Rhetoric Commons^™

Grassroots Emergency Health Risk Communication And Transmedia Public Participation: H1n1 Flu, Travelers From Epicenters, And Cyber Vigilantism, Huiling Ding

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Grassroots risk reduction tactics took new forms in the era of social media. Chinese netizens mobilized human flesh searches (HFS), or cyber vigilantism, to reduce the risks posed by international travelers who might import the H1N1 flu virus into China. My study suggests that at the beginning of the H1N1 flu epidemic, rigorous transmedia intervention efforts were made to discipline the early irresponsible overseas Chinese who traveled extensively after arriving in China, but much less attention was paid to risks posed by foreign travelers. The grassroots risk tactics employed emotional appeals, valuative judgment, and moral condemnation to criticize the irresponsible …

Editor's Introduction, Nicole St. Germaine

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Busy physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators do not have the time to conduct focus groups or in-depth interviews with patients. Researchers in the communication fields, such as the authors whose work is featured in this edition of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization, can help fill in these gaps of knowledge and provide insight into some of the best practices and issues that our healthcare professionals need to address to serve these populations more effectively.

Review Of The Craft Of Scientific Communication. Joseph E. Harmon And Alan G. Gross, Chicago: The University Of Chicago, 2010. 225pp., Matthew Mccool

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Science is a truly global endeavor, one that traffics in the world of abstract theory and practical implications. Bridging the chasm between theory and practice is one thing but communicating it from one mind to the next takes clarity and concision. Harmon and Gross’ latest book, The Craft of Scientific Communication (Chicago: The University of Chicago), helps scientists and laypersons alike do just that.

Review Of The Global M&A Tango: How To Reconcile Cultural Differences In Mergers, Acquisitions, And Strategic Partnerships. Fons Trompenaars And Maarten Nijhoff Asser. New York: Mcgraw Hill, 2011, Harrison Ownbey

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

The cultural clashes and communication failures that often occur during international business mergers and acquisitions (M&As) revolve around rhetoric. However, many business experts facilitating M&As neglect rhetorical issues, which then exponentially compounds other problems. A large majority of mergers and acquisitions fail primarily because of cultural differences. Dutch authors Fons Trompenaars and Maarten Nijhoff Asser offer The Global M&A Tango as a baseline method for realizing new strengths and delivering business benefits by connecting different viewpoints. The book aims to enable M&A executives to create a dialogic foundation for new communication frameworks. It suggests several key processes to help frame …

Review Of Intercultural Rhetoric In The Writing Classroom. Ulla Connor. Ann Arbor, Mi: The University Of Michigan Press, 2011., Dobson Kate

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

For the better part of its life span, intercultural rhetoric research has been dominated by Ulla Connor. This book is a follow-up to her 1996 book Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Second-Language Writing, in which she described the developing research methods for the field at the time. Upon the book’s release, some critics warned that the act of comparing the writing style of one person from a particular national culture to that of someone from another national culture may result in stereotypes. This book is the response to these criticisms by way of redefining the field.

How Change Management Is Influenced By Differences In Professional Discourses: A Conceptualizing Study On The Adoption Of An Ict Tool For Service Engineers In A Global Perspective, Jos Pieterse, Jan Ulijn, Thijs Homan

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

This article describes the process of organizational change due to technological evolutions, suggesting that community-specific differences in discourse may have a considerable influence on its success. The questions for this study focus on: 1) how do we define a technically oriented employee who has to cope with organizational change? 2) Which factors determine the reaction to organizational change projects in which these technically oriented employees are involved? And 3) what are the consequences of these specific characters of technically oriented employees for implementing change programs in the most effective manner? First, while the present studies on professional communication do not …

Global Training, Multicultural Course Design, And Delivery: The Impact On Cultural Style Adjustments Of Faculty And Global Training Instructors, Christine R. Day, Crissie M. Frye

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Globalization is a reality for businesses and institutions of higher education. Furthermore, many U.S. based firms are expanding their businesses beyond domestic markets. These trends indicate that U.S. born individuals are likely to study or work in multicultural environments domestically and abroad. Research suggests that faculty and trainers adapt their teaching style and classroom policies to accommodate multicultural learners. Disconnections may arise, however, regarding the willingness to include these accommodations. The present exploratory study investigates the inclination and extent to which faculty and trainers adjust their teaching style, content, and policies to adapt to multicultural learners, namely, graduate and undergraduate …

Does Language Affect Trust In Global Professional Contexts? Perceptions Of International Business Professionals, Jane Kassis Henderson, Leena Louhiala-Salminen

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

A characteristic of trust is that it is more easily built in close-knit communities where common ground and a common language are already established. Building trust is, therefore, a challenge for business professionals who use English as a shared working language in the multilingual environment of multinational companies. In this exploratory article, concepts from trust research and principles from the field of interactional sociolinguistics are used to throw light on the interplay of language and trust. Based on an analysis of survey and interview data from business professionals in globally operating companies in several countries, findings indicate that language related …

State Of The Field: Human Sociality And Our Expanding Circle, Matthew Mccool

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

The first part of this essay provides a brief summary of this journal’s first editorial, which examined eight needed developments and eight critical contexts for global inquiry. The second part addresses our expanding circle of ethics, which starts with kin but has gradually increased to include tribes, states, nations, and even the world. It is our expanding circle of ethics that has led to a heightened awareness of equality, the product of a noble goal with origins in recent social justice movements. The aim of this essay is to assert that the field has a promising future by including both …

Review Of Digital Literacy For Technical Communication: 21st Century Theory And Practice. Edited By Rachel Spilka. New York: Routledge. 2010. 272 Pages., Dave Jones

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

This collection of essays, edited by Rachel Spilka, addresses changes within the field of Technical Communication, and asks what those changes mean for scholars and practitioners. As technical (or professional) communication expands its focus in the 21st century to include tools, skills, and technologies beyond its traditional scope, the collection gathers together well-known technical communication specialists to ask what "literacy" might mean in this new context. Though the introduction at one point says that the anthology wishes to address "any type of literacy affected by technology of all types " (p. 7), the primary focus is clear: digital literacy. The …

Review Of The World Is Flat: A Brief History Of The Twenty-First Century; 1st Rev. And Expanded Ed. New York: Farrar, Straus And Giroux, 2006., Kathryn Northcut

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

There may be no more obvious popular book to review for the first issue of a journal on rhetoric, professional communication, and globalization than Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. Friedman, bestselling author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree, attempts to demystify globalization and suggest ways that governments and corporations will need to quickly adjust in an increasingly competitive market environment. Consistently as ambitious as the title suggests, Friedman’s book describes much of interest to technical communicators, especially those of us who just can’t travel enough to see things first hand …

Review Of Network Power: The Social Dynamics Of Globalization. David Singh Grewal. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008., William Carney

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

The debate over globalization is often portrayed in both the mainstream media and some segments of academia as one that features two extremes. On one side are the “neoliberals” with a positive yet almost deterministic view of globalization. For them, the growth of an interconnected web of business, nonprofit, and governmental relations will ultimately improve living standards all over the world and the reach of this web has become all but inevitable. On the other side are those who see a nefarious side to globalization. They fear the extinction of cultural differences and ways of life for people powerless to …

In Case You Missed It: Selected Scholarship From The Discipline, Gerald Savage, David Alan Sapp

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

We all tell our undergraduate and graduate students how important it is to keep current in the field. In our professional lives as writers and communicators, that means keeping track of trends in industry and technology; as academics, it means keeping up on our reading—the latest books, recent articles in journals, the proceedings of our major conferences—so that we can contribute to disciplinary conversations, teach our classes with integrity, and advance our own research agendas effectively. As part of this process, we show our appreciation to those who contribute to the knowledge of our field and participate in the process …

Intercultural Rhetoric In The Technical Communication Curriculum: A Review Of The Literature, Jennifer Bracken Scott

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Although many scholars in technical, professional, and business communication have argued for the inclusion of intercultural rhetoric and communication in technical communication curricula, several key tensions have emerged from this effort. These tensions center upon the competencies most necessary for graduates of our programs, as well as approaches for understanding and teaching intercultural communication. This literature review presents a discussion and critique of literature in the field based on articles collected from several major journals as well as book sections in the areas of technical, professional, and business communication; it also offers recommendations for further research and development in this …

Rethinking The Problem Of Linguistic Categorization For Global Search Engines, Matthew Mccool

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

The fields of social psychology and neuroscience have known for several decades that culture affects the way people carve up the world. This perceptual difference is often, but not always, aligned with similar differences in linguistics categories. If correct, this problem of linguistic categorization may have considerable impact on search algorithms. This paper examines the relationship between culture and linguistic categorization for global search engines. A total of 43 American and Chinese participants completed two classification tests, one derived from social psychology and neuroscience and the other based on a common classification problem for full-text searching. These data suggest that …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Cultural Propositions About Conflict Management Styles In Face-Negotiation Theory, Peter Cardon, Ephraim Okoro

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Among the most influential intercultural communication theories is Ting-Toomey's face-negotiation theory. The theory has undergone a number of refinements over the past two decades and has emerged as one of the most cited theories in intercultural business communication research. The theory posits that face or “identity respect and other-identity consideration” is maintained and negotiated in communications and interactions of members of all cultures; however, it is perceived and enacted differently across cultures as a function of the cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism, power distance, and low-context/high-context orientation. Our study is a meta-analysis of all research during the past two decades about …

Editor's Introduction To The First Edition: Eight Needed Developments And Eight Critical Contexts For Global Inquiry, Barry Thatcher

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

In this introduction, I articulate critical gaps, needed developments, and opportunities for rhetoric and professional communication in global contexts. My tone is intentionally provocative and personal, laying out my positions and concerns based on almost 20 years of experience working in both rhetoric/professional communication and intercultural/global studies. In this introduction, I also demonstrate the power (and beauty) of intercultural and global inquiry to expose unexamined assumptions and problems in current theory, research, and practice in rhetoric and professional communication. The first section introduces eight needed developments for global theory, research, and practice, based on current approaches in rhetoric and professional …

Perspectives On Science And Culture, Kris Rutten, Stefaan Blancke, Ronald Soetaert

Purdue University Press Book Previews

Edited by Kris Rutten, Stefaan Blancke, and Ronald Soetaert, Perspectives on Science and Culture explores the intersection between scientific understanding and cultural representation from an interdisciplinary perspective. Contributors to the volume analyze representations of science and scientific discourse from the perspectives of rhetorical criticism, comparative cultural studies, narratology, educational studies, discourse analysis, naturalized epistemology, and the cognitive sciences. The main objective of the volume is to explore how particular cognitive predispositions and cultural representations both shape and distort the public debate about scientific controversies, the teaching and learning of science, and the development of science itself. The theoretical background of …

Ted Talks As An Emergent Genre, Julia Ludewig

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "TED Talks as an Emergent Genre" Julia Ludewig analyzes TED talks—short, informational, and entertaining presentations that are given during TED conferences in North America and abroad—as a hybrid and emerging genre. Based on a qualitative interpretation of 14 such talks, she offers a list of recurring thematic, argumentative, and rhetorical features, which she aligns with three parent genres—the sales pitch, the memoir, and the academic lecture. Comparing recent versions of TED talks with three older talks from the 1980s and 1990s, she suggests an historical trajectory, which emphasizes the professional performance character of recent talks and their …

Wayfinding Localized Research Practices Through Mobile Technology, Adam W. Strantz

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents wayfinding—the process of orienting oneself amid the myriad users, technologies, and digital spaces impacting any writing work—as a research methodology for contextualizing writing in mobile environments. Central to web design and non-web service design, wayfinding is an important addition to rhetoric and writing studies. First, it is descriptive: it observes and records first, showing how people go about tasks, and revealing relationships among people and their environments. Second, it helps when people get lost and then found. It records traces of the mental work people do to get unlost. Finding themselves, peoples’ maps help them both narrate …

Superheroes And Social Action: Reproduction, Recurrence, And Recognition In The Superhero Genre, Max M. Renner

Open Access Theses

Rhetorical genre analysis examines genre as social action and is primarily concerned with the experiences of individual users (Miller, 1984). The genres that rhetorical genre scholarship takes up are typically functional genres or genres in which individuals have direct means of utilizing and modifying a genre. This focus on functional genres makes sense in terms of the tradition’s interest in user experience and reciprocity. This project seeks to examine the potential implications rhetorical genre analysis has for vernacular genres which, for the most part, have remained the domain of literary scholarship due to their focus on structural, formal elements.

This …

To See In A Mirror Dimly: An Ecology Of Ritual Transmission, Rebekah Elizabeth Sims

Open Access Theses

I examine ritual transmission through three practices: Sacred Harp hymnody, Montessori Sunday School, and Celtic thin place, all practices meant to provide the participant with a tangible sense of transcendence. Ritual transmission in not linear exchange, but is instead a complex system involving pedagogy, praxis, and persuasion: an ecology. Ritual ecology provides a way to think about rituals as both preserving practices and as consistently evolving. The composition of a ritual – that which makes it possible to transmit – requires the development of technical praxis. Ritual praxis is a blend of procedural and exegetical knowledge; it is the link …

Listening To Our Stories In Dusty Boxes: Indigenous Storytelling Methodology, Archival Practice, And The Cherokee Female Seminary, Emily M. Legg

Open Access Dissertations

Influenced by a drive to seek out interdisciplinary connections within Rhetoric and Composition and to put these intersections into practice, this dissertation seeks out the ways indigenous ways of knowing, such as storytelling, can provide a heuristic to understand the ways our dappled discipline works to create community-based knowledges, and how these knowledges sustained through storytelling can recover the histories in our discipline by opening up our boundaries framed by dominant origin stories. Building on the work of decolonial and indigenous scholars, this dissertation asserts that indigenous storytelling encourages researchers to re-tool dominant methods in existing colonial structures in order …

Encounters Beyond The Interface: Data Structures, Material Feminisms, And Composition, Christine L. Masters

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation argues that data literacy should be taught in college writing classes along with other new media literacies. Drawing from several areas of study, this dissertation establishes a definition of data literacy, introduces a feminist methodological approach to Big Data and data studies, and makes a case for teaching data literacy in first year composition and professional writing courses as a foundational writing-related literacy. Information written into and read from databases supports research activities in any number of fields from STEM to the humanities; while different disciplines approach databases and data structures from diverse perspectives, all students need foundational …

Decentering The Writing Program Archive: How Composition Instructors Save And Share Their Teaching Materials, Stacy Olivia Nall

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation decenters the writing program archive through research on instructors’ digital archives. Artifacts of composition instruction are no longer saved to print archives alone; rather, digital technologies expand the locations where artifacts of writing pedagogy can be archived and accessed. The following archival ethnography, focused on a community engagement writing course in the Introductory Composition at Purdue (ICaP) program, finds that many digital archives of composition are hidden to outside researchers or not sustained (which are theorized as either “abandoned” or “pop-up” archives). At the same time, some pedagogical materials are publicly visible by virtue of personal web spaces …

Pick Yourself Up By Your Broadband: Access, The Digital Divide, And Migrant Workers, Enrique Reynoso Jr.

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a process called pizarron borrado: reorienting “failure” as a productive part of the research process. Using the backdrop of research on migrant workers’ technological access, I argue that classrooms can become much more accessible by moving from failure and looking at points where writing and research have moved in unexpected ways. As scholars such as Grabill have pointed out, access to computers and the Internet is an issue of public policy, and technical communicators are strategically positioned to contribute to, “policy making, research, and teaching” in ways that can help expand these services to underserved and underrepresented …

Emerging Genres, Dangerous Classifications: The Kairos Of Digital Composing Policy, Ellery Sills

Open Access Dissertations

Emerging Genres, Dangerous Classifications: The Kairos of Digital Composing Policy argues that writing policy infrastructure plays a significant (if often invisible) role in affording emerging digital genres in rhetoric and composition. Within the last few decades, the accelerating transformations and instabilities of emerging genres have posed a challenge for contemporary writing programs, which demonstrate a persistent wariness over incorporating digital composing into their mission. In response to this challenge, national educational associations have issued a growing number of policy statements meant to encourage a broader understanding of composing in the classroom. Curiously, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to …

Storytelling Failure In The Vale Of Leven: How A Bacterial Outbreak Became A Wicked Problem, Kyle P. Vealey

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the rhetorical work of a public inquiry investigation into an outbreak of Clostridium Difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland that resulted in 143 cases of infection and the tragic deaths of 34 patients. In light of these deaths and subsequent protests from local citizens, the National Health Service (NHS) Scotland launched a public inquiry in 2009 to investigate the events precipitating the outbreak. Extending rhetoric and technical communication’s sustained engagement with post-accident reports, this study explores how citizens and government officials accounted for the causes, boundaries, and impact of the outbreak. Specifically, …

Rhetoric And Feminism In The Americanization Era: The Ywca's Rhetorical Education Program For Immigrant Women, Gracemarie Mike

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the Young Women’s Christian Association’s International Institute movement from an administrative perspective. Founded in the United States during the Americanization Era of the early 20 th century, the International Institute movement developed programs and services for immigrant women. One of the most prominent, and least examined, aspects of the movement was its work in the area of rhetorical education for non-English speaking immigrant women. Using a feminist, administrative historiographic methodology, this project positions the work of the International Institute’s administrators ecologically among other Americanization efforts taking place in this time period. Arguing that the International Institute movement …

Technical Communication In Place-Making Professions: Exploring The Network Pictures Of Urban Designers, Fernando Sanchez

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation addresses how professional writing as a field can pay attention to broader definitions of design in order to help further conversations of spatial justice (the act of helping to promote equity in matters of development in urban spaces). I begin by noting the conversations that have circulated regarding the relationship between urban design and rhetoric, noting that professional writing can help add a unique lens to the conversation. The second chapter provides an overview of how design is discussed in technical communication scholarship. Here, I showcase how most of these discussions regarding research in design have centered on …