Final Portfolio Requirements
      • Oral Presentations
    • June 11th: Continue with I, Robot
    • June 15th: Ethics and Perspective Discussion
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Ethical Dilemmas to Ponder
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • June 16th: More on Ethics
    • June 1st: Effective Documents for Users
    • June 2nd: Final Project and Research Discussion
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters Better
      • Research
    • June 3rd: Technology in a Social Context
    • June 8th: Information Design and Visuals
    • June 9th: Proposals, Marketing, and Rhetoric
    • May 18th: Introduction to the course
    • May 19th: Critical Technological Awareness
    • May 20th: Audience, Purpose, and General Introduction
    • May 21st: Résumé Stuff
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • May 25th: More Resume Stuff
    • May 26th: Plain Language and Prose Revision
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • May 27th: More on Plain Language
    • May 28th: Review Prose Revision
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • February 3rd: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
    • January 20th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 27th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Spring 2021)
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 4750-090 & ENGL 5050-092 Video Games & Culture
    • Assignments for Video Games & Culture
    • August 25th: Introduction to the Course
    • November 10th: Aggression & Addiction
    • November 3rd: Moral Panics and Health Risks
    • October 13th: Narrative, ludology, f(r)iction
    • October 20th: Serious Games
    • October 27: Risky Business?
    • October 6th: Hyperreality
    • September 1st: History of Video Games
    • September 22nd: Video Game Aesthetics
    • September 29th: (sub)Cultures and Video Games
    • September 8th: Defining Video Games and Critical Theory Introduction
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 13th: Umberto Eco & Jean Baudrillard
    • April 20th: Moving Forward on Theory
    • April 27th: Last Day of Class
    • April 6th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • February 10th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 17th: Knoblauch on Magical and Ontological Rhetoric
    • February 24th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 3rd: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • January 13th: Introduction to Class
    • January 27th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 16th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • March 23rd: Mythologies and Meaning of Meaning (part 2)
    • March 30th: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • March 9th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213/HTAS 2100: Science, Technology, and Society
    • December 10th: Violence in Video Games
    • December 15th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • December 1st: COVID-19 facial covering rhetoric
    • December 3rd: COVID-19 Transmission and Pandemics
    • December 8th: 500-word Essay
    • November 10th: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 12th: Frankenstein (1818) Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 17th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 19th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 3rd: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 1-17
    • November 5th: Planet of the Apes (1964) Ch. 18-26
    • October 13th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • October 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • October 1st: The Golem at Large Introduction & Ch. 1
    • October 22nd: The Time Machine
    • October 29th: H.G. Wells and Adaptations
    • October 6th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology) Ch. 2
    • October 8th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 3 & 4
    • September 10th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • September 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • September 17th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • September 22nd: Collins & Pinch Ch. 5 & 6
    • September 24th: Collins & Pinch Ch. 7 & Conclusion
    • September 29th: Test 1
    • September 8th: Introduction to Class
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 280F
Phone: 704.687.0613
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing » November 13th: More on Color

November 13th: More on Color

Plan for the Day

We’ve got a few things to do today, so below is a list:

  • Information Design Critique Due next week (11/20)
    • Information Design Critique Workshop–get ideas from classmates!!!
  • 5182 Project Presentations next week (11/20)
  • Perception, Culture, Rhetoric and Color
  • Ch. 6 Design for Information
  • Color Schemes
  • Document #3 Issues

Perception, Culture, Rhetoric

Color perception is an interesting subject that deals with physiological responses. While I don’t expect you to be well versed in the anatomy of the eye, there are several terms you should know:

  • visible spectrum: “a small range of wavelengths between 700 and 400 nanometers (nm)” in which humans can perceive light. There is other light, but we can’t see it without special devices (See discussion on infrared wavelengths).
    • hue: wavelengths of light that cause us to perceive different colors.
    • saturation: perception of the purity of color. More saturation, more pure and vibrant colors (hue).
      • unsaturation: a mixture of colors. More unsaturated, more muted color.
    • brightness: perception of the intensity of light that is transmitted or reflected from a surface.
  • tristimulus: human perception of colors based on the mixture of perception of the three types of cones in the eye: red, green, and blue.
  • ganglion cells: the nerves that help distinguish between colors.
  • additive primary colors: red, green, and blue.
    • cyan…it’s not the pepper; pronounced cy–an.
  • complementary colors: two colors directly opposite from each other on the 360-degree color wheel.
  • analogous colors: colors close together on the same wheel.
  • Color Temperature: obviously, this is related to our feelings associated with various colors.
    • warm colors: colors naturally brighter at the same level of saturation (i.e. red and yellow).
    • cool colors: colors not as bright as warm colors at the same saturation (i.e. green and blue).
  • color vision deficiency: limitation in perceiving color differences.
    • Test 1
    • Test 2
  • split complementary colors: start with one color, and find the colors on either side of the original color’s complement. Sometimes called complementary colors.
  • Albert H. Munsell’s color theory image.
  • The Mint Site…monochromatic or something different?
    • More monochromatic websites:
      Lighthouse Brewing, Co
      Not quite monochromatic…but close
  • Would this be monochromatic or analogous?
    • Let’s think about where brown is on these color wheels:
      Color Wheel 1
      Color Wheel 2
  • Use color or black & white
    • Surprisingly, black can come in different “colors,” the range of which we call _____________________.

Design for Information Ch. 6 “Textual Structures”

Last chapter! There are a couple things I want to focus our attention on, but below are some general “hits” of the chapter.

  • p. 185: The description of the changes to Darwin’s book mentions the visualization allows us to understand something fundamental about science: “‘We often think of scientific ideas…as fixed notions that are accepted as finished.'”
  • p. 187 and pp. 204-205: Types of Data
    • Nominal (Categorical) Data: No implicit quantitative relationship or inherent ordering, but we can group data into categories
    • Ordinal Data: Arrange in a given order or rank–which comes first, which is bigger, etc.
    • Quantitative Data: Measured and manipulated using statistical methods.
  • p. 187: Citing Moretti: “Quantitative research provides a type of data which is ideally independent of interpretations…and that is of course also its limit; it provides data, not interpretation.”
    • Unfortunately, no data stand on their own; all data is a construction, filtered by gathering the data in a set.
  • Time permitting, a look a the “Technical Notes” for the statistics in this CDC Report.
  • p. 189: The goal of most natural-language data analysis is to look for patterns, structures, or relationships within a collection of documents (corpus).
    • Three Types of Visualization of textual data
      1) Connections among entities within and across documents (think patterns across multiple data sets–what types of words do scientists, architects, and politicians use?)
      2) Language patterns and word frequencies (think how often scientists say “probable”; how often do they say “certain”)
      3) Analyze relationships between words in their usage (consider how words appear and what appears before or after them)
  • p. 191: The purpose of textual mining is to abstract elements “from the narrative flow, and construct a new, artificial object” that allows us to analyze different aspects of a text.
    • For instance, we could analyze a dataset of twelfth graders’ essay for sentence length, compound sentences, and compound-complex sentences. Then, after statistical manipulation (quantitative), we could say the average twelfth-grade writer uses more of these sentences, less of these, and almost none of these.
  • p. 190: Why would Stanford’s letter and travel mapping program be important to studying a particular historical figure?
  • p. 192: Ware (again) on memory and Dual Coding Theory:
    • Imagens, mental representations of visual information, are processed first (think word shape, size, weight, etc.)
    • Logogens, mental representations of language information, are the nonvisual associations stored in long-term memory (think concepts leading to abstract thought; your memory has already stored information that helps you process the visual world)
    • Consider the word “cat,” which is very easy to define, understand, and associate with known images.
    • Now, consider the word, ennui, a concept that means the boredom felt by Westerners in late modernity. The French word is translated, “boredom, tedium, worry.”
  • p. 193: “There is an inherent temporal nature to language that transforms language into a sequence of mentally recreated dynamic utterances.”
  • p. 194: The wonderful world of word clouds!
    • What do you think about word clouds? Useful? How?
    • Where do you see word clouds?
    • English Department Word Cloud
    • CLAS Research Word Cloud

Color and Culture

Obviously, in the context of the United States, red, white, and blue are patriotic colors, plastered all over campaign documents.

Let’s consider color and time period…Think about the colors in homes (appliances, couches, curtains, etc.) from media or your life. What prevailing colors seem to identify the following decades:

  • 1960s
    • Luck be a Lady tonight…
    • Oakland Museum of CA
    • Madison Ave office…
  • 1970s
    • Here’s a story…
    • Another story…
    • Harvest Gold
    • Avocado Green
  • 1980s (early and late)
    • Attack of pastels
    • Prince’s Dining Room
  • 1990s–the last great decade…EVER!
    • Fake wood paneling on dashboards
    • Hunter Green and beige

Color Scheme Groupwork

Go back to last week’s section on color schemes and answer a few questions and put up a webpage.

Then, move on to your Information Design Critique Workshop. Some of you expressed that you weren’t sure if you could write 4 double-spaced pages on a document. I assure you that you can, assuming the document is big enough. For instance, you probably can’t write 4 pages on a business card, but you could write plenty on a document like this one about a family game.

Matching Colors

I know this is a peculiarity of mine, but color matching is really ingrained racism of a culture. Let me explain…

Choropleth Maps

I absolutely doubt we’ll get around to this, but I’m including it here just in case. If anything, I want us to at least add the “Geographic Heat Map” App to Excel. If there’s a problem, I’ll try to track down someone who can help.

My first choropleth map! Click here for the data in Excel, and click here if you get lost in the tutorial.

My second choropleth map! Click here for the data in Excel. I created that data set from here.

Your classmate Zach informed me about a more powerful program called SimplyAnalytics, but I haven’t played around with it because it requires you to create an account. It looks like a good resource, though.

Document #3 (Tutorial or Brochure) Issues

I’ll turn back your Tutorials or Brochures tonight, but, as usual, below are a few general issues to consider:

  • Red circles in Photoshop
  • Uniform, clear screen shots (paste them in Photoshop)
  • “Basal” text–not the herb
  • MS Word Document look…it’s ok to use Word, but try not to have your document look like an assignment–even though it is
  • Stay parallel
  • Use captions for extra-textual elements (Figure X.X)
  • [Color] C=___ M=___ Y=___ K=___
  • Don’t just state what a color means based off some out-of-context web page or your own idiosyncratic “logic”; you have to let me know why a color means what it does. There are several interpretations possible.
    • Why is blue calming?
    • Why is yellow for sickness?
    • Exceptions: Green for environmental stuff and Red for danger or love…those are pretty common.

Those of you who haven’t turned in these portfolio assignments will definitely want to get them to me ASAP.

Next Week

I don’t have any new reading for you for next week, so use your time to finish any reading you might have missed. We’ll be moving onto extra-textual elements and wrapping up any topics we needed to go back to.

We’ll have the 5182 group do their presentations on Nov. 27th. Then, we’ll just prepare for your presentations and portfolios due 12/04.

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