Douglas Eyman’s Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Media and Practice

In Douglas Eyman’s Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Media and Practice, the author introduced many different versions of digital rhetoric and theory. However, it is from my understanding that these versions encompass the main idea of what Digital Rhetoric is, and the argument for its legitimacy. Eyman argues that his experience with digital platforms over the years has ultimately lead him to understand that Digital Rhetoric is very much a part of our advancing society. In chapter one he lays a significant, but helpful, foundation by quickly going over the history of rhetoric and how it has evolved over time. In chapter two he dives in deeper with his argument of the digital platforms, and this will be crucial to his argument as in a perfect world we would be transitioning all rhetorical material into a digital space. In chapter three he specifically goes into the many different methods that are considered when using rhetoric. The significant in this can be seen through the application process, since we would have to understand rhetoric in order to teach it. Which leads me to the final chapter, and it is just that, implementing it into teaching. The contribution to the last chapter is its connection to its end result of transitioning to a digital platform.

            Since I do not have much of any background in digital rhetoric, and much less in any digital platform, I found the first chapter heavy but helpful. I thought that Eyman’s experience was not far off from that of my own (to a certain point), but more specifically his trip down the rhetoric timeline help put those fields in perspective in terms of how they would eventually become digital. This also put the position of communication and knowledge in one scope where connections would be easier to understand. Furthermore, I found that the majority of chapter one had various paragraphs that grappled with media, text, and rhetoric before expanding into the full definition.  I also thought for those that are like myself and have an understanding of rhetoric but not necessarily the digital aspect, would appreciate the “hefty” part of the chapter as it covers a lot of information.

Similarly I also found chapter two just as helpful for the same reason; my mild understanding of what “digital” in accordance to rhetoric really means. This chapter gave a comparison of two categorized set of rhetoric, and how they have been either affected or changed. This brings Eyman’s argument on how easily rhetoric would be able to be completely transformed digitally and be executed in a learning setting.

            During this read, I often thought about how this would turn out if digital rhetoric did have a permanent place in our learning platforms. We could reflect on how the pandemic has forces us all to turn to Zoom rooms and Google classrooms, however in Eyman’s argument there seems to be a forget space for those with accessibility issues. This may not necessarily be Eyman’s battle, but it does raise the question of where he ultimately sees the future going with students in need.