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
Topics for Analysis » Rhetoric, an Introduction » Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric

Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric

Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric

It’s time for some group work. I have a “complex fold document” and an “accordian fold” document to show and discuss: The Vonage V-Portal Phone Adapter (a PDF version).

Possible Group Work

Now, if we have time, let’s get into groups and examine the following documents to determine their layout, construction, and supratextual elements affect the documents’ use. Consider the PDFs as documents intended to be printed.

If we’re short on time, analyze these in two weeks, and write up a response based on the criteria in the next section. We’ll discuss these then as a larger class, and I’ll also ask you to post this on your web pages. Just have something electronic (e.g., Word Doc), so you can cut and paste the text into a window.

Group/Row #1

  • How to Ride NYC’s Subway (wikiHow)

Group/Row #2

  • How to Ride MARTA (webpage)

Group/Row #3

  • How to Ride CATS Lynx (webpage)

Group/Row #4

  • How to Ride NYC’s Subway (MTA)

Group/Row #5

  • How to Ride the Bay Area’s Subway (BART)

Group/Row #6

  • How to ride Chicago’s Trains (The ‘L’)

Additionally, don’t forget to consider the document for perceptual, cultural, and rhetorical perspectives.

Media

Continuing in your groups, discuss the following with regard to your document:

  • Conventions
    • User Expectations
    • Organizational Preference
    • Industry Standards
  • Human Factors
    • User Needs
    • User Context
    • User Resources (compatibility)
  • Transformation
    • Don’t worry about cost for now, but when do you expect your document to change? Think for a minute or two before you ask, “What exactly are you looking for?”

What should you know about your audience’s technical limitations (their tools)?

  • Why might you not want to use Dr. Eastin’s screen as an example of typical monitors?

Visual Culture

Being the cultural, social creatures that we are, much of our visual world is shaped by our experiences. I know some don’t like to hear this, but we are rarely able to free ourselves from the cultures into which we’re born. Even the choices you think you have are simply choices on a cultural menu, a grouping of ideas, values, practices, etc. that are socially constructed.

A former professor of mine told our class that people hate being told that their culture is based on societal constructions and has no connection to absolute truth: (paraphrased from memory) “cultural pride deals in absolute value or worth—they don’t want to hear it’s contextual” (Thomas Van).

But there’s good news about cultural constructions and perceptions. Because members of a culture share commons backgrounds and ideologies, designers can tap into that shared knowledge. You might not be conscious of it, but, when you use idioms, refer to Entourage episodes, and use language, you’re engaging in socially constructed activities. Some topics for us (page numbers refer to Kimball and Hawkins Document Design):

  • Visual cues
    • “Visual culture influences how we ascribe meaning to what we see” (p. 54)
    • We conform to “rules” unconsciously: “Internalizing rules reduces our cognitive load, allowing us simply to follow the conventions…” (p. 54).
    • Think of cached memory in a CPU or kernel space in computing. Also, think about how long it takes for you to log onto a new computer for the first time in the library.
  • Semiotics: how meaning is constructed or understood; signs and symbols for concepts/objects in the referential world (pp. 57-59)
    • Signifiers: Icons, Indexes, and Symbols
    • Signified: concept the signifiers point to
  • Charles Saunders Peirce’s contribution
    • icon: signs that look like the thing they signify; a representational item.
    • index: indication; signs that have a clear connection to whatever they signify.
      • Of course, most of us call the computer application signs “icons” even though they are indexes (e.g., the house graphic to get to a home page).
      • Also, “index” means something specific to programmers.The meanings change based on context, but, as I’ve mentioned, we should try to use this new vocabulary accurately.
    • symbol: signs with an arbitrary relationship (but intersubjective agreement most likely) to whatever they signify.
      • philosophy note: if this were a philosophy class, we might debate whether or not all icons and indexes were actually just symbols–arbitrary signifiers agreed upon by communities.
      • “The constellation of possible meanings that surround a sign relies almost entirely on culture, society, and usage” (p. 59).
  • Language conventions (visual language)
    • hegemony: “the tendency of particular ideas, usually associated with powerful people, institutions, or even general cultures, to limit and even control the ways we interact and communicate” (p. 60).
    • “power plays a role in how meaning gets attached to signs” (p. 59).
  • Intercultural Communication and design
    • Globalization–having one version that attempts to reach all or as many cultures as possible
      • What’s the most common language on the planet?
      • Is this an effective intercultural design?
    • Localization–different versions for different cultures
  • Language and hegemony…anyone have a word suggestion?

Visual Rhetoric

Ok, I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t rhetoric just BS…empty political speech? While empty political speech is a definition of rhetoric, it’s too reductive a definition for enlightened college students such as yourselves. Rhetoric is much more involved than the unfortunate popular definition. For this class (and others) you should have a broader view of rhetoric. I like to define rhetoric as what builds meaning into something. That something can be an object, belief, event, or system, but, whatever it is, meaning is attached personally and culturally.

  • There is never a non-rhetorical use of language…of communication. Well, maybe…
  • Professional ethos
    • A well-designed document conveys a professional ethos.
    • A poorly designed document conveys an unprofessional (or worse) ethos.
    • Both types of ethos–professional and unprofessional–contribute to how audiences interpret the credibility of an author/speaker/rhetor.
    • Yes, there’s such a thing as negative ethos. Give me an example.

Take the following words for example: Communism and Feminism. Both have denotations and connotations. The denotative definitions (from the dictionary) are below.

  • Communism: an economic system based on total equality and ownership of the means of production.
  • Feminism: a philosophy recognizing and attempting to change women’s subordinate status in patriarchal society; a philosophy promoting the equality of all people.

Connotations are the feelings, allusions, and values a group (such as a culture) associates with certain words. Likewise, rhetoric describes what gives messages (even visual ones) their meaning–explicitly and implicitly. Some topics for us:

  • Three aspects of Rhetoric from Aristotle
    • Ethos: characterization of a speaker or author; presentation of one’s character or credibility. {Remember, ethos has two parts to it.}
      • Please note: we’ve come nearly 2500 years since Aristole. Don’t think that ethos is limited to just credibility of a speaker. Characteristics of a document contribute to an audience’s sense of the ethos conveyed by the document (and author but, in technical communication, documents convey an organization’s ethos).
    • Pathos: appeal to emotions; evoking emotional responses.
    • Logos: appeals to logic or facts in a message.
  • User-Centered Design:
    • Learnability: Can a user figure it out?
    • Efficiency: Can a user get through the document quickly and accurately?
    • Memorability: Do users become habituated to the document’s use?
    • Error avoidance: Can users avoid errors with the document?
    • Subjective satisfaction: Does the document fulfill the users’ needs (for the object, system or device being explained)?
  • Usability testing…I know an excellent class for this subject! For now, though, just understand the importance of putting yourself into the perspective of a user, but recognize that you can’t know EVERYTHING about your audiences.

We All Love Visuals

In case I didn’t show these already, let’s take a look at a video and other visuals to help us think about Visual Perception, Visual Culture, and Visual Rhetoric.

Has anyone seen Super Size Me? Kids say the darndest things!

Ever wondered why video of TVs and computer monitors have a scrolling line?

What hegemonic principles are at work in these images?

What are the rhetorical attributes of these images and web pages?

In groups of 2, find an image and discuss its meaning in terms of culture or rhetoric. I realize that culturally defined meaning falls under “rhetoric,” but, for tonight, try to separate the two.

For instance, culturally, what can be said about this image:

knife and fork

In American culture, we generally eat using these utensils. In fact, it’s so common to think of a meal needing to be consumed using forks and knives, that the above is an index (but could be an icon for forks and knives) that refers to a place to eat–most likely a restaurant. In fact, look at how Google Maps displays restaurants in Charlotte, NC. Even if you’re most likely going to eat Buffalo Wings or Burgers and fries, the fork-and-knife index is used for “restaurant” generically.

Rhetorically, though, this “sign” follows the above described convention of eating with a fork and knife, but that doesn’t immediately bring to mind persuasion. However, if the above sign were used by, say, a reviewer to point out favorable/popular restaurants, then we would claim the sign is an appeal to ethos because some critic established (and audiences agree) that the sign refers to good places to eat. Consider stars for rating the quality of a place (e.g., a 5-star restaurant is quite posh or, at least, reviewers think it has good food).

Now, as you’re driving down the highway (with your phone turned off or put aside), you may come to a blue sign with various smaller signs that refer to specific places (i.e., restaurants, gas stations, lodging, and attractions) usually with miles noted. My knee jerk reaction would be to call these icons, but, considering the fact that the restroom sign–possibly pointing to an actual restroom–is an index, I guess the restaurant images are also indexes. If you want to think further on this, check out the below links. Basically, know your audience. A lay audience with no knowledge of Saussure or Peirce isn’t going to scoff at you equating icons with indexes. However, know that users should be able to quickly identify the meaning of an icon or index (or symbol–think laundry symbols). Don’t expect them to labor over the possible meanings; instead, ask “what does this icon or index immediately convey?”

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