Final Blog

            Understanding rhetoric and the digital world individually and collectively, I have a better grasp on my personal ability to change the world. The digital age that we all now live in has provided us all with tools for this. The digital world has leveled the playing field to where we can all be innovators and creators for the good of the rest of the world. 

I’ll admit, I have been living in the digital “stone age.” Persuasive writing to me has always been alphabetic; I didn’t realize that persuasive writing could be more than that. I often think about what the next few generations’ education will be like. Being that I was a child of the early 90’s, I didn’t have a DSL connection until my freshman year of high school, where I sat in front of a dinosaur of a monitor screen to Myspace and Google and look up random items for sale because someone once told me that I could literally find anything I wanted to buy on the internet. But I didn’t grow up with the internet and the endless possibilities of social networking. Honestly, it wasn’t until this semester that I realized the rhetorical power of what this digital age can yield (or the power that can find itself in the hands of anyone—even a small child). I have discovered that my powers as a writer are no longer capped by not being published or unknown. I have discovered that the ideas and innovations that roll around in my head are not that crazy; someone else’s is always crazier (Twitter? YouTube?). I have discovered that now, since the digital age, I literally can change the world.

The A/V project was an interesting eye opener for me. I didn’t realize how far behind I was at learning the digital ways. I often wonder what the educational setting will be like for kids in the future. These are kids who are learning how to play videogames, blog and search the web before they ever learn to ride a bike (will this cause bikes to become obsolete?). Would a project like this be the typical introductory to a fifth grade class? Will it be funny to my children that my course required a class like this, that this class wasn’t just a normal rhetoric class? It wasn’t until everyone presented, that I instantly felt like my project was a stick figure drawing in the midst of Picassos. When my mom was a teacher she’d always say to her students, “don’t laugh; I can’t draw.” I wonder if teachers in the future will say, “Don’t laugh; I can’t digital.” Sort of a digression, but its an interesting thought to ponder about how this digital world is evolving, and to where we might discover our world in twenty years from now.

This was my first semester ever of rhetoric. So, between this class and Doug’s Rhetoric and Composition course, my mind has been pleasantly blown by this semester’s rhetoric overload. It was kind of funny how many different ideas and definitions of rhetoric floated in and out of my head all semester, but I am thoroughly grateful for each. At the beginning of the semester, I thought that rhetoric was the skillful means of persuasion though verbal and written means, of course, but at the end of the semester I have realized that rhetoric is also a digital means of persuasion. Something I have also come to realize is not only is rhetoric the persuasive means of digital composition, I have found that it is nearly anything that has to do with the digital world. Whether it is commenting on a blog, posting a picture to a website or searching with your favorite search engine, every decision made is rhetorical in one way or another. This semester has really solidified that for me.

Reading James Gee’s book, What Videogames Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy was one of the highlights of my education at MSU. This book showed me how relevant and crucial the digital world is to learning. This book has given me the direction I had been looking for since I entered college. My passion for helping students learn is something that is new to me this semester. In addition, Dr. Peppers article on “Cool” was also another eye opener for me. I think it was that reading that really solidified the concept of the continuum between rhetoric and the digital world for me.

As I watch the digital world rapidly regenerate before my eyes, I am seeing more and more my power to change the world. I am have the power to record an injustice and post it to the Web. I can start a fundraiser for a disease or charitable cause of my choosing. I can create propaganda that may just become viral. The internet has given me the means to be rhetorically persuasive in a way that never existed before. I will take what I have learned this semester and apply my new knowledge of rhetoric in the digital world in the most ethical way I can. I can use rhetoric in the digital world for the good and progression of the world.

 We live in the information age. No one can stop us. We can take a hold of our future and we can change it.