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 4275: Rhetoric of Technology » March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)

March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)

Announcements

  • Friday, 3/13, Project Enough presents “Tales from Down There”
    McKnight Auditorium (Cone Center)
    7:00 pm-??? (usually it’s an hour and a half)
  • Wed. 3/25, Student-led summit on “Race, Gender, and Tech”
    Featuring Dr. Ruha Benjamin
    CHHS 159 (Please RSVP…but no link available)
    9:00 am-10:30 am
  • Wed. 4/1, Feminisms Day
    Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha
    “Care Work and Generative Justice”
    5:30 pm (full day schedule TBA)
  • Thurs. 4/16, 3:00 pm-4/17, 5:30 pm
    Imagining Futures: Women and Girlhood Symposium
    (co-coordinated with AFRS)

Plan for the Day

  • Coronavirus Update and Plans
  • Literature’s Importance to the Humanities
  • William Gibson’s Neuromancer
  • Upcoming Draft for the Social Construction of Technology Essay
    Due Wednesday, 3/12 (5 pages)

Literature in a Technical Writing Class?

I know it’s bizarre, but I consider much science fiction to be related to technical communication. Additionally, since the rhetoric of technology deals with all discourse surrounding technology, science fiction is 100% germane to our discussions. Before we move on, let’s consider my case for using science fiction.

I want to explain a bias I have. Well, it’s not just my bias; it’s a contemporary English professor bias called the intentional fallacy. Basically, a text’s meaning does not come ONLY from the author’s (or director’s or creator’s) intended meaning. Therefore, the author is not the sole or final arbiter of what a text means. Even though I take a more cultural studies approach–texts are products of the culture from which they come–I don’t want to imply that an author’s intent is irrelevant to a text’s meaning. I just don’t want you to assume that it’s the last word or that no other interpretation is possible. Most (good) authors and artists will say in interviews that they hope their audience takes away from it their own interpretations.

Our cultural studies approach asks you to consider the metaphoric (sometimes even accidental prediction) use of technologies. Here are some big picture topics to consider for Neuromancer:

  • Technology…communication technology
  • Capitalism
  • Overpopulation
  • Religion
    • Rastafarianism
    • Religion of Technology–Is Wintermute really a false prophet?
  • Alienation vs Individuality

William Gibson’s Background

The irony of having just discussed the intentional fallacy followed by Gibson’s background isn’t lost on me. That being said…William Gibson is from Conway, SC, but grew up in Norfolk, VA. It’s safe to say he might base the idea of the sprawl on the growth of Myrtle Beach and Virginia Beach. There’s a paper in that!

Bruce Sterling wrote the “Preface” to William Gibson’s collection of short stories titled Burning Chrome (the short story “Burning Chrome” [1982] introduced the word cyberspace). William Gibson’s “Introduction” to that collection–just remember that it’s not the final word–might help guide you on interpretations. One interesting point to ponder might be why Gibson claims he didn’t feel science fiction from Asimov and Heinlein “did it” for him; they weren’t loose enough with their take on the historical moment (p xvi). I certainly have critiques of Asimov, and I think Gibson should be credited for taking science fiction into an more mature place, but even Gibson isn’t without critique…more on that later. I would argue that Asimov was questioning our assumptions of history, and he wasn’t writing from “fixed assumptions of history” (p. xvi). Gibson was just further into postmodernity–which questions all grand narratives–so he himself had a different reference point. Not better but different in context.

Below are some main points from the collection’s “Preface” and “Introduction”:

Sterling’s “Preface”

Sterling, who is a cyberpunk science fiction writer, sets readers up for Gibson’s works. Pay attention to the gloomy picture he portrays, affectionately, of Gibson’s short stories.

  • p. xii: “[Gibson’s] densely packed baroque stories….[evoke]…a credible future….that many scifi writers have been ducking for years.”
  • p. xxi: “[I]n the Sprawl stories we see a future that is recognizably and painstakingly drawn from the modern condition.”
    • Ponder this a second…Is this a world you believe we inhabit? Obviously, the Sprawl is an allusion to modern life, but are we that far gone?
    • What comes with sprawl and overpopulation? Pollution, disease, poverty, resource depletion.
  • p. xiii: “[Gibson’s] characters are a pirate’s crew of losers, hustlers, spin-offs, castoffs, and lunatics.”
    • “In Gibson’s work we find ourselves in the streets and alleys, in a realm of sweaty, white-knuckled survival.”
    • They sound like great people to me. Please notice the way men are portrayed versus how women are portrayed.
  • p. xiv: “[Gibson] is a devotee of…’invisible literature’: that permeating flow of scientific reports, government documents, and specialized advertising that shapes our culture below the level of recognition.”
    • There’s a lot of stuff packed into the above quote, but I want you to focus on “…that shapes our culture…” because Sterling is pointing to broad cultural communication that shapes our view of the world but we don’t recognize it. For instance:
      • Advertising…how else do they sell all that unnecessary stuff to us?
      • Science…who filters the new scientific information to us? Are we able to understand high-level science without advanced degrees?
      • Government…why do we continue to vote for the same politicians over and over again? The same people who dictate where our tax dollars go, what the rules are, and how we can voice our concerns.

William Gibson’s “Introduction”

  • p. xvi: “The writers who made science fiction do what for me was its most magic thing seemed to inhabit a more urban universe, a universe with more moving parts, one in which more questions could be asked (if far fewer definitively answered).”
  • p. xvii: On his four-year writing of “Johnny Mnemonic”–“I had paused to observe, as an age-designated noncombatant, the phenomenon of punk rock, which also has its place in the source code.”
    • If you aren’t sure what punk rock was (past tense…there hasn’t been punk rock–real punk rock–since 1986), it’s irreverent music (or noise) that attempts to give voice to the angst of a generation, but, being avant-garde, it’s doomed to fall out of vogue and die from its followers maturity.
    • It’s a gritty, in-your-face type of music that cares little for artistry and more about velocity and volume.

Next Class

We’re going to shift gears and discuss writing on Wednesday (3/11). Please have at least 5 pages that you can pull up on the computer.

Keep on reading Neuromancer! In that short story collection Burning Chrome are “New Rose Hotel,” “Johnny Mnemonic,” and “Burning Chrome”–which are all part of Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy. The three novels in the series are Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1986), and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988). I’m stunned at how much The Matrix is inspired by Neuromancer, but I don’t think the The Wachowskis ever gave Gibson credit. Oh well, it isn’t the first time. Enjoy!

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