Digital Rhetoric/Digital Media in the Post-Truth Age
March 1-2, 2019
Recent conversations about the nature of public discussions in online spaces have focused on what Eli Pariser calls “filter bubbles,” a phenomenon in which individuals are intellectually isolated and exposed to ideas that primarily reflect their own views. In privileging content based on what internet users are most likely to engage with, proprietary search engine and social media algorithms help to create these conditions that Pariser argues lead to partisan division and disagreements about the veracity of particular facts, which have significant implications for civic discourse, politics, and democracy itself.
Since Selfe and Selfe’s (1994) foundational article “The Politics of the Interface,” rhetoric and composition scholars have considered the ways that the design of our writing technologies are imbued with particular ideologies, and scholars of digital rhetoric have long noted the ways that online communities and interactions have had a significant impact on civic and political discourse as a whole (Warnick, 2012). The current political and civic context invites new and urgent questions about the study of digital rhetoric and civic discourse in online spaces. That there was Russian interference in the public discourse around the 2016 American presidential election is well-supported by evidence uncovered by Facebook and Twitter, yet scholarly discussion is just beginning about the implications of these outside influences. At the same time, activist groups have successfully used social media to galvanize public support for various political causes under viral hashtags like #defendDACA and #blacklivesmatter. These examples demonstrate that social media can be a key tool for mobilization, but one that is also vulnerable to the deliberate placement of biased and misleading information.
The symposium organizers seek paper proposals from emerging and established scholars whose work considers the impact of social media platforms, online community practices, and disinformation/misinformation campaigns on the study and practice of digital rhetoric. This symposium aims to place scholars and activists in conversation to discuss the future of civic engagement and discourse in online spaces and points of intervention.
Possible questions that paper topics might address (but are not limited to) include the following:
Theories of Digital Rhetoric
Technologies & Platforms
Praxis (Teaching & Activism)
If interested, please email a 400-word abstract for a paper or a 1,200 word abstract for a panel to symposium organizers: Amber Buck (ambuck@ua.edu) and Cindy Tekobbe (cindy.tekobbe@ua.edu). The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2018. Those whose proposals are selected will receive small travel grants to cover the cost of travel to and accommodations in Tuscaloosa. If you have questions or need more information, you can address queries to Professors Buck and Tekobbe.
Since Selfe and Selfe’s (1994) foundational article “The Politics of the Interface,” rhetoric and composition scholars have considered the ways that the design of our writing technologies are imbued with particular ideologies, and scholars of digital rhetoric have long noted the ways that online communities and interactions have had a significant impact on civic and political discourse as a whole (Warnick, 2012). The current political and civic context invites new and urgent questions about the study of digital rhetoric and civic discourse in online spaces. That there was Russian interference in the public discourse around the 2016 American presidential election is well-supported by evidence uncovered by Facebook and Twitter, yet scholarly discussion is just beginning about the implications of these outside influences. At the same time, activist groups have successfully used social media to galvanize public support for various political causes under viral hashtags like #defendDACA and #blacklivesmatter. These examples demonstrate that social media can be a key tool for mobilization, but one that is also vulnerable to the deliberate placement of biased and misleading information.
The symposium organizers seek paper proposals from emerging and established scholars whose work considers the impact of social media platforms, online community practices, and disinformation/misinformation campaigns on the study and practice of digital rhetoric. This symposium aims to place scholars and activists in conversation to discuss the future of civic engagement and discourse in online spaces and points of intervention.
Possible questions that paper topics might address (but are not limited to) include the following:
Theories of Digital Rhetoric
- How do our theories and models of rhetoric in digital environments need to change in light of these new technologies and digital practices?
- How does digital rhetoric theorize and consider trolling, astroturfing, and similar behaviors?
- What does it mean to be engaged in civic discourse in online contexts today?
- What does “audience” mean when writers might be connecting with other humans or with bots?
Technologies & Platforms
- How do individuals and/or activists work with and against digital platforms to accomplish their aims?
- How do the platform tools created by Twitter and Facebook counter propaganda bots impact the digital spread of information, or can they?
- How do algorithms and monetization models impact users’ perceptions of public discourse?
Praxis (Teaching & Activism)
- What are the implications of these issues for the teaching of writing and rhetoric?
- How do we teach students to evaluate sources in an era of disinformation?
- How do activists use digital tools to build awareness and mobilize around particular causes?
If interested, please email a 400-word abstract for a paper or a 1,200 word abstract for a panel to symposium organizers: Amber Buck (ambuck@ua.edu) and Cindy Tekobbe (cindy.tekobbe@ua.edu). The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2018. Those whose proposals are selected will receive small travel grants to cover the cost of travel to and accommodations in Tuscaloosa. If you have questions or need more information, you can address queries to Professors Buck and Tekobbe.
