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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Agency In Action: Exploring User Responses And Rhetorical Choices In Interactive Data Displays, Jacob D. Rawlins, Gregory D. Wilson, Kate Crane
Agency In Action: Exploring User Responses And Rhetorical Choices In Interactive Data Displays, Jacob D. Rawlins, Gregory D. Wilson, Kate Crane
Faculty Publications
n 2014, Rawlins and Wilson proposed a typology of agential interactions between users and designers of interactive data displays. This article tests that typology by studying 20 users working with three different types of interactive data displays and answering questions, which were coded by verb and actor and analyzed for themes. The authors show that rhetorical agency is marked by thoughts, actions, and language. Affordances by the designer open a shared rhetorical space where user and designer are coparticipants. As interactivity increases, participants see themselves as rhetorical agents in a community of rhetorical agents rather than as conduits of information.
Stories They Tell: The Rhetoric Of Recruiting Independent Consultants, Jacob D. Rawlins, Sarah E. Martin
Stories They Tell: The Rhetoric Of Recruiting Independent Consultants, Jacob D. Rawlins, Sarah E. Martin
Faculty Publications
This study investigates the themes that drive persuasive recruiting appeals, or stories, designed to attract new, entrepreneurial workers in the direct selling industry. It offers a rhetorical perspective informed by fantasy theme analysis on the themes present in the recruiting content on the corporate Web sites of three direct selling companies (Mary Kay, Stella & Dot, and Scentsy). The analysis indicates that rhetorical agency is a core theme in the persuasive recruiting stories for these companies. Offering a means for business and technical communication scholars to explore agency or other persuasive story themes in context, this study addresses how a …