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
LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127 » December 2nd: Technological Augmentation

December 2nd: Technological Augmentation

Plan for the Day

  • Infotainment
  • Hyperreality
  • Cadigan, Pat. “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

It’s probably obvious that I’m combining the readings for today and Wednesday onto this page.

Infotainment

We need to discuss something that I’d hoped would have come up previously. Infotainment is news or, more accurately, pseudo-news that appears to be more about entertaining than informing. In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, notice how “The news was always heavily edited to fit the rhythms of the music” (Chapter 12, p. 96). Need an example of what the news shows find to be important? Here’s a great discussion from John Stewart. (Jump to 1:10 on video…then 5:55)

Montage from Hackers (1995)

Let’s take a look at the film Hackers for a mid-1990s representation of hacking cyberspace. Then, let’s go to the “cool” club (1 hr 18min 20 sec) and a hacking discussion.

Augmented Realities via Science Fiction

Both stories we’ll discuss today and Wednesday deal with augmented reality: technologically amplified or mediated projections of reality. In the late-1980s and early 1990s, this was called virtual reality. Either phrase has its limitations for nailing down exactly what people mean, so let’s just agree that the characters in the stories we read have computer enhanced perspectives. A surface read would claim that augmented reality is just a cool vision of the future. A critical reading would claim that augmented reality is in a story to comment on how human perception is influenced by hi-tech mediated messages. Although we might not “plug in” as they do in Hackers, we’re plugged into the system–society.

As you reflect on these stories, consider how you access information online. The tools you use (computers, smart phones, etc.) enhance your ability to communicate and receive information. We don’t often slow down and think about how we’re conditioned to expect information. We have unparalleled access to information, but do we know how to evaluate that information?

  • What can we say about the credibility of the information we receive?
  • Media vs. journalism–what’s the overlap?
  • News or Infotainment…
    • Wedding Dresses
    • Talking head discussing sales
    • Black Friday Shopping History

Hyperreality

I believe I mentioned the term hyperreality some time this semester. It means that the fake seems more real than the actual thing, event, person, etc. When discussing hyperreality, we usually bring up the fact that people prefer the fake (the augmented) to the real thing. Caesar dressing is a good analogy. Much Caesar dressing in chain restaurants has moved closer to a bland Ranch. Many palates can’t handle the delicious anchovy taste, so the lower-end chains give customers what they want–a blander dressing.

Eco’s “Travels in Hyperreality”

Italian philosopher Umberto Eco traveled the United States and discussed the American obsession for the fake. Obviously, I didn’t ask you to read that article, but that article inspires the following:

  • simulacrum: the replication (upon replication) of a subject without being able to find the concrete beginning; similarity, likeness. In postmodern theory it refers to a copy or simulation of an item, event, or idea for which the original referent (the reality or real thing) does not exist.
  • hyperreality: More real than real!?! Or, as White Zombie would say, “More Human than Human.” The idea of “hyperreality” is often associated with a viewer (an audience in general) believing the media-generated simulation is real or more real than an actual event, personality, condition, or, ultimately, an experience.
  • What is the point about telling us we like fake stuff?
  • In terms of rhetoric, why does knowing people prefer the fake or assume the fake is “real” important?
  • Consider these places/ideas:
    • Concord Mills
    • Olive Garden
    • Hooters
    • Busch Gardens (“It’s like being back in the old country”–exact words of someone I used to know)
    • Democracy
    • Education
  • What else?

Brent on his experience as a helicopter gunner while playing Battlefield Vietnam (Electronic Arts). (Toscano, p. 17, 2011)

Acting

In February 2013, Bradley Cooper was interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He discusses his role in the indie movie Silver Linings Playbook. Interestingly, and this isn’t odd to hear from an actor, he talks about how he and David O. Russell (the director) wanted him to “play as real and authentic as [h]e could.”

What does it mean for an actor to be real, authentic, raw, etc.? What’s behind the idea of believability in acting?

  • Check out the transcript and scroll down to the line “Jacki Weaver, yeah.”
  • How is he maintaining “authenticity” of his character crying when the film is edited?

Pat Cadigan’s “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

As usual, this isn’t just a story about a cool nightclub. This club appears to be quite different from, say, the Gentleman Loser in “Burning Chrome.” However, readers get the sense that both are for a youth subculture. The Gentleman Loser is for young computer “hackers” (an outdated term), and Noise is for those into “the scene”–the places where the cool kids hang out. (Remember scenesters from another novel?) The in crowd and those wanting to be in that “in crowd” go to Noise. How do you picture the place? I picture the place looking something like a Las Vegas night club.

Hyperreality

There’s some celebrity worship in this story. As we just learned, actors don’t give “real” portrayals; instead, we think they’re authentic, but they’re just made up. In fact, actors in Ancient Rome weren’t considered to be moral, upstanding, virtuous people; they had a suspect history in Great Britain, too. Viewers want exaggeration or essence–they don’t want to be bogged down by too much of the person’s life. Remember, the montage helps move the story along.

Bobby seems to be larger than life and a better dancer when on the screen (p. 591).

Youth Subculture

Many texts (sci fi and other genres) use youth as the cutting edge group; they’re the ones who adopt the new technologies and readily incorporate them into their activities. Of course, this is a generalization about contemporary youth (e.g., millennials). The editor’s of the Anthology tell us the following:

  • p. 587: “[Cadigan’s] work focused on the interface between corporate culture and youth subculture.
    • Also, “human autonomy seems threatened in epochal ways…Cadigans work…bears a strain of cautionary humanism, a lurking anxiety that something irreplaceable may soon be gone forever.”
  • p. 588: Later works “explore a looming near-future where human identity has been systematically commodified and dispersed through a nexus of high-tech interfaces.”
    • Fortunately, nothing like that has happened. Can you imagine a site that gathers information about our activities being sold for, I don’t know, targeting campaign information? Good thing that’s just science fiction and not real.
  • p. 589: Notice the use of shortened words, which is typical youth slang–“def” for “definitely.”

One “benefit” to being a Pretty Boy crossover–becoming pure information and being uploaded into the system–is that the party never stops (p. 591). This is a common theme in stories about youth partying. Oftentimes, the moral is that you have to grow up sometime, and there are usually youth who get in trouble or hurt if they don’t heed that advice (Bright Lights, Big City [1988], Less Than Zero [1987], Over the Edge [1979]). A notable exception to having to end the party is Go (1999)…everything isn’t rosy and great at the end, but the viewers are left with a sense that the party will continue. There’s a difference in moral (moral as a noun: a lesson) between the 1980s films and some 1990s films.

  • p. 590: There’s an allure to living forever, and Bobby wanted it so bad he’d have killed himself if they didn’t accept him
  • p. 592: The protagonist “can’t remember in his whole sixteen years ever hearing on person say, I love my friend. Not Bobby, not even himself.”
  • p. 595: Bobby claims, “I’m happy I’m sad,” and the suit explains, “S-A-D” is “Self-Aware Data.”
    • Ever heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?
  • p. 595: The protagonist asks Bobby “Do you know the difference between being loved and being watched?”
    • And why might Bobby refer to Pretty Boy as “lover” (p. 595)?

One thing that makes this speculation peculiar is that contemporary clubs often want more women than men. In fact, some places let “ladies in free” on many nights. However, in the story, only boys can be Pretty. Do a random image search for Las Vegas nightclubs and see what comes up. Don’t forget to check the dress codes for Vegas clubs.

  • p. 592: The protagonist dances with a girl “[o]ver six feet tall, not beautiful with that nose, not even pretty, but they let her in so she could be tall.”
    • Eventually, Bobby brings their “phantoms” on screen, and “[s]he is also much improved, though still not Pretty, or even pretty.”
    • Notice when pretty is capitalized and not.
    • A phantom is an avatar.
  • p. 590: In order for the Pretty Boys to be important they let in “dorks…so the rest can have someone to be hip in front of.”
    • Always need to maintain hierarchy. Get to the club early!
  • p. 596: “the most efficient way to find the best performers [is] to go for the ones everyone wants to see or be.”
    • Commodification of trends
    • Always trying to find the next big thing.

Brand Loyalty

Because there appears to be a corporation running the show, we can’t ignore the fact that there’s a comment about corporations wanting consumers for life. Advertising is aimed at children in order to have customers for life. Loading into the system is a metaphor for “buying into” the identity consumer products give. Think about all the celebrity (and pseudo-celebrity) endorsements out there. Bobby is a celebrity once he crosses over. The protagonist, in a sense, refuses to “sell out,” so he resists the consumerist impulse. Eventually, the protagonist won’t be allowed into the club if he gets too old:

  • p. 595: After all, “We need to get you before you’re twenty-five, before the brain stops growing”
  • p. 590: Currently, when the protagonist walks into the club, “[The patrons] all notice him and adjust themselves for his perusal”

The protagonist rebels because “as long as they don’t have him, he makes a difference” (pp. 596-597). After all, you can’t predict human behavior the same way you predict computer programs. However, in terms of mobility, humans are 93% predictable according to physicist Albert-László Barabási’s team.

Next Class

One more class to go! We’ll wrap up our discussion, watch a video, and see a picture of hi-tech computer “enthusiastis” from 1988! Your Final Exam is December 11th–don’t forget–on Canvas. It will be 85-100 questions, and, yes, the exam is cumulative.


Works Cited

Taylor, F. W. (1967). The principles of scientific management. New York: Norton. (Original work published in 1911).

Toscano, A. A.(2011). Enacting Culture in Gaming: A Video Gamer’s Literacy Experience and Practice. Current Issues in Education, 14(1). Retrieved from http://cie.asu.edu/.

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