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 sec. 021 & 022: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • August 1st: Ethics and Statistics Catch Up
    • Classmates Webpages (Summer II 2017)
    • ENGL 2116 sec. 021 & 022 Major Assignments (Summer 2017)
      • Final Portfolio Requirements
      • Oral Presentations
    • July 10th: Résumé Stuff
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • July 11th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • July 12th: Lessons on Plain Language
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Homework/Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
      • Topic Sentences
    • July 13th: More on Plain Language
    • July 17th: Writing for the User
    • July 18th: Final Project and Research Discussion
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters Better
      • Research
    • July 19th: Rhetoric of Technology
      • Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision
      • Housing Prices Paragraph Revision
      • Suburbanization Paragraph Revision
    • July 24th: Information Design and Visuals
      • Text and Subtext (Rows 1, 3, and 5)
      • Text and Subtext (rows 2, 4, and 6)
    • July 25th: Catch Up for Research & Visuals
    • July 27th: Continue I, Robot Discussion
    • July 31st: Ethics in Technical Communication
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Class Discussion
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • July 5th: Introduction to the Course
    • July 6th: Audience, Purpose, and General Introduction
  • 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
    • August 22nd: Introduction to the Course
    • August 29th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • December 5th: Final Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2018)
      • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 14th: Word Usage Fun
    • November 28th: Workshop Fun
    • November 7th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • October 10th: Choices and Variations
    • October 17th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 24th: We Put the “Punc” in Punctuation
      • Punctuation Refresher
    • October 31st: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 3rd: Midterm Exam Fun
    • September 12th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 19th: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 26th: Modifying Prose
      • Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision
    • September 5th: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
  • 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 6008/MALS 6000 The Rhetoric of Technology
    • August 22nd: Introduction to Rhetoric of Technology
    • August 29th: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • December 5th: But I Still Love Technology…
    • ENGL 6008/MALS 6000 Rhetoric of Technology Assignments (Fall 2017)
    • History of Technical Communication
    • November 14th: All You Zombies–
    • November 21st: The The Illusion of Democracy & Communicative Capitalism
    • November 28th: Cultural Studies and Technical Communication
    • November 7th: Politics of Cyberspace…and other household technologies
    • October 17th: The Religion of Technology
      • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • October 24th: Identity Politics
    • October 31st: Technology and Gender
    • October 3rd: Science and “Perfect” Technologies
    • September 12th: The Politics of Technology
      • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • September 19th: New World Disorder
      • Fordism/Taylorism
    • September 26th: Postmodernism
    • September 5th: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
      • Rhetoric and Myth Making
  • ENGL 6166/MALS 6000: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 10th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • April 17th: Simulation and Essence
    • April 24th: Jameson Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
      • Postmodernism
    • April 3rd: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • February 13th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 20th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 27th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 6th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 1
    • January 23rd: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 30th: Plato’s Gorgias
    • January 9th: Introduction to Class
    • March 13th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • March 20th: Roland Barthes’s Mythologies
    • March 27th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • May 1st: What is Real? Where do Rhetoric and Philosophy go from here?
    • 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
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2018)
    • April 11th: Hyperreality (and some video games)
    • April 18th: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, a Historical Perspective
    • April 25th: Workshop Fun
    • April 4th: Social Construction of Sexuality
    • February 14th: Convergence Culture
    • February 21: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 28th: Patriarchy, an Introduction
    • February 7th: Capitalist Realism and Zombies
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 17th: Our Public Sphere and the Media
      • Our Public Sphere
    • January 24th: The Medium is the Message/Massage
    • January 31st: Cultural Constructions
    • March 14th: Play on, Playa!
    • March 21st: Performativity
    • March 28th: The Beauty Myth and Images of Women in the Media
      • Psychoanalysis and the Male Gaze
    • New Media Assignments (Spring 2018)
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2019)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 11th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • June 12th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 13th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 17th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 18th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 19th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 20th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 3rd: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 4th: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 5th: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 6th: “Burning Chrome”
    • May 20th: Introduction to Class
    • May 21st: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 22nd: The Matrix
    • May 23rd: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 27th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 28th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 29th: 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
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • 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 » Why Science Fiction?

Why Science Fiction?

Science Fiction in Context

Why science fiction for teaching a humanities’ perspective on technology and science? Well, why not! Science fiction texts are products of a culture surrounded by discourse related to science and technology. As I’ve said elsewhere:

Knowledge advances because discourse communities communicate with their
members, but, if experts only communicated with other experts, knowledge would
not diffuse to other audiences. Technical and scientific information pass to general audiences through a variety of ways: popular press articles, textbooks, media, and even science fiction. (Toscano, 2012, p. 19)

Science fiction “incorporates science and technology as major themes, communicating ideas and values surrounding technology even if the technology is not real (e.g., alien spacecraft)” (Toscano, 2012, p. 22). The authors and the technologies are products of a particular time period, so we can say the culture mediates their beliefs, in the case of the authors; social “demand” determines what gets produced, in the case of the artifact; the media (or discourse in general) re/interprets the value of the technology for the audience; and users incorporate the new technologies into their lives. Consider this:

[S]cience fiction acclimates audiences to technology by adhering to a dichotomy. Science fiction narratives often present technology as benevolent or malevolent. The technologies that enslave humanity in films such as the Terminator series reflect a disease in a culture that increasingly seems to give up autonomy to machines. In contemporary, real-life factories, robots and other automated technologies are more efficient than human labor and often make certain jobs obsolete, thus, contributing to anxiety about advancements in technology taking away jobs. Also, many science fiction narratives comment on the increased surveillance possible with technology (as is the case in Orwell’s [1949] 1984). On the other hand, narratives such as the Star Trek universe of films, television shows, and literature predominantly reflect an attitude of benevolence in technologies. In this universe, technology allows diverse groups (in the form of various alien life forms) to combine forces and explore the universe; medical treatments are expertly diagnosed by waving hand-held devices over patients; and weapons ‘‘humanely’’ stun victims. (Toscano, 2012, pp. 22-23)

Contemporaries–People, Events, & Technology–to H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells was a product of his time period. Yes, he was an individual and, perhaps, a genius. There’s certainly no refuting his vivid imagination. Yet he wouldn’t have dreamed* what he did had he not been inspired by his surroundings. As we discuss The Time Machine, consider Wells’s frame of reference. As a British subject, he’d have been well aware of The Empire’s colonial aspirations.

*”It’s alright / We’ve told you what to dream”
–Pink Floyd, 1975, “Welcome to the Machine“

The Boer War and Technology

In the first decade of the 20th Century, the focus on science and technology moved from being dominated by commercial concerns (light bulbs, telegraphs, automobiles–all in the nascent stage) to being dominated by military interests. Of course, there’s no exact date for when this happened, but cultural observers recognized it. Many technologies had “tactical and practical uses.” Guglielmo Marconi pitched his wireless invention as having both commercial and military potential.

In fact, his wireless was used in a battle during the Boer War (1880-1881 and 1899-1902). Marconi, as did other inventors, used to discuss their inventions in places like the Royal Institution and the Royal Society of Arts, Britain. These venues were places journalists, the public, and other scientists/engineers went to hear about the latest and greatest technologies. Because these presentations were about newly created technologies, the experts had to convince the audience of their merit or potential. These presentations were also places for inventors to explain away deficiencies that others might have heard about.

In the 1900 presentation to the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Marconi responds to a situation where his early wireless invention didn’t work appropriately. Much like Apple not wanting 3rd parties to writing software without being authorized, Marconi only wanted his approved devices (and, eventually, telegraphers) to be used; otherwise, he couldn’t ensure they would work. He blames human error when explaining why his system was defective during the Boer War in South Africa. Some assistants went to help, but there were no proper “poles, kites, or balloons” (Marconi 1900, p. 295). The crew had to use inferior makeshift kites that weren’t as effective (Marconi 1900, p. 295). Marconi made it clear that the wireless was still a good system but its assumed “partial failure was due to the lack of proper preparation on the part of the local military authorities, and has no bearing on the practicability and utility of the system when carried out under normal conditions.” (Marconi 1900, p. 295).

The problems above could have been harmful to Marconi’s reputation (ethos) and, therefore, harmful to the wireless system. Imagine the public hearing that Marconi’s assistants using any apparatus failed to establish communication. Regardless of inferior equipment, observers could still perceive the results as a system failure, and that perception would be hard to overcome. Marconi (1900) himself stated “that if I had been on the spot myself I should have refused to open any station until the officers had provided the means for elevating the wire, which, as you know, is essential to success” (Marconi 1900, p. 296). Marconi creates the idea of a flawless invention to convince his audience of its potential existence. Of course, having a viable military application would bolster Marconi’s economic potential, so he offers with confidence “that before the campaign is ended wireless telegraphy will have proved its utility in actual warfare” (1900, p. 296). Marconi even foreshadows the wireless’s military usefulness when he invites the audience to “agree with me that it is much to be regretted that the system could not be got into these towns prior to the commencement of hostilities” (1900, p. 296).

Citations
Marconi, G. (1900, Feb 2). Wireless telegraphy. Smithsonian Annual Report, 1901, 287-296. (Original published in Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 16(2), 247-256)
Toscano, A. A. (2012). Marconi’s Wireless and the Rhetoric of a New Technology. Dordrecht: Springer.

Futurism

There was another group that took technology as a muse quite far–The Italian Futurists. Time permitting, we’ll discuss some of their contributions.

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