tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20999307061732013852011-12-02T11:33:15.496-08:00It's mmm, mmm ,good!Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-16565674320795436472011-09-08T14:56:00.000-07:002011-09-09T05:01:59.779-07:00

Knowledge of "specialized language" can be useful, or.. well, not useful at all. from the Dilbert website - strip for 9/8/2011 - http://dilbert.com/strips/ Jargon, or discourse specific vocabulary, can be help you pass into gated discourse communities in the same way a secret password can. For example, if you use words like "reify" and "discursive" and "panopticon" frequently and correctly, you

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-73045340801795216372011-09-07T12:23:00.000-07:002011-09-07T12:25:32.662-07:00

I recently attended a large conference where a number of very famous speakers were on the agenda. The conference was designed as a motivational event for area business people, community leaders, etc. Each of the speakers was known for some attribute or accomplishment. That is to say, each had a unique appeal of "ethos" to the audience. (Annie Olson, in her webpage at LeTourneau University,

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-12770388355252676272010-11-24T08:26:00.000-08:002010-11-24T08:26:15.541-08:00

Tim Berners-Lee’s "Manifesto on the State of the Web" begins with this: "The world wide web went live, on my physical desktop in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 1990. It consisted of one Web site and one browser, which happened to be on the same computer." OK, so I stole the title "Manifesto" from other reviewers. The piece at issue here is actually an article titled "Long Live the Web: A Call

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-50441653104885796212010-09-27T13:59:00.000-07:002010-09-27T13:59:06.728-07:00

My daughter sent me the link below, commenting on how often she finds stuff from "my world," that is to say, the world of rhetorical theory. Many of my colleagues would probably respond that such discoveries should be expected because "Everything is rhetorical!" And indeed, I am likely to agree with them. When my friends and I converse using only quoted lines from Seinfeld, Shakespeare or The

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-3892850221100978572010-09-12T13:28:00.000-07:002010-09-12T13:28:52.079-07:00

Some recent news about the "Cultural Literacies Across Media Course" I teach at Clemson University. Visit the CLAM SOUP blog to see the links to these articles, leave your comments and view work of students in the CLAM program. CLAM Soup (caah 201): CLAM Gets Noticed by The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Dr. Constancio Nakuma The July 22 Issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education featured a

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-75097482610570264482010-05-07T14:46:00.001-07:002010-05-28T19:01:16.418-07:00

Tucker Originally uploaded by RandyNickatNiteThe Tucker! and what is that inscription above the car? Marshall McLuhan? You don't say. "The car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete." The techne of the car culture is integral to an understanding of the fabric of the general culture of "Americans." Check out the "Tucker Club of America" here: http:

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-86868817272845104272010-02-03T10:49:00.000-08:002010-02-25T17:34:09.107-08:00

If indeed, rhetoric is anything like "finding the available means of persuasion in a given situation," (and let's assume, for the sake of argument, that it is something like that,) then some things are both obvious and important: know who you are talking to (audience) know the situation and setting of your communication (kairos) know the network of cultural & communicative exchange of your

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-14591612265608885522009-09-12T12:01:00.000-07:002009-09-12T12:01:26.725-07:00

Audience: A key component of Rhetorical Compostion, Literary Analysis, Usability Testing, Experience Design...I offer here a little advice on making the most rheotrical hash of this substance. But it is not my advice - no, it is advice from the "great one' himself - Mr. Samuel Clemens. So, enjoy Mark Twain's take on the proer consideration of "audience." --------- Whenever I am about to

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-88480396667003698802009-09-01T05:27:00.000-07:002009-09-01T16:38:24.203-07:00

Sound bite of the day... Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Persuasion depends on handling well matters of Ethos, Kairos, Pathos, and Audience? Some say you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar... Jethro said that you catch even more with a dead 'possum.

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-80033203594439810102009-08-20T19:54:00.000-07:002009-08-21T04:27:11.042-07:00

The New York Times recently ran an article describing a shift in College tours from mere fast-paced, fact-quoting, run around a predetermined course to a more leisurely, story-filled experience.You can see the article "Colleges Seek to Remake the Campus Tour" here.The thing that stood out to me is power of narrative - i.e. mythos, story, telling, etc."Something there is that loves a storyThat

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-46856752436283015032009-08-10T07:16:00.000-07:002009-08-10T07:48:37.251-07:00

Those witty insights that formerly appeared as brilliant, though pithy, blog entries have been commandeered in service of Facebook wall postings. Such is the excuse for lack of attention to my blogs.I have a suspicion that my case is not unique. So I wonder what this all means.Why do I post more on FB and neglect my blog? Is it possible that the "audience" is more immediate? or that the audience

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-42113676676480014992009-07-07T11:49:00.000-07:002009-07-07T11:58:26.561-07:00

The NY Times recently published an article entitled,"Rise of Web Video, Beyond 2-Minute Clips" you should check it out here. The "web" as new media is in a constant (non)state of dynamistic flux.To say, "this is how the web works," or "thi sis how communication takes place online," is a guarantee of obsolescence.Here's a notably quote from the article: “A few years ago, three minutes ‘watching’

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-14563784023711539102009-02-16T06:57:00.000-08:002009-02-16T07:06:46.408-08:00

A Wordle representation of my delicious links... yummy!

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-74478274811172981242009-02-04T08:46:00.000-08:002009-02-04T08:50:58.736-08:00

The nape of the neck is more alluring than the pointing of the bony finger... Tell all the Truth but tell it slant Emily DickinsonTell all the Truth but tell it slant---Success in Cirrcuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth's superb surpriseAs Lightening to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-74231766208508773782009-01-13T10:48:00.000-08:002009-01-13T11:17:43.983-08:00

In our Accelerated Composition class, we are learning to "read rhetorically," or to perform rhetorical analyses on "texts" of all type - written, film, video, visual, aural/oral, etc. Keeping in mind Aristotle's idea that "Rhetoric is the art of discovering the available means of persuasion in a given situation," we look at communication artifacts in terms of their logos (logical argument),

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-4570411665545363202008-11-28T05:48:00.000-08:002008-11-28T05:55:07.137-08:00

Victor Vitanza accepts the thanks of the teh Conference on College Composition and Communication for the ground-breaking work done in Clemson's RCID program. This special presentation, included President-elect Barak Obama personally handing Vitanza the award on the campus of Clemson University. This brings the innovative doctoral program an unprecedented national recognition.See the ceremonies

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-3219421185083221232008-11-06T09:22:00.001-08:002008-11-06T09:23:47.944-08:00

Get your motor running...Just because.

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-45192337817108770342008-10-15T10:11:00.000-07:002009-01-13T11:16:28.349-08:00

Text-centric composition has been privileged all my life. I speak here of the process of writing with letters that form words that form sentences, etc., and that can be (re)produced with ink on paper. From the time I was in grammar school with my Blue Horse Writing Tablet to the time I produced my first Five-paragraph essay, the "paper" has been to ultimate mark of scholarship - and of literary

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-61833062805737622692008-10-01T05:40:00.000-07:002008-10-01T06:00:39.856-07:00

In Science in Action, Latour makes the rhetoric of science visible, like Penn & Teller make the rhetoric of magic visible. The formation of "facts" in Latour's revealing treatment does not make science any less interesting, to the contrary, it encourages a fascination with the process of knowledge-making. (Just as "magic" becomes no less fascinating when Penn & Teller do the cups and balls trick

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-88885557519836564972008-09-14T13:04:00.000-07:002008-09-14T13:43:28.932-07:00

As a University instructor of Accelerated Composition, I help students engage "texts" of all kinds: poems, editorials, cartoons, video, comics, ads, news photos, essays, sitcoms, etc.I encourage them to "read critically," that is, to identify the context of the "text," and the rhetorical approach. As we engage such multi-modal "texts," we discuss logos, ethos, pathos, arrangement, invention,

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-56152848640679711102008-09-06T05:54:00.000-07:002008-10-01T06:04:20.236-07:00

Oh, the enlightened age in which we live - where women can run for president, or vice-president, and be treated exactly the same as their male counter-parts.Sorta.Well, sometimes.Maybe.Or maybe not. "There's also this issue that on April 18th, she [Palin] gave birth to a baby with Down's Syndrome....Children with Down's syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of Vice President, it

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-69418755462012333932008-08-26T18:03:00.000-07:002008-08-26T18:28:38.068-07:00

Microsoft is spending over $300 million dollars to help win more customers to their PC platform. What, you might ask, are they doing with all that money? Increasing online security for their users? Building a lean, mean, operating system that boots automatically and never crashes? Designing a voice-activated environment that recognizes every voice command perfectly, while using practically no

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2099930706173201385.post-30714863720050622062008-08-24T20:09:00.000-07:002008-08-27T15:44:22.208-07:00

A seven-year-old girl was good enough to sing during the Olympics, but not cute enough to be seen on the screen. Seems that the Chinese wanted to put their best face forward in the Olympics, but their actions left a less-than-beautiful impression. TheWeekDaily.com summed up the stink this way: Chinese officials acknowledged that 9-year-old Lin Miaoke, the girl who sang “Ode to the Motherland”

Randy D Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00173976396074291405noreply@blogger.com0