Eng 406B, Electronic Documents and Publications

Eng 406B, Electronic Documents and Publications Dr. Jablonski Spring 2005

Reading Questions for 4/6

 "Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog" by Carolyn Miller & Dawn Shepherd (2004) http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogging_as_social_action.html

 "Designing to Sell Online: Persuasive Power in Action" by Winn, Wendy and Kati Beck (STC Proceedings 2000) http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2000/PDFs/00027.PDF

“Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog”

1. In the introduction, Miller and Shepherd write, “Assuming that the blog is a new genre . . . how can we understand the kairos that makes the blog possible?” Define in a word and brief explanation what the term “kairos” means as used by Miller & Shepherd. NOTE: Kairos is a technical rhetorical term that the writers assume the reader is familiar with. You may be able to infer the meaning from the reading, but if you can’t, look it up at the “Forest of Rhetoric” website

2. In your own words, describe the “cultural kairos” of the blog? In other words, what factors do Miller and Shepherd believe contributed to the blog’s emergence as a genre?

3. What makes a blog a blog? What is the generally agreed upon (sentence) definition of a blog, which happens to identify its generic traits?

4. Define and explain the common “semantic” features of blogs.

5. Define and explain the common “syntactic” features of blogs.

6. Define and explain the common “pragmatic” features of blogs.

7. In the conclusion, Miller and Shepherd write, “We see the blog, then, as a genre that addresses a timeless rhetorical exigence in ways that are specific to its time.” Explain this statement.

"Designing to Sell Online: Persuasive Power in Action" by Winn, Wendy and Kati Beck

1. Winn and Beck present the results of a study of the persuasiveness of an e-commerce web site. What do the authors base their discussion on? Briefly summarize the method of the study, including what web site the authors studied and how they studied it.

2. “Our preliminary findings clearly indicate the dominance of logical appeal (logos).” What does “logos” mean as a rhetorical term (see Forest of Rhetoric site above if you don’t know) and what features of the website constituted logical appeals, according to Winn and Beck. 3. What features constituted emotional appeals (pathos), for Winn and Beck. Define the term Pathos and summarize the features of the website most related to emotional appeals.

4. What features of the website did Winn and Beck classify as appeals to credibility and character (ethos)? Define ethos and summarize the features of the website considered related to ethical appeals.