Project 3: Inventing a Public

Inventing a Public Assignment

Inventing a Public: Community-Based Research

Inventing a public community-based research

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A creative exercise

Announcement - City Literacy Competition

Some questions to consider as you revise Project 2

Here are the revision questions that we used in class. You'll likely find it helpful to consult them as you continue to revise.
Some Questions

IRB Compliance for Interviews

For those of you who are planning to conduct interviews as part of your research: As we discussed in class, you MUST have each and every one of your interview subjects sign an IRB compliance form. Each and every one. No exceptions.

The form is on Blackboard, under Course Documents.

My summary of Postman's Technopoly

Summary of Technopoly

Project 2: The Virtual Communities Project

Here's the assignment for your second project:
WRIT 1133 - Project 2

Inventing with Hypotheses, 1, 2, 3, and 4

Inventing with hypotheses

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Inventing with hypotheses 2

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Inventing with hypotheses 3

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Inventing with hypotheses 4

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Homework for Tuesday

For Tuesday, please read, summarize, and evaluate the two chapters from Neil Postman's Technopoly that I've put on Blackboard under Course Documents.  (I can't post these to the blog, as it would be a violation of copyright.)  Please send your summary/evaluation to me by the start of class.

Also, please sign up for Second Life and spend a little time familiarizing yourself with the basics (like how to move, how to chat with others, and how to teleport).  On Tuesday, we're going to do conduct some ethnographic research of the Second Life world.

How to Post to DenveRhetor

Here are the instructions for posting:

Posting to DenveRhetor

Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community, chapters 2 and 9

For class on Thursday, April 15, please read, summarize, and evaluate the main lines of argument in these two chapters from Howard Rheingold's The Virtual Community:


Chapter Two: Daily Life in Cyberspace
Chapter Nine: Electronic Frontiers and Online Activists

Each summary should be two paragraphs in length.  In the first paragraph, summarize the main lines of argument; in the second, identify and explain what you believe to be the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments.

Please email your paragraphs to me by the start of class on Thursday.

Candace Saindon, Plato's World of Warcraft

Plato's World of Warcraft

Plato claims rhetoric persuades unfairly. Instead, he lays out the guidelines to leading a just life. However, Plato’s dialogue lacks the modernity of current forms. Pictures, television, video games, etc. inform the average 2010 consumer instead of dry lectures in book form. Creating contemporary artwork to represent Plato’s way to live life, without rhetoric, in a comic book/video game format preserves Plato’s message while illuminating modern differences.

Socrates uses doctors, thieves, and kings to argue, but doesn’t include CEO’s and presidents. Today we find professions and technology that Plato couldn’t fathom. Plato’s basic philosophy, living a righteous life, reaches through time. But as the comic proves, living an honorable life doesn’t always return to the individual positively. Each page argues Plato’s argument through the character Platonious. The comic tells the story of Aquena, who is robbed and killed. When Reyastus robs Aquena, he uses rhetoric to convince the guards of his innocence, and blames Aquena for the robbery. She does not persuade the guards and remains honorable, but loses gold. At Sholazar Basin, Platonious states that the Gods will reward her after death. Unfortunately, Aquena looks the same after death, and the comic ends without knowing her fate. Both times Plato’s philosophy fails Aquena, but the audience still retains Plato’s arguments.  This allows for the viewers to consider Plato’s case, and discuss the pros/cons.

Gorgias and Plato’s World of Warcraft, use dialogue examples to explain points. Combining the video game world with the comic book format modernizes Plato’s concept by using current technology while conveying the same issues. Reyastus robbing Aquena parallels Socrates’ example of a thief. Instead of writing about people from hundreds of years ago, the comic illustrates elves and other creatures. This example demonstrates the point of rhetoric giving criminals an upper hand, and conveys the message in a more appealing way to viewers. After Aquena and her friend die, their spirits remain nearly identical to their body forms. The narrative ends without seeing Aquena judged by the Gods or knowing her fate. This design connects with real life, as nobody knows what happens after we die. Plato’s belief in separating the body from the soul may not relate to other faiths, similar to the virtual world not fitting with his view.

The comic book format renews Plato’s argument of living better. Socrates’ discusses living a just life while convincing Callicles and Gorgias of rhetoricians seeking to persuade individuals unfairly. Plato’s World of Warcraft conveys Plato’s message while including examples to allow discussion from viewers. Aquena’s journey tests Plato’s beliefs first-hand, and places viewers in the mind of a fictitious character, just like Plato’s Socrates.

Jenny Lamphere, Gorgias flipbook

            To read any work written by Plato is to begin an excavation process of sorts. Each piece of dialogue, each singular phrase, functions dually in the context of the immediate discussion and as a contributing factor to the unearthing of an abstract, overarching theme buried beneath a layer of rhetorical discourse. Each new idea, example, or piece of information has an individual identity; that identity must first be understood in its own right before it can be effectively translated to the bigger picture. Another way to illustrate this idea would be with the example of an onion. It can be viewed as a whole object or in parts, peeled down layer by layer- either way you can’t have one without the other.

The subject of my composition is Plato’s Gorgias, and more specifically, the beliefs the author espouses regarding how to live a good life and the combination of traits necessary for admittance to some kind of afterlife. Since I view Plato’s ideas in terms of layers contributing to a whole, I wanted my project to be a literal representation of that vision. Each page of my piece has a different main subject- the pages are connected by the reoccurring motif of the human body outline. This design allows viewers to meditate on and explore multiple subjects covered in the Gorgias without losing sight of the central connecting thread. The flipbook style encourages viewers to play with the work by putting together different combinations of layers, thus enhancing the level of active engagement in the interaction between art and audience. Similarly when one is reading a work by Plato, one must also actively engage with the writing in order to keep up with the often convoluted trajectory of ideas. 

The twist of my piece lies in the images that make up the designated section of each page. I wanted to communicate a summary of how Plato thinks we ought to live but also to respond with an ironic rebuff to what I personally view as an overly idealistic philosophy. While some of the people and objects are accurate stereotypical examples of the trait they are intended to represent, others are intentionally the opposite in order to emphasize the fact that especially in today’s complex modern society one cannot break down a successful or good life into categories or some kind of formula. There are grey areas and exceptions to everything- it would be nearly impossible to fulfill Plato’s lofty standards without complication. The simplicity and clean lines of my project are also an irony in and of themselves in respect to the complexity of a Platonic dialogue.  

Conversely, I also feel that valuing and attempting to uphold characteristics such as justice, temperance, strength, and goodness are noble goals. The graphics are in color to highlight the ability of their accompanying trait to add dimension to a person’s life. The transparent sheets function to allow one to choose how much they see and to metaphorically represent the ultimate transparent nature of humans in relation to the greater forces of the universe. Thus my composition is a combination of irony and advocacy through contemporary cultural icons; half paradox, half acknowledgement. Plato’s ideals continue to be relevant in western civilization regardless of their relationship with reality.

DenveRhetor analysis, Impulse Theater, by Julia Murphy

DenveRhetor analysis, Vox Feminista, by Jamie D'Angelo (Part 1)

DenveRhetor analysis, Vox Feminista, by Jamie D'Angelo (Part 2)

DenveRhetor analysis, Denver University Soccer Stadium, by Mark Mulvahill