ENGL 4275/WRDS 4011: “Rhetoric of Technology” » April 4th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion

April 4th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion

Plan for the Day

Social Construction of Technology Essays

I commented on all your drafts, but I also have general statements and impressions on your Social Construction of Technology Essays I’d like to share. Here’s the big observation:

It’s not that I don’t think most of you are reading; I just don’t think you’re reading carefully enough, and you’re having difficulty incorporating the readings into your essays.

Synthesizing research (using the words of others) is an extremely important skill. When you do that well, you show that you both understand what the author is claiming and that you can relate it to your ideas. Because the topic was about values and cultures—the values and cultures embodied by technologies—I was surprised that few of you cited the following from our first reading (Bazerman):

  • “The rhetoric of technology shows how the objects of the built environment become part of our systems of goals, values, and meaning, part of our articulated interests, struggles, and activities” (p. 386)
  • The rhetoric of technology “is the rhetoric of all the discourses that surround and embed technology” (p. 387)

In my experience, students who don’t use course readings in their essays are either not reading or do not understand the reading enough to incorporate it into their essays.

I’m worried about this because Neuromancer requires you to use our cultural studies lens to interpret meaning. Unlike the other readings, William Gibson is trying to entertain and not convey information and ideas directly (even though he’s heavy handed in places). Therefore, readers (you) have to be aware of the approach to take in order not to get lost in wondering why we’re reading the novel. If you aren’t reading our other texts and paying attention to the theories, it will be quite difficult to appropriately incorporate our course material into your work.

Issues for Social Construction of Technology Essays

Purpose: What is the overall goal of your essay?

  • Is it to describe technologies and their uses? Not the best approach.
  • Is it to describe how things should be? That’s ok, but are you being thorough enough with your explanations, or are you just writing “it should” over and over.
  • Is it to discuss cultural values and explain how certain technologies embody those values? That’s good.

Don’t pad your essays with…

  • Long unnecessary quotations
  • Titles of articles and where an author is from

Synthesize Course Readings

If you’ve been reading, you should be able to incorporate some of that reading into your essays.

Example to Analyze

What is good writing? Better yet, what is effective writing? Is there a difference? Obviously, I have some great examples of good writing, and, although you may think I’m too modest to discuss my own work, I do so below.

Science Fiction as a Source of Technical Communication

In order to embrace science fiction as technical communication, readers must understand that science fiction is more a contemporary cultural comment than a prediction of the future. Predicting the future can be a reality of science fiction (e.g., the submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [Verne 1870/1995]), but science fiction is a product of its culture. Even if the author (or director in the case of film) intends to predict the future, the author is still a member of a particular culture and absorbs that culture’s ideology. [S]cience fiction acclimates audiences to technology by adhering to a dichotomy. Science fiction narratives often present technology as benevolent or malevolent. The technologies that enslave humanity in films such as the Terminator series reflect a dis-ease in a culture that increasingly seems to give up autonomy to machines. In contemporary, real-life factories, robots and other automated technologies are more efficient than human labor and often make certain jobs obsolete, thus, contributing to anxiety about advancements in technology taking away jobs. Also, many science fiction narratives comment on the increased surveillance possible with technology (as is the case in Orwell’s [1949] Nineteen-Eighty Four). On the other hand, narratives such as the Star Trek universe of films, television shows, and literature predominantly reflect an attitude of benevolence in technologies. In this universe, technology allows diverse groups (in the form of various alien life forms) to combine forces and explore the universe; medical treatments are expertly diagnosed by waving hand-held devices over patients; and weapons “humanely” stun victims.

Technology as benevolent and always good to pursue is not a universally held value, but it is a dominant value of Western cultures. American culture, especially, holds technological advances highly. Even accursed office products such as fax machines and desktop computers are considered better than the “old way” of communicating through typed correspondence. American media celebrate the release of new technologies by reporting on their initial sale and interviewing early adopters. Contemporary consumer products become characters, celebrities even, for the public much like technology in science fiction narratives can be seen by audiences as characters helping to move along plot elements. Whether the technology creates a setting as in the case of the galaxy-traveling spaceship in A Hitchhiker’s Guides to the Galaxy series (Adams 1979), which uses an “Improbability Drive,” or the robots acting as characters in the many stories by Isaac Asimov (1950/2004), technology and science are major characters of science fiction. Even though science fiction rarely focuses on possible, at least, contemporarily, technology or science, the narratives still acclimate audiences to perceptions of technology and science and implicitly or explicitly propose that science and technology, which are always advancing, continue to provide solutions and change conditions for humans and society overall. Although believing technology changes culture assumes a technological deterministic paradigm, technology is still socially constructed even if the public believes technology changes life. The commitment to the belief that scientific and technological advancements will improve life is necessary for society to believe in order to allow institutions to pursue advancements.

A major example of a science fiction narrative that explains how humans in industrialized societies commit to technological advancement is Isaac Asimov’s (1950/2004) I, Robot. Asimov’s novel, which is actually a compilation of short story serials, projects a future where machines take on humanlike qualities in the form of robots….

–excerpt from Toscano, Aaron A. (2012). Marconi’s Wireless and the Rhetoric of a New Technology. Dordrecht: Springer. 22-25.

Possible Outline–forget about the “exact” rules of an outline. Below is a possible outline based on the excerpt. Some writers (including me) like using outlines, and others find they stifle their writing. Outlines are just tools you may or may not choose to use. Don’t let anyone tell you there’s an absolute reason to always or never use them. Feel free to send them my way, and I’ll straighten them out.

  1. Science fiction comments on contemporary culture
    1. Not a predictor of the future
    2. Sci fi Acclimates audiences to technology by adhering to a dichotomy
      1. Technology as benevolent or malevolent
      2. The Terminator series reflects this dis-ease
        1. Giving up autonomy to machines.
        2. Anxiety about advancements in technology taking away jobs
      3. Sci fi on increased surveillance (1984)
      4. Some Sci fi narratives reflect an attitude of benevolence in technologies
        1. Star Trek and exploring the Universe
        2. Diverse groups
        3. Advanced medical technologies
        4. Humane weapons
  2. Technology as benevolent is a dominant value of Western cultures
    1. American culture holds technological advances highly
      1. Office products aren’t perfect but considered better
        1. Fax machines and desktop computers
        2. Disdain for previous “archaic” technologies
      2. Media report on new technologies
        1. Popularity surrounding new gadgets
        2. Technologies similar to characters in texts
          1. Plot devices, settings
          2.  Improbability Drive (Hitchhiker’s Guide)
          3. Robots in I, Robot
      3. Sci fi acclimates readers to technology
        1. Technology and science always seem to improve
        2. Technology and science often offer solutions to problems
      4. Public has a technological determinism view of technology
        1. Believe scientific and technological advancements improve life
        2. Public belief allows institutions to continue funding new R&D
  3. Industrialized societies commit to technological advancement
    1. I, Robot reflects this commitment
      1. Machines take on humanlike qualities
      2. Robots eventually run the world
      3. Humans slowly give over control to the machines
    2. Although I, Robot is fiction, it reflects culture
      1. Main character interviewed by a young reporter about robot history
        1. Robots, metaphors for hi-tech real-world tools, do not follow their programming
        2. Each chapter identifies the progression of the technology
        3. Eventually, super robots create new robots
      2. Always-advancing technology is a cultural belief
        1. Fiction can be a form of technical communication
        2. Reflects social attitudes
        3. The rhetoric of technology
  4. Asimov didn’t predict the future
    1. Communicated culturally mediated messages about technological development
      1. Effect of technology on Labor
      2. …

You get the point. Notice that the attempt is to start broad and then focus the reader by providing details or by on narrowing the topic. Using repetition, the author keeps the audience focused on the main idea while supporting the main argument. Remember, repetition isn’t the same as redundancy: “Let me forewarn you ahead of time”; “Charlotte’s economy reflects the overall economy as a whole”; others…Don’t mistake being thorough for being redundant. In fact, risk being redundant for the sake of being thorough–every assertion needs to be defended. Your thesis or topic sentence is an assertion that takes the entire essay or paragraph to defend. In longer works, you might find you need to remind readers what the purpose is.

Transitions–Transitioning between paragraphs is important for maintaining a good flow in your writing. Using headings helps for long documents, but there’s this technique called the Known-New Contract that helps for paragraphs within sections. Below are groups of sentences–the last and first of adjacent (consecutive) paragraphs:

Para 1 (last): In this universe, technology allows diverse groups (in the form of various alien life forms) to combine forces and explore the universe; medical treatments are expertly diagnosed by waving hand-held devices over patients; and weapons “humanely” stun victims.
Para 2: (first): Technology as benevolent and always good to pursue is not a universally held value, but it is a dominant value of Western cultures.

Para 2 (last): The commitment to the belief that scientific and technological advancements will improve life is necessary for society to believe in order to allow institutions to pursue advancements.
Para 3 (first): A major example of a science fiction narrative that explains how humans in industrialized societies commit to technological advancement is Isaac Asimov’s (1950/2004) I, Robot.

Para 3 (last): This is discourse surrounding the rhetoric of technology.
Para 4 (first): Asimov (1950/2004) did not accurately predict the future, but he communicated culturally mediated messages about technological development.

Wait a minute! Those last two violate what we’ve been talking about…don’t they?

The first two are what we’d call “implied” transitions. This is normal for the first paragraph of a new section–the topic paragraph. Readers expect the author will cover the assertions made in the paragraph in later paragraphs; therefore, as long as the author conforms to audience expectations about what will come next–doesn’t start writing about circus seals after introducing readers to I, Robot–readers shouldn’t have too much trouble following along. Remember, this discussion on transitions is a guide and not a prescription for exactly how to write. Writers have much leeway in how they communicate, but, in technical writing situations, you may find your prose is much more limited than in more creative endeavors.

Note: sometimes it’s impossible or awkward to reference the previous paragraph directly. However, readers shouldn’t be surprised by what comes in the next paragraph. They should be able to follow your train of thought without your jumping to a new topic without a clear transition. Even an implied one–one not written–could be helped but meta-discourse phrases such as, “In addition to the previous example, this is another similar topic…”; “Although the above is a prevailing attitude, it’s important to consider nuances in culture…”; “Next,…,” are helpful if not overused.

Outlines

While we’re on the subject of outlines, I have a very generic outline that might help you structure your Social Construction of Technology Essay. I referenced this in my feedback to some of you, so here is the example:

I. Introduction
     A. Mention an American value
     B. Mention another American value or one related to the first value
     C. Identify the technologies that embody these values
     D. Briefly mention that capitalism is driving much of technological production
II. Discuss American culture
     A. Example of first value
          * proof
     B. Another Example of first value
          * proof
     C. At least one more example
          * proof
III. Transition to discussion on second or related American value
     A. Example of first value
          * proof
     B. Example of first value
          * proof
     C. Example of first value
          * proof
IV. Now, discuss your technologies
     A. First Technology
     B. Second one
     C. Third one
V. Discuss how an American value (such as capitalism, profit motive, etc.) drives technological creation
     A. Discuss how important this value is for the economy, society, businesses, the military, etc.
     B. If you’re doing consumerism, here would be a good place to discuss planned obsolescence and how that conditions us to buy new things
VI. Conclusion
     A. Summarize your main argument
     B. Explain if future technologies will be dependent on capitalism
     C. What else?

Grammar Refresher

Many of you have asked about grammar rules, so I’m offering you a Web page that provides some details on big issues. Check out this page from a different class for a Grammar Refresher. Also, ENGL 4183 “Editing with Digital Technologies” will teach you how to write prose that sings–see you in the fall!

Next Class

We meet on Tuesday, 4/09, and will discuss Tom Wheeler’s From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future (2019). We won’t be meeting as a class on Thursday, 4/11, or Tuesday, 4/16, because I’ll be at a conference fulfilling my research obligations. Keep up with the syllabus, and do the Weekly Discussion Posts.