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 17th: Verb is the Word!
    • February 24th: Coordination and Subordination
      • A Practical Editing Situation
    • 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)
    • March 3rd: Form and Function
  • 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
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
  • 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
  • SEACS 2021 Presentation
  • 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 » October 30th: Working with Graphics

October 30th: Working with Graphics

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

  • ELECTION DAY next Tues., Nov. 7th–go out and do your civic duty
  • There doesn’t seem to be any Early Voting on Campus
    Last day for early voting is Saturday, Nov. 4
  • Dr. Anthony Fernandes from The Department of Mathematics and Statistics
    Summer Internship Opportunity
  • Finish up typography from Last Week’s Page (if needed)
  • Effective Repetition: ethos, pathos, logos
  • Photoshop Lesson on Extracting Images
  • Color preview for next week
  • Workshop for Document #3
  • Information Design Critique–Get on it!

Graphics

Some of you have been using graphics in your designs very well. As you might have guessed, I’m no artist, so my own designs are more “utilitarian” than say Robin Williams’ designs or some of our more artistic classmates. Tonight I’ll show you a few tricks with Photoshop that deal with manipulating graphics.

How might graphics evoke emotions in an audience or make make appeals to ethos or logos?

Here are some basic things to remember about graphics.

  • graphics show; prose tells
  • Elevated zero point and y-axis intervals on graphs (Scroll to Charts 4 & 5)
    • More on Graphs that Mislead
  • Cropping
  • Copyright and images
  • Branding Guidelines
    • UNCC’s Brand Standards
    • UNCC’s “Stake Your Claim” Guide
    • UNCC’s Logo History–should jump to p. 1
    • Northeastern’s “Graphic Identity“
  • Bitmap graphics
    • Bitmaps (Raster) graphics–the file describes each individual pixel of information (bmp, jpg, tif)
    • rasterize: convert an image to a bitmap
    • lossy compression
    • Pixelation
    • Anti-aliasing
  • Vector graphics use mathematics to describe lines, shapes, patterns, and colors of drawing objects (.svg, .ai, eps)
    • Adobe Illustrator allows you to create these infinitely scale-able graphics, so the image doesn’t lose its resolution at higher or lower sizes
  • use highest possible resolution and downsample later
  • CMYK and RGB
    • Robin Williams has a preview for us on pp. 110-112

Ethics and Visuals

When creating visuals or, more likely, manipulating visuals, make sure you aren’t distorting reality. I know we all remember Dove’s Campaign for Beauty (could be a commercial before video starts) model’s metamorphosis. Anyone know of other distortions? Imagine this transformation…

Ever heard of “Hitler’s Pope”? Apparently, he never met Hitler, but this picture, through juxtapositioning, makes a case.

This is typical of Washington, DC protests–remember, the camera “frames” the shots. I do realize this isn’t Washington, DC, but it’s typical of protests I’ve seen where the media, because of the limited camera view, make the crowd look bigger. This Web page discusses when to crop for legitimate reasons.

A century and a half of Political photo doctoring or, more accurately, Orwellian propaganda.

While the above might seem like extreme cases, even minor touch ups can be unethical as the book points out. However, not all photo doctoring is unethical, and removing people or appendages that taint photos can be appropriate, and cropping helps focus the reader’s attention. You don’t have to be Stalin to want to remove those who fall out of favor. Let’s take a look at eight-week old Netti.

Photoshop And Mischievous Behavior

In the spirit of Halloween, let’s cause some mischief! I want you to create some graffiti using found images. Of course, you need to be somewhat tasteful considering you’re manipulating an image, but you have some room. Here’s a sign I like to mess with. Here are before and after shots of some digital graffiti on a church sign:

Before

After

Alternatively, (or do both, but don’t neglect Document #3) I want you to doctor an image somehow. I don’t expect you to go to the lengths that Stalin and others did in the ethics discussion above, but, using the “Clone Stamp Tool” in Photoshop, you should remove a portion of an image, and, if possible, add something. Please provide before and after images.

This assignment is part of your webpage grade, so please don’t put up anything that will embarrass you…or me! If you aren’t doing the webpage, upload the before and after to your webpage. Also, if I don’t have your webpage linked to the Classmates Webpages, please e-mail your link to me.

Design for Information Ch. 5

We’ll just hit the highlights, so we can get to our workshop and digital graffiti fun. This chapter is (once again) about maps and focuses on spatio-temporal design. Basically, how do we represent the 4th dimension in two-dimensional spaces?

  • p. 161: “[W]e have traditionally used maps as models for spatial reasoning and decision making. Similarly, we have been using maps to represent and help us reason about spatio-temporal phenomena.
  • p. 162: “‘Maps in a temporal series are especially useful for describing the spread or contraction of a distribution.'”
    • HFMD Fuyang Anhui Province china: Temporal Series Maps
  • p. 163: “the types of display affect the analytic inference processes.” Andrienko, et. al.’s study is here and claims many factors affect how people process information, including display.
    • Animated map of human civilization
    • Interactive map of human civilization
    • No time to do this in class, but here are 40 Maps that look at the Middle East over time
    • Do you focus on different spaces and/or process information differently depending on the display? There is absolutely no right answer to this.
  • p. 165: “When structuring and devising measurement systems for time, we have relied traditionally on spatial metaphors as well as on the observation of the motion of celestial objects.”
  • Hurricane Sandy Map (p. 164)
  • Isochrones (I thought they weren’t used anymore, but here’s one for Finland)
  • Sir Francis Galton’s “Isochronic Passage Chart for Travelers” (p. 161)
  • Mileage Charts
    • Traditional Chart in a Road Atlas
    • Excel Spreadsheet Generator
    • I prefer Google Maps
  • Cartograms
  • p. 169: “[T]ime can also be scaled at different granularities, affecting the amount of information provided for analysis.”

Document #2 Issues

I’ll return your Document #2 assignments to you tonight, but, because I started seeing patterns early on when commenting, I decided not to write the same things over and over again, so review the list below for more information. Generally, your designs are VERY good. Some are excellent. Your discussion of how your document conveys its intended message, however, is lacking.

Below are a few general issues to consider:

  • Ethos–describe your choices using the vocabulary from the course
    • EVERY SINGLE ONE of you can add more to your discussion (or lack thereof) on ethos
  • Your “feeling” or taste regarding a design element isn’t as important as your being able to describe the rhetorical and/or cultural significance of the element
    • Why do you include what you include?
    • Just because you like something doesn’t mean that meaning, feeling, or perspective is conveyed to an entire audience.
  • Explain your typeface choices
  • If you stray from Robin Williams design techniques (use center alignment and standard fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial), you need to explain why–don’t just write “because I did”
  • Stay parallel
  • Arial vs. Ariel
  • When citing your images from a google search, click “View image” and get a shorter url. Not doing so shows a lack of sophistication navigating the internet.
  • Consider using QR Codes to send users to more information. Guess where the below QR Code takes you? And, yes, that’s the official UNC Charlotte Hexadecimal Green (#00703C).
    qrcode-37402941

In anticipation of your next document, consider the following:

  • Uniform, clear screen shots (paste them in Photoshop)
  • “Basal” text–not the herb
  • MS Word Document look…
  • Stay parallel
  • Use captions for extra-textual elements (Figure X.X)
  • [Color] C=___ M=___ Y=___ K=___

Next week we’ll discuss Ch. 7 in The Non-Designer’s Design Book and cover color in design. In your planning memos, I want you to explain your reasons for choosing colors. Don’t just state what a color means based off some out-of-context web page or your own “tastes.” Instead, you should 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, but state that your purpose for choosing them.

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

Tutorial or Brochure Workshop

Let’s get to it! You know the drill by now. We’ll start at 8:30 pm…even if you’re still talking about tonight’s reading.

Next Week

Make sure you read Chapter 7 on color in The Non-Designer’s Design Book will be for next week (11/06). This RGB to Hexadecimal Color Code Page might be good for next week’s class.

Also, Document #3 is due next week (11/06). Please review the assignments page because a lot of things are going to be due one right after the other.

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