1.Discuss ways multimodal
composing differs from and is related to your composing practices for
alphabetic, print texts. How did this class affect your previous experience with digital
writing both as a reader/consumer of digital media, and as a creator of digital
media?
I think the first and most obvious difference between multimodal and alphabetic texts is there are a lot more moving parts (I'm not apologizing for that terrible potential pun) to multimodal. There are far more components and things to consider as far as the editing process. You also need to have more knowledge. Especially about how to use software.
Multimodal is certainly linked and related to alphabetic text composing - they both require the author to put their thoughts down and there is generally text in both forms.
I didn't have much previous experience with multimodal aside from a capstone project last semester. As stated many times - I'm not tech savvy. So having to do this project certainly allowed me to gain some experience and become a little less hopeless at multimodal and digital creation!
2.How do you now apply rhetorical theory to
digital/multimodal texts? How might this knowledge be
important/applicable outside a classroom setting in terms of issues like power and
ethics?
Honestly, I'd need a bit more distance from this class and project to answer that correctly. Because as of graduation day, I'm going to be staying as far away from a computer as I possibly can for around a month.
There won't be any digital/multimodal texts going near these eyeballs for a while if I can help it.
However for the sake of the question - I imagine the way I will apply rhetorical theory to digital texts will take on a more informed lens. Once you've seen or been involved in the inner workings of a thing, you gain insight and as a result, see different elements within it.
I'll certainly be more aware of the rhetorical moves other creators of digital/multimedia works are making to effect their audience.
3. Do you
see "delivery" as an important re-emerging canon of rhetoric when it
comes to multimodal work? If so, how?
I see delivery as everything. Well, perhaps not 100%, more like 85%. I don't see it as "re-emerging" either. It may shift and change (today, more in the realm of the digital and less from a speaker at a podium - though that still exists too!) but it hasn't gone anywhere.
Without effective delivery you have no acquiescence, without acquiescence, what is the point of rhetoric? This may smack of oversimplification. But I happen to love over simplifying things. Chop them down to their basic meaning and then build them up a bit more where needed.
Rhetoric is infamous for being wordy. Lets be real. And a lot of people see it as innately something dry, dull and antiquated. I think this class is an excellent example of the fact that its anything but antiquated. Because if you look at rhetoric as being dry and dull you're only looking at a sliver of what rhetoric is - actually rhetoric is EVERYTHING. Whether you want it to be or not. Trust me, there was a point in my academic career when I did NOT want it to be. But it is, and its actually pretty fascinating. But I digress....Delivery, that's what I was talking about.
You can have the most important, meaningful thing to say in the history of meaningful things - but if your delivery sucks, you're probably not going to gain much of an audience. People are fickle, they like good stuff. They like to be compelled and moved and made to laugh. If you can incorporate those elements, and really use the canon of delivery effectively, your rhetorical game shall be strong.
