Baake, Ken. (2003). Metaphor: Constituting or Decorating Theory in Science.Metaphor and Knowledge: The Challenges of Writing Science, New York: State University of New York Press 43-78.
Baake's, Metaphor: Constituting or Decorating Theory in Science argues that language is a tool and is transformational for the audience to understand what is being said, which sets him up to describe how metaphors can define speech in everyday life. Baake develops this idea by stating how we use language as a tool and then explaining how we use metaphors to transform language to make things more relatable. Baakes purpose is to show the use of metaphor in the human language in order to allow his readers to understand how important the tool of metaphors are to making people understand messages we attempt to convey. Baake is speaking mostly to rhetoricians, but also anybody studying language, or people wanting to know more about how to create solid rhetoric.
"Hence, the only way we know anything is through language" (45). I like this quote because it is so powerful, and creates such a deep thought in the mind.
"Of course, one could argue that a metaphor of the sun as a furnace today hardly advances the science of solar energy, even for nomads" (57). This sentence argues that we must connect metaphors to things that make sense in order to correctly explain something, without simplifying it into a way that leaves out too much important information.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1999:2004). The Grammatical Construction of Scientific Knowledge: The Framing of the English Clause. The Language of Science, New York: Continuum 102-134.
Halliday creates an argument that learning to use clauses to create metaphors that work for specific audiences and understanding audiences is one of the most important parts of the English language. Halliday does this by explaining how discourses are important in language and then looking at how the clauses of a metaphor work to create a statement that makes sense to specific audiences. The purpose of this is to explain how people use clauses in language in order to use language as a tool for audiences. Halliday is speaking to all rhetoricians, to help people with language.
"If we interpret something as a metaphor, we are setting up a semantic relationship between two linguistic variants" (104). This sets up the definition Halliday uses for metaphor, which shows the difference between Halliday and Baake.
"The notion of grammatical metaphor also implies a history: there must be a (congruent) construal meaning first, before any further meaning can be construed by departing metaphorically from it" (114). Halliday uses this statement to show the importance of the audience understanding the relationship you are trying to form before forming it as a metaphor.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
You Keep Using That Word...
Making the perfect dry cappuccino:
My explanation to an expert:
To create the perfect cappuccino you must start with a small, 8oz mug with a large mouth. Pull the shots slow into the bottom of the cup. As the shots are pulling steam milk to create a ratio of foam to liquid, about 75% foam and 25% liquid. Pour the milk into the shot and use your wrist movements to create a design of choice. Best served immediately.
My explanation to those just learning:
To create the perfect cappuccino you must start with a small, 8oz mug with a large opening on top. Start the espresso machine, pack the coffee grounds, and pour the shots slow into the bottom of the cup. As the shots are pouring steam milk (to 140 degrees) to create a ratio of foam to liquid, about 75% foam and 25% liquid. To do this you want to take the steaming pitcher, pour about 4oz of milk in, and move the tip of the steamer up and down in the milk to hear a bubbling sound. Once the milk reaches 140 degrees, remove it, it should be a perfect combination of milk froth and liquid. Slowly pour the milk in and using the foam and wrist movements, create a design once close to the top. To create a basic leaf swirl the pitcher back and forth like you are drawing a smile and get larger each time, finish by pulling a line all the way through the middle from bottom to top. Best served immediately.
My explanation to someone who doesn't care:
A cappuccino is an espresso drink that is served in an 8 oz cup. You pour the shots really slow like draino down a sink, and then steam some milk to heat it up to 140 degrees. When you steam the milk you have to swirl it around a special way to make it foamy like a bubble bath! Once the milk is warm you pour it into the cup and use wrist movements to make pretty designs like a leaf or heart. Then you serve it immediately!
For the experienced baristas, no metaphors were needed, as they understand coffee language and would understand everything I was saying. For those just learning, I tried to use more explanatory detail and metaphors like "hearing a bubbling sound" and "drawing a smile". The bubbling sound is a sound anybody would recognize, and everyone knows how to draw a smile. These metaphors make it a lot easier to understand the exact movements and process you want. For my explanation to someone who doesn't care, I tried to relate the instructions to everyday things. Most people have used draino at some point in their life, and know you have to pour it into the drain very slowly for it to work best. I also related the foam to a bubble bath, because everyone has seen what a bubble bath looks like and would then be able to visualize foam!
My explanation to an expert:
To create the perfect cappuccino you must start with a small, 8oz mug with a large mouth. Pull the shots slow into the bottom of the cup. As the shots are pulling steam milk to create a ratio of foam to liquid, about 75% foam and 25% liquid. Pour the milk into the shot and use your wrist movements to create a design of choice. Best served immediately.
My explanation to those just learning:
To create the perfect cappuccino you must start with a small, 8oz mug with a large opening on top. Start the espresso machine, pack the coffee grounds, and pour the shots slow into the bottom of the cup. As the shots are pouring steam milk (to 140 degrees) to create a ratio of foam to liquid, about 75% foam and 25% liquid. To do this you want to take the steaming pitcher, pour about 4oz of milk in, and move the tip of the steamer up and down in the milk to hear a bubbling sound. Once the milk reaches 140 degrees, remove it, it should be a perfect combination of milk froth and liquid. Slowly pour the milk in and using the foam and wrist movements, create a design once close to the top. To create a basic leaf swirl the pitcher back and forth like you are drawing a smile and get larger each time, finish by pulling a line all the way through the middle from bottom to top. Best served immediately.
My explanation to someone who doesn't care:
A cappuccino is an espresso drink that is served in an 8 oz cup. You pour the shots really slow like draino down a sink, and then steam some milk to heat it up to 140 degrees. When you steam the milk you have to swirl it around a special way to make it foamy like a bubble bath! Once the milk is warm you pour it into the cup and use wrist movements to make pretty designs like a leaf or heart. Then you serve it immediately!
For the experienced baristas, no metaphors were needed, as they understand coffee language and would understand everything I was saying. For those just learning, I tried to use more explanatory detail and metaphors like "hearing a bubbling sound" and "drawing a smile". The bubbling sound is a sound anybody would recognize, and everyone knows how to draw a smile. These metaphors make it a lot easier to understand the exact movements and process you want. For my explanation to someone who doesn't care, I tried to relate the instructions to everyday things. Most people have used draino at some point in their life, and know you have to pour it into the drain very slowly for it to work best. I also related the foam to a bubble bath, because everyone has seen what a bubble bath looks like and would then be able to visualize foam!
Monday, September 19, 2016
The Republic, Toulmin, Li
Plato (Trans. Benjamin Jowett). (360 BCE:2009). The Republic: Book I. MIT Classics Archive
Plato (360 BCE) creates an argument in the first book of The Republic to find the true definition of justice through rhetoric. Plato uses Socrates and Thrasymachus' conversation to define justice in multiple ways, changing the definition drastically each time. Plato's purpose is to define what true justice is in order to give a static definition for all. His audience at the time was his students, his peers, and anyone who wanted to listen; however, Plato continues to be relevant today.
"He said the repayment of debt is just". This is the first definition of justice given in the text, and to be quite honest, it doesn't seem to make sense as a definition for justice.
"A friend ought always to do good to a friend and never evil". This definition for justice comes a little further into the text, and seems to be getting closer to what justice truly means.
Stephen Edelston Toulmin. (1958). The Layout of Arguments. The Uses of Argument, London: Cambridge University Press 94-145.
In Toulmin's, The Layout of Arguments (1958), he sets out to explain the different uses of different arguments and how each one works. Toulmin goes through everyday argument, and then moves into the type of arguments lawyers and academics use, explaining the science behind everything. Toulmin is setting out defining argument, in order to define what each piece of an argument is and how we use it. His audience ranges greatly from anyone interested in learning or studying argument, or someone just attempting to learn more about how we argue.
"It may not be sufficient, therefore, simply to specify our data, warrant and claim: we may need to add some explicit reference to the degree of force which our data confer on our claim in virtue of our warrant" (101). This quote was the first piece of Toulmin's argument that I truly understood and somewhat clicked with what he was trying to say.
"One in which the customary usage of arguers again parts company with logical tradition" (120). Toulmin completely lost me here, and even reading further into the text I still struggled with this concept.
Lu, Xing. (1998). Conceptualization of Ming Bian: The School of Mind. Rhetoric in Ancient China Fifth to Third Century B.C.E: A Comparison with Classical Greek Rhetoric, Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press 127-153.
Lu's Conceptualization of Ming Bian (1998) focuses on the thinking processes of three historically important thinkers. Lu compares three thinkers by telling their story, why they are important, and how it relates to the world. Lu's purpose is to make these three thinkers relevant, in order to explain why we think the way we do today. His audience is more geared towards people interested in complicated thinking, especially philosophers and rhetoricians.
"He [Deng Xi] was concerned primarily with the correspondence between ming (words, names) as prescribed laws, shi (actuality) as the practice of laws" (128). This gives a brief description of Deng Xi and what his thinking process was about.
"For Hui Shi, everything is connected and shares similarities from the universal perspective" (138). I really enjoyed reading about Hui Shi and saw a lot of importance in the things he had to say. This sentence really struck me as important.
Plato (360 BCE) creates an argument in the first book of The Republic to find the true definition of justice through rhetoric. Plato uses Socrates and Thrasymachus' conversation to define justice in multiple ways, changing the definition drastically each time. Plato's purpose is to define what true justice is in order to give a static definition for all. His audience at the time was his students, his peers, and anyone who wanted to listen; however, Plato continues to be relevant today.
"He said the repayment of debt is just". This is the first definition of justice given in the text, and to be quite honest, it doesn't seem to make sense as a definition for justice.
"A friend ought always to do good to a friend and never evil". This definition for justice comes a little further into the text, and seems to be getting closer to what justice truly means.
Stephen Edelston Toulmin. (1958). The Layout of Arguments. The Uses of Argument, London: Cambridge University Press 94-145.
In Toulmin's, The Layout of Arguments (1958), he sets out to explain the different uses of different arguments and how each one works. Toulmin goes through everyday argument, and then moves into the type of arguments lawyers and academics use, explaining the science behind everything. Toulmin is setting out defining argument, in order to define what each piece of an argument is and how we use it. His audience ranges greatly from anyone interested in learning or studying argument, or someone just attempting to learn more about how we argue.
"It may not be sufficient, therefore, simply to specify our data, warrant and claim: we may need to add some explicit reference to the degree of force which our data confer on our claim in virtue of our warrant" (101). This quote was the first piece of Toulmin's argument that I truly understood and somewhat clicked with what he was trying to say.
"One in which the customary usage of arguers again parts company with logical tradition" (120). Toulmin completely lost me here, and even reading further into the text I still struggled with this concept.
Lu, Xing. (1998). Conceptualization of Ming Bian: The School of Mind. Rhetoric in Ancient China Fifth to Third Century B.C.E: A Comparison with Classical Greek Rhetoric, Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press 127-153.
Lu's Conceptualization of Ming Bian (1998) focuses on the thinking processes of three historically important thinkers. Lu compares three thinkers by telling their story, why they are important, and how it relates to the world. Lu's purpose is to make these three thinkers relevant, in order to explain why we think the way we do today. His audience is more geared towards people interested in complicated thinking, especially philosophers and rhetoricians.
"He [Deng Xi] was concerned primarily with the correspondence between ming (words, names) as prescribed laws, shi (actuality) as the practice of laws" (128). This gives a brief description of Deng Xi and what his thinking process was about.
"For Hui Shi, everything is connected and shares similarities from the universal perspective" (138). I really enjoyed reading about Hui Shi and saw a lot of importance in the things he had to say. This sentence really struck me as important.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Birdsell & Groarke, Myers, Plato, de Bary
Birdsell, David S. and Leo Groarke. (1996). Toward a Theory of Visual Argument.Argumentation and Advocacy, 33(1) 1-10.
In Birdsell and Groarke's, Toward a Theory of Visual Argument (1996) the argument that visual components of an argument are just as important as the verbal pieces of an argument. This argument is developed by giving examples through pictures and texts to show how images can convey an argument. Birdsell and Groarke are attempting to explain the importance of visual arguments in order to inform others on the fact that argument and rhetoric come in many different forms. This piece is meant for anyone studying argument, rhetoric, or just curious about depth of images.
On page two, there is an image of a fish smoking with the lines "don't you get hooked!" This image stood out to me because it was the first piece of the article that really engraves into your brain the importance of an image's argument and how much it can mean.
"'Context' can involve a wide range of cultural assumptions, situational cues, time-sensitive information, and/or knowledge of a specific interlocutor" (5). This piece helped me understand the exact definition the authors were using for the word context, as it can be used differently and having a specific example was helpful for understanding the piece.
Myers, Kelly A.. (2011). Metanoia and the Transformation of Opportunity.Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 41(1) 1-18.
In Myers', Metanoia and the Transformation of Opportunity (2011) Myers asserts the definition of Metanoia and Kairos, especially how they relate to today's world compared to the past. Myers goes into detail about the meaning of Kairos, and how Metanoia plays a role in this as well through thorough detail and different examples and explanations. The purpose of this piece is to give a modern day explanation of Kairos in order to give a definition that is relevant to today but still use Kairos in its original context. Myers wants to explain Kairos to current day students, studiers, and those interested in expanding knowledge of time.
"Her voice emerges in Ausonius’s poetry as the goddess who ‘‘exacts punishment for what has and has not been done, so that people regret it’’ (1). This is the first strong explanation of what Metanoia does and how she relates to Kairos.
"When metanoia is used as rhetorical figure, the emotional intensity of the repentance and regret are minor, the reflection is brief, and the transformation occurs as more of a revision" (8). This sentence defines Metanoia as a rhetorical figure, and gives a look into the importance of who she is.
Plato (Trans. Benjamin Jowett). (360 BCE:2009). Phaedrus. MIT Classics Archive
Plato's, Phaedrus (360 BCE) argues whether writing everything down is a good or a bad thing, since it could cause us to lose memory. Plato argues this by a conversation being held between Socrates and Phaedrus about what Lysias' speech was and how it's important to be able to debate from memory. The purpose of this piece is to argue whether writing effects memory, in order to show how rhetoric changes and as discourses and technology evolves. The audience was originally intended for the people in Plato's time and his students; however, it is relevant to today with computers storing all of our memories now.
"And I was doubting whether this could have been defended even by Lysias himself; I thought, though I speak under correction, that he repeated himself two or three times, either from want of words or from want of pains; and also, he appeared to me ostentatiously to exult in showing how well he could say the same thing in two or three ways" (Socrates). This quote is the first time Socrates really argues that being able to memorize is important, as Lysias does.
"The disgrace begins when a man writes not well, but badly" (Socrates). For some reason I really liked this quote, and thought it gets at the message that Socrates is attempting to put out there.
de Bary, William Theodore. (2003). Why Confucius Now?. Confucianism for the Modern World. Ed. Daniel A. Bell and Hahm Chaibong, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 361-372.
de Bary's, Why Confucius Now? argues why Confucius' arguments are still important and relevant to today. de Bary argues Confucius practices are still extremely relevant today, through explaining how changing societies and continuity still use ancient ideals. The point of this piece is to bring ancient texts to life today, in order to show the importance of argument and when to use rhetoric in specific situations. This article is meant for anyone studying the connections between ancient texts and today, or anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of what makes arguments strong.
"Confucius' reliance on the inculcation of virtue and ritual respect rather than on laws and regulations means of maintaining public order" (363). This quote gives an insight as to why Confucius is relevant today and how it helps in the world we live in.
"A new multicultural education for a world community will have to combine understanding of both native cultures and world cultures" (370). This gives the reader an understanding as to how Confucius' ideas work today, and what makes Confucius relevant.
In Birdsell and Groarke's, Toward a Theory of Visual Argument (1996) the argument that visual components of an argument are just as important as the verbal pieces of an argument. This argument is developed by giving examples through pictures and texts to show how images can convey an argument. Birdsell and Groarke are attempting to explain the importance of visual arguments in order to inform others on the fact that argument and rhetoric come in many different forms. This piece is meant for anyone studying argument, rhetoric, or just curious about depth of images.
On page two, there is an image of a fish smoking with the lines "don't you get hooked!" This image stood out to me because it was the first piece of the article that really engraves into your brain the importance of an image's argument and how much it can mean.
"'Context' can involve a wide range of cultural assumptions, situational cues, time-sensitive information, and/or knowledge of a specific interlocutor" (5). This piece helped me understand the exact definition the authors were using for the word context, as it can be used differently and having a specific example was helpful for understanding the piece.
Myers, Kelly A.. (2011). Metanoia and the Transformation of Opportunity.Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 41(1) 1-18.
In Myers', Metanoia and the Transformation of Opportunity (2011) Myers asserts the definition of Metanoia and Kairos, especially how they relate to today's world compared to the past. Myers goes into detail about the meaning of Kairos, and how Metanoia plays a role in this as well through thorough detail and different examples and explanations. The purpose of this piece is to give a modern day explanation of Kairos in order to give a definition that is relevant to today but still use Kairos in its original context. Myers wants to explain Kairos to current day students, studiers, and those interested in expanding knowledge of time.
"Her voice emerges in Ausonius’s poetry as the goddess who ‘‘exacts punishment for what has and has not been done, so that people regret it’’ (1). This is the first strong explanation of what Metanoia does and how she relates to Kairos.
"When metanoia is used as rhetorical figure, the emotional intensity of the repentance and regret are minor, the reflection is brief, and the transformation occurs as more of a revision" (8). This sentence defines Metanoia as a rhetorical figure, and gives a look into the importance of who she is.
Plato (Trans. Benjamin Jowett). (360 BCE:2009). Phaedrus. MIT Classics Archive
Plato's, Phaedrus (360 BCE) argues whether writing everything down is a good or a bad thing, since it could cause us to lose memory. Plato argues this by a conversation being held between Socrates and Phaedrus about what Lysias' speech was and how it's important to be able to debate from memory. The purpose of this piece is to argue whether writing effects memory, in order to show how rhetoric changes and as discourses and technology evolves. The audience was originally intended for the people in Plato's time and his students; however, it is relevant to today with computers storing all of our memories now.
"And I was doubting whether this could have been defended even by Lysias himself; I thought, though I speak under correction, that he repeated himself two or three times, either from want of words or from want of pains; and also, he appeared to me ostentatiously to exult in showing how well he could say the same thing in two or three ways" (Socrates). This quote is the first time Socrates really argues that being able to memorize is important, as Lysias does.
"The disgrace begins when a man writes not well, but badly" (Socrates). For some reason I really liked this quote, and thought it gets at the message that Socrates is attempting to put out there.
de Bary, William Theodore. (2003). Why Confucius Now?. Confucianism for the Modern World. Ed. Daniel A. Bell and Hahm Chaibong, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 361-372.
de Bary's, Why Confucius Now? argues why Confucius' arguments are still important and relevant to today. de Bary argues Confucius practices are still extremely relevant today, through explaining how changing societies and continuity still use ancient ideals. The point of this piece is to bring ancient texts to life today, in order to show the importance of argument and when to use rhetoric in specific situations. This article is meant for anyone studying the connections between ancient texts and today, or anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of what makes arguments strong.
"Confucius' reliance on the inculcation of virtue and ritual respect rather than on laws and regulations means of maintaining public order" (363). This quote gives an insight as to why Confucius is relevant today and how it helps in the world we live in.
"A new multicultural education for a world community will have to combine understanding of both native cultures and world cultures" (370). This gives the reader an understanding as to how Confucius' ideas work today, and what makes Confucius relevant.
Kairotic Moment
(Video on my Facebook page: facebook.com/hannabledsoe)
For my video of someone succeeding in seizing kairos, I am
using the video of my brother and mom dancing at my brother’s wedding this past
weekend. The video serves a rhetorical purpose that pleased the audience at the
wedding, especially his now wife. His wedding was full of surprises (the best
kind); however, the surprise at the end of the video was the best surprise of
the night.
In the beginning of the video, my brother and mom are seen
slow dancing to a song about the love and relationship between mother and son.
They slow dance to this for about a minute and a quarter, then suddenly the
music switches and turns into Treasure
by Bruno Mars. My mom and brother break out into a perfectly choreographed
dance, shocking the audience (at this point you hear the audience stop
distractedly talking and begin cheering on the dance moves). They do some slick
moves and at one point my brother flips my mom over his back. The song comes to
a close and changes into Bye, Bye, Bye
by *NSYNC and even more swift moves are pulled out. People REALLY began
clapping here because everyone knows my brother has always loved *NSYNC! They
end the dancing by dabbing and the music draws to a close. However, when you
think the video is over, you see a chair being put on the dance floor and the
bride being escorted to the chair. Music suddenly starts again, So Good by BoB, and my brother has on
sunglasses and begins giving his bride a lap dance. Once BoB sings “pack your
bags real good” my mom is seen reentering the floor with a suitcase and my
brother hands his wife two plane tickets. The tickets are for a surprise
honeymoon trip to Mexico. She is then seen crying and hugging him, clearly not
expecting this surprise.
The kairotic moment occurs when my brother pulls out the two plane tickets. The song sings “I can see us down in Mexico”, as my brother pulls out the tickets to surprise his wife. He seized this moment perfectly because at any other time it would not have been quite as exciting as it was when he surprised her in front of all their friends and family perfectly in tune to the song. The benefits are endless! My brother and his wife are now in Mexico, and all his friends and family got to celebrate the moment his wife found out she was going as well. This created a bigger party, a memory none of us will ever forget, and they are in Mexico!!! The wedding was full of surprises, love, happiness, and everything went perfect. This truly was the icing on the cake for my new sister-in-law, and sharing this moment was extremely special.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Tebeaux & Dragga, McLuhan, Ewing & Handy
Tebeaux, Elizabeth and Sam Dragga. (2015). E-Mails, Texts, Memos, and Letters.The Essentials of Technical Communication, 3rd edition, New York: Oxford University Press 151-175.
In Tebeaux and Dragga's Emails, Texts, Memos, and Letters (2015) suggests the correct ways to go about different forms of communication in a professional setting. By going through each medium, Tebeaux and Dragga discuss the importance of language, formatting, and headings in creating a professional document. The suggestions given to creating a professional document are in order to help employees know how to effectively communicate in the workplace. This document is meant for anyone in the workplace, ranging from new hires, up to CEO's sending out a memo.
"Always be concise. Keep sentences and paragraphs short" (151). I strongly agree with this quick tip given by Tebeaux and Dragga, as this is something many people have suggested when writing important workplace documents.
"leave the exclamations for emergency warnings only" (152). I am not sure I completely agree with this statement, as tone can be important in creating a document. When leaving out exclamations, it can give a dull sense to a sentence that could potentially be seen as more important with an exclamation at the end.
McLuhan, Marshall. (1964:2006). The Medium is the Message. Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Revised Edition, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing 107-116.
Marshall McLuhan's, The Medium is the Message (1964) suggests the importance of how various mediums effect the way language is understood. McLuhan discusses the way TV was effecting the people of his age (1960's), and wonders if the TV itself is sending a message instead of just the advertisements on TV. McLuhan's purpose is to make the reader question the mediums they use, in order to make the reader truly think about the messages they are sending when using these mediums. This message by McLuhan was originally meant for all people during the 1960's, but has carried over to today and still makes people question if the medium is truly the message.
"For the "message" of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs" (108). This quote is the first part of McLuhan's piece that made me really question what he was trying to get at. Up until this point I was very confused, and honestly, it still is pretty confusing when just reading his piece.
"Instead of asking which came first, the chicken or the egg, it suddenly seemed that the chicken was an egg's idea for getting more eggs" (110). This quote really made me stop and think, "what the hell". I mean reading this it makes absolutely no sense, but the more you think about it, the more you start to understand McLuhan's weird ideas.
Ewing, Reid and Susan Handy. (2009). Measuring the Unmeasurable: Urban Design Qualities Related to Walkability. Journal of Urban Design, 14(1) 65-84.
Ewing and Handy's, Measuring the Unmeasurable: Urban Design Qualities Related to Walkability (2009) suggests the important factors that create a "walkable" space. Ewing and Handy give five points to measure walkability: imageability, enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity. Ewing and Handy give instructions and data on how to rank the walkability of a specific location, in order to allow readers how to rank places around them. The audience is anyone attempting to rank the walkability of a certain neighborhood, street, etc., and to be able to understand how walkability ranks were given and what they are based on.
In Tebeaux and Dragga's Emails, Texts, Memos, and Letters (2015) suggests the correct ways to go about different forms of communication in a professional setting. By going through each medium, Tebeaux and Dragga discuss the importance of language, formatting, and headings in creating a professional document. The suggestions given to creating a professional document are in order to help employees know how to effectively communicate in the workplace. This document is meant for anyone in the workplace, ranging from new hires, up to CEO's sending out a memo.
"Always be concise. Keep sentences and paragraphs short" (151). I strongly agree with this quick tip given by Tebeaux and Dragga, as this is something many people have suggested when writing important workplace documents.
"leave the exclamations for emergency warnings only" (152). I am not sure I completely agree with this statement, as tone can be important in creating a document. When leaving out exclamations, it can give a dull sense to a sentence that could potentially be seen as more important with an exclamation at the end.
McLuhan, Marshall. (1964:2006). The Medium is the Message. Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, Revised Edition, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing 107-116.
Marshall McLuhan's, The Medium is the Message (1964) suggests the importance of how various mediums effect the way language is understood. McLuhan discusses the way TV was effecting the people of his age (1960's), and wonders if the TV itself is sending a message instead of just the advertisements on TV. McLuhan's purpose is to make the reader question the mediums they use, in order to make the reader truly think about the messages they are sending when using these mediums. This message by McLuhan was originally meant for all people during the 1960's, but has carried over to today and still makes people question if the medium is truly the message.
"For the "message" of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs" (108). This quote is the first part of McLuhan's piece that made me really question what he was trying to get at. Up until this point I was very confused, and honestly, it still is pretty confusing when just reading his piece.
"Instead of asking which came first, the chicken or the egg, it suddenly seemed that the chicken was an egg's idea for getting more eggs" (110). This quote really made me stop and think, "what the hell". I mean reading this it makes absolutely no sense, but the more you think about it, the more you start to understand McLuhan's weird ideas.
Ewing, Reid and Susan Handy. (2009). Measuring the Unmeasurable: Urban Design Qualities Related to Walkability. Journal of Urban Design, 14(1) 65-84.
Ewing and Handy's, Measuring the Unmeasurable: Urban Design Qualities Related to Walkability (2009) suggests the important factors that create a "walkable" space. Ewing and Handy give five points to measure walkability: imageability, enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity. Ewing and Handy give instructions and data on how to rank the walkability of a specific location, in order to allow readers how to rank places around them. The audience is anyone attempting to rank the walkability of a certain neighborhood, street, etc., and to be able to understand how walkability ranks were given and what they are based on.
“The immediate
purpose of this study is to arm researchers with operational definitions they
can use to measure the street environment and test for significant associations
with walking behavior” (65). This gives a basic idea of what the study is trying to do and how they are doing it.
“Perception is the
process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. What
one perceives is a result of interplays between past experiences, one’s culture
and the interpretation of the perceived” (67). This gives a clear understanding of what the viewer is perceiving as they walk down a street, allowing the reader to understand more clearly.
Response to Consigny
Consigny and the other rhetorical thinkers give us a set of
language and tools to understand rhetorical situations in general; however,
these cannot always be applied to every situation. Taking Lateah's example of
listening to the speech at the athletic program dinner, she was faced with
exigencies that made it difficult to use the tools Consigny taught us. Even
since 1974, when Consigny wrote his argument, the world has changed immensely.
Lateah believed her speaker was potentially "trying
to make a statement about manhood. It could be inferred from the statement that
I highlighted from him earlier that men do tough out their injuries and walk
off the field no matter what." The tools Consigny gives cannot apply to a
situation like this, where gender roles have changed so much that it's not okay
to address the situation as "man up" in today's day and age. As
Lateah stated, she had a difficult time focusing on a speech she has heard
countless times; however, when gender roles came into play it was different. Consigny
doesn't give us the tools to defeat gender stereotypes and what it means to not
be a part of the group. Many exigencies were blocking Lateah during this
speech, and zoning out was her way of dealing with this. Consigny’s lack of
tools meant to deal with this created a difficult situation to take the
rhetoric wholeheartedly
I think knowing about constraints and
the medium really plays a part in the advice I would give for Lateah’s
situation. The constraint is that the same generic speech is given at every
athletic function, causing athletes to zone out as they have heard the advice
dozens of times. The only way I could see this constraint changing is if the
medium changed. Lateah said she spaced out and wished she could have gone back
to listen to parts again, yet the timing was inappropriate to ask those around
her what the speaker had said. If the speech would have been recorded and
posted somewhere, Lateah would have access to re-watch the speech and take in
the information she missed. This would come in handy for many things, as zoning
out is a problem many people face. Maybe something distracting is happening in
the room, or maybe you’ve has been having a really rough day and can’t focus.
No matter the situation, we, as human beings, all zone out at times, and a
different medium, such as a recording that can be replayed would be extremely
beneficial in a lot of situations.
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