This course is about communication on various levels. Over these 9 weeks we will cover a number of theories, cases and applications in the field of communication science. We will start with the foundational concepts of communication theory, defining what the theory is and going through a number of approaches to communication itself. Each week you will have a test to check on your progress and understanding. We also have a final text in the end of the course and a little bit of writing. As Oscar Wilde said, if you cannot write, you cannot think. If you cannot think, others will do thinking for you. So we find writing and reflecting pretty important for our classes. Along the course we provide you with in-class materials: lecture presentations, articles and additional readings. If you really want to get into the topic, don’t avoid this extra work. Although a substantial part of this course is theory-based, communication theory has a very practical application. Communication is an underlying process which creates and develops relationships, communities, societies. We communicative on a daily basis via a variety of means and channels. In our globalised and increasingly interconnected world, communication skills are essential in both the personal and professional spheres. It is our goal to leave you with a contextualisation and conceptualisation of communicative processes that will poise you to hone your own communicative skills — in other words, to put theory into practice.
Digital Rhetoric
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来自 National Research University Higher School of Economics 的课程
Communication theory: bridging academia and practice
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National Research University Higher School of Economics
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从本节课中
Public Rhetoric and Persuasion
The main focus of this lecture is to introduce student to the field of rhetorics. This class focuses at theoretical approaches to persuasion and the ways how to craft messages that influence the audience. Here we discuss approaches to the public speaking and online communication.
与讲师见面
Olga SolovyevaLecturer
Integrated Communications Department, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
Maria MordvinovaHead of BA Program in PR and Advertising
Integrated Communications Department, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
in previous parts I would like to have been focusing on
how the communicative process goes throughout the persuasion,
and what are the elements of these persuasive process.
We also outline a number of non practical mechanisms that might influence our behavior.
And we talk about the rational part of the human beings,
and as well as the people as a storytellers as a narrative paradigm.
Right now, let's focus on the digital rhetoric.
On the contrary with what is spoken,
and the art of public speaking in the public places,
and on the contrary where the mediated communication through
the advertising where some interactive forms of the communication.
How does it work in the digital world?
Are we all rhetorics?
Are we somehow trying to maintain our communication to make it persuasive?
Let's take a look. So the digital rhetoric,
we do use rhetoric on the very daily basis.
Sending and receiving information,
and we just come up when we
communicate with our friends on social media posting the time line,
comment on our friends post and react on their content.
You become rhetoric when you share your ideas in a form of monologue
or it can be happening in
your personal blog or in the form of public deliberation on the internet forums,
when a whole bunch of discussion may happen.
Even an interpersonal communication can be somehow founded on the rules of rhetoric.
So we can persuade our partners through the interaction by instant messages, for example.
There are multiple digital social media platforms communication
happens there all the time,
and we are the part of this process.
Whether it's simply another episode in a continuous history
of the rhetoric or is it more or less some kind of rapture?
This is our equation to the digital rhetoric here.
And scholars do see digital rhetoric as
an extension of classic rhetoric in the digital space. Why do we use it?
We use it to persuade,
to inform, to inspire and to entertain.
The main question about the definition
within the digital rhetoric exists in the literature nowadays.
Do we see just a part of what was happening quite before this?
But most scholars would argue that digital rhetoric is
the science about the discourse transformation in the digital era.
How should we study this discourse in the digital space?
Digital discourses can be the new form of discourse or just
supposed to go with the logic of an old school or Ancient Greek rhetoric.
Digital rhetoric is discovering means of persuasion in realm of the digital space.
We might see it a little bit different.
Basically, even though the main ideas are still the same
and the whole point of the rhetoric is usually persuasion,
the communicative nature of the digital rhetoric might be quite different.
But let's take a look on the digital rhetoric
through the methods of persuasion in ancient Greece.
While it does have to be logical, credible and emotional.
And these are the Aristotle's ingredients of the persuasion.
Think about your communicative terms on the Internet.
Do you really apply to all three of them?
And look, this is how we integrated the very first part of
our lecture into one of the very last ones to make this story sounds so incredible.
We do usually follow the logic and we want to outline
the emotional part of our communication as well as we want it to be credible.
Well, there are two ways of the digital rhetoric development.
And the first way is the same as in Classical Rhetoric.
Ideas teach and people use the variety of forms to present this.
For instance as we discussed,
rhetoric needs in a stronger facts and evidence as in
empirical science became quite predominant after 18 century.
However, digital rhetoric is unique because it
changes with not only the people minds progress,
but also with the technical progress and innovations in the media and the Internet.
For instance, video calls and Skype or they would
place a higher role on the emotions and the pathways,
because people became to see the faces of
their communicators and they don't just have to rely on the intonations.
Basically, each different tool and
each different media would outline and would focus on different senses.
Understanding off the senses would be quite essential for
the classical rhetorical way of formulating the message
and placing it in the right context.
So here, we come closer to the acknowledgment of the importance of
the media as the means of communication,
which does shape the internal structure of the message.
And one of the very important terms here would be visual rhetoric.
So as we do nowadays focus on the interactive media,
and we do have different tours and different ways of communication,
the visual aspect becomes more and more important.
This is how YouTube is getting its popularity,
instead of reading, people would prefer watching.
This is what's going on between you and I right now.
You are watching me talking,
instead of reading the book.
But what do we need to pay attention
to in order to make the communication more powerful and more persuasive?
Digital rhetoric in a nutshell refers to how we are persuaded by the things that we see.
When people talk about the visual rhetoric,
you might be inclined to think that they're referring to the way
the images are manipulated to skew the way we do perceive things.
But here in the visual rhetoric it's too much about image manipulation,
and in fact, we need to focus on a few underlying things.
They are arranging, the layering,
and using the right colors in front.
So there is some very basic technical things that might help
you with the message creation and the message dissemination further on.
What are the benefits of digital rhetorics?
Well first of all it's it's a convergence.
As convergence is used highly in digital rhetorics,
it's the use of different mediums in one place.
This allows increasing persuasion of fact and the interactivity.
We do enjoy interactive communication,
and we do really enjoy having multiple options on the way how we consume information,
how we get this information through.
The speed would mean that,
you can immediately start a conversation or even organize
a local forum or you can start your own event online.
People don't really have time to plan and prepare for the conversation here.
So speed really defines and shapes somehow
the digital rhetoric on of the contrary with which was back in the Aristotle's time.
He would say that you do need to practice quite a lot.
Here you need to reply on Twitter quite immediately.
As for example in the instant messengers,
people will get the notification that the message was seen.
So you don't have the time for the delay.
Interactivity is another feature on behalf of convergence,
is a new technological benefit which does benefit the digital rhetorics.
Even being less communicable,
you can interact with other users and this places you in a very interesting context,
which would re-flagged and which
would affect the way how are you supposed to craft the message.
Unlimited access to the information as
a slogan of our Google era allows searching for facts and evidence in the global net,
communicate with people from different countries and
the different social statuses but at the same time,
we do have to be quite clear and very certain with the facts.
We need to check and double check them.
As well as the appropriate uses of the different mediums
would be a focus of digital rhetorics as a practical discipline, I would say.
Appropriate uses of the different mediums in the different spaces allow users to provide
how quite heterogeneous content as you can use it for as a text message,
as well to persuade your partner to do something which you want.
But being more likable on a Facebook for example,
for my particular case would usually include adding some visual images on the post.
This would get and drive more attention.
On the contrary, some people who are quite interesting and they're
interested for others in their opinions and what they think about,
they would put place more importance on the form of text.
So choosing your own way to communicate and choosing
the right way and appropriate channel off
the communication is quite essential for the digital rhetoric.
And all of this is quite possible just because of
the wide Internet spread and the new tools and mediums they each appear online.
Digital rhetoric does rely highly on the classic rhetoric as well,
but being more interactive,
being more complex it requires a set of different skills and
actually many more skills in order to maintain this public discourse.
Understanding the digital rhetorics and
the public discourse within the Internet is important to understand the society.
And it's important to maintain yourself quite happy and successful life.
Let's now move on to the case finally,
and see how all these theories can be applied to the practice.
