TODAY

1) Icebreaker2) Check-in3) The Triangle, Again4) Facebook: Rhetorical Playground5) Activity: The Cold Finger of Analysis Points at Thee6) Share and share alike7) Homework

ICEBREAKER

This one should be quick and hopefully a little bit of fun.

Pick someone from the opposite side of the room. Go over, introduce yourself, get the person’s name, and find out one cool thing he or she did over the weekend.

Then you get to tell us.

CHECK IN

I think we did better with the Tweets over the Thurs/Fri/Sat period. Remember the one at the end of this presentation is due by 11:59 PM TOMORROW.

I started the blogroll, and I made a bit of a mess. So we’ll quickly fix that (follow along).

Any questions for the good of the order?

BEFORE WE START…

As we look at the reading for today, and begin our activity, I want to bring back our good friend from last week’s class, you all know and love him…

THE RHETORICAL TRIANGLE!

Give him a hand!

THE READING

Any initial thoughts? I have some questions for you to consider, but before we get there, is there anything pressing anyone just wants to say, questions you had, etc.?

Link, for anyone playing along on the PowerPoint:

About Facebook

FIRST THING

Did anyone note the date of publication?

October of 2007. So you were just starting the eighth grade. 26 million FB users then.

A little update from the Googleverse on the next slide.

FACEBOOK in 2011

More than 750 million active users50% of our active users log on to Facebook a dayAverage user has 130 friendsPeople spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

That’s 1331.8 YEARS of time a month spent on Facebook.

READING (cont.)

My one major question for all of you is about the predictions the author makes and the various quotes/predictions offered about what Facebook could be/might be.

You spent your high school years and the start of college with Facebook after this moment in history. How’d Facebook shape up?

AND SO…

The next thing I want to do is hit you again with the triangle, along with an assertion.

First, the assertion:

Crafting a Facebook profile is a rhetorical act.

LET’S START…

…with my profile.

I’ll pull it up on the screen, and briefly, you can direct me where to scroll/what to click. I will only refuse if you ask me to do something that might implicate one of my friends in hilarity or shame.

Take some notes, as we’ll talk about things in a second.

RHETORIC…

Let’s hit the quick, obvious questions first.

1) Who is the author? *freebie!*2) Who is the audience? Now it gets more complex, right?3) What’s the text? How is it authored?

AND…

Where do you see appeals of ethos? Of pathos? Of logos?

What does this text seem to do?

Is that what it is intended to do?

And this one is a point for you to ponder as we move into the activity: is the profile you see here “me?”

CONSIDER…

… think in particular with something like Facebook about the nature of a “template” and the style of post automation.

I can control some things, but some of this stuff is out of my hands. Like what ads appear on the side, what my friends say, etc. What does that mean, rhetorically? How does that reflect upon the profile itself?

NOW… you

I’d like you to spend the next ten or fifteen minutes writing a quick rhetorical analysis of your own Facebook profile.

As you do this, think about everything you’ve done, every choice you’ve made, but also think about the things that aren’t your choices.

What is this “thing” we’d call a profile, and what does it tell us about you, about Facebook, about your friends, etc.? Keep this. It is considered brainstorming for inquiry 1. or Tumblr blog it.

WHAT…

…did you learn?

Let’s talk a bit about it.

HOMEWORK

Tweet (due tomorrow): what’s one thing about class right now that has you confused or that you’d like to know more about?

Tumblr: Go to my Tumblr for directions (I’ll also show you before you leave)

Read: CCM: “Rhetoric has a new Look” p.89 and “Sweet Tea and Southern English” p. 95

HOMEWORK

Next class we will peer review. I expect you to have a rough draft with you. If you don’t, I will consider you unprepared for class and hence absent.

Don’t forget to have a rough draft. It can be… pretty rough.

See you Thursday!