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In this week’s blog post, I highlight the three readings for Week 10 in ENG 467 at Illinois State University: “MOAR Digital Activism, Please” published in the interactive journal Kairosby Lauri Gooding, the Computers and Compositionarticle “#MyNYPD: Transforming Twitter into a Public Place for Protest” by Tracey J. Hayes, and Stephanie Vie’s “In Defense of ‘Slacktivism’: The Human Rights Campaign Facebook Logo as Digital Activism” published by First Monday. I found these articles extremely informative concerning my present scholarly pursuits. I want to focus on Hayes’ article first, as it if foundational to what I want to discuss in this blog post. One of the issues I have been having as I think through some of the assignment in this course is how to focus in on the activity as it takes place in the digital realm and to resist my inclination to transfer that activity into the physical action that takes place in the world. Hayes’ article allowed me to make a connection with provides a bit of clarity concerning how I see my work in this field unfolding throughout the remainder of the class and in the future. I connected Hayes to the article, “Location Matters: The Rhetoric of Place in Protest" by Danielle Endres and Samantha Senda-Cook. By having the methodology concerning place-based rhetoric in physical places, I feel comfortable thinking about the protests that take place in digital places and the associated methodologies for analysis. Another scholar I thought of this week is Ellen Cushman, and specifically, “The Public Intellectual, Service Learning, and Activist Research” published in College English in 1999. As we approach the twentieth anniversary of this article, I feel as though this article is as timely as ever, especially considering the current political climate in America, and, as an instructor, I continue to develop pedagogically with this text in mind. I think that I continue to develop as a scholar and a composition instructor, and even in my role as a Writing Program coordinator next year, it will benefit me a great deal to consider how we can get students to consider the implications of social activity on digital platforms in terms of activism. I did not strike me until I was preparing to write this blog post, but there was a bit of irony present in the articles assigned for this week and my personal social media usage. As I was reading through “MOAR Digital Activism, Please” by Gooding, I found myself struck by the quote, “We are in a position to shape understanding, perception, agency, and efficacy surrounding the use of public rhetoric, and we should not ignore the digital as a means to accomplish those goals.”I immediately Tweeted this quote. If the irony is not apparent, in Tweeting, I became an activist for the way Gooding sees the role of digital activism in our society. Of course, the implications of my moment of digital activism do not carry the same weight as those who were affected by the #MyNYPD movement, as well as those who protested in digital places for the right to equality in marriage, or the protesters who took to social media during the Standing Rock Nation/Dakota Access Pipeline standoff in the past. I continue to learn so much from the readings each week and am beginning to establish some authority in the way I see things within this field. Of course, this is not arrogance, only a young scholar developing some ethos. With these scholars, and more, including Cushman informing my decisions, I am excited to see how I continue to develop pedagogically.
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Charles WoodsPhD student focusing on Rhetoric, Composition, and Technical Communication at Illinois State University. Archives
October 2019
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