A Pedagogy of Techno-Social Relationality: Ethics and Digital Multimodality in the Composition Classroom
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2019 A Pedagogy of Techno-Social Relationality: Ethics and Digital Multimodality in the Composition Classroom Kristin M. Ravel University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Databases and Information Systems Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Ravel, Kristin M., "A Pedagogy of Techno-Social Relationality: Ethics and Digital Multimodality in the Composition Classroom" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2238. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2238 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A PEDAGOGY OF TECHNO-SOCIAL RELATIONALITY: ETHICS AND DIGITAL MULTIMODALITY IN THE COMPOSITION CLASSROOM by Kristin Ravel A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctoral of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee August 2019 ABSTRACT A PEDAGOGY OF TECHNO-SOCIAL RELATIONALITY: ETHICS AND DIGITAL MULTIMODALITY IN THE COMPOSITION CLASSROOM by Kristin Ravel The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2019 Under the Supervision of Professor Anne Frances Wysocki I bring together the relational ethics of feminist critical theory with approaches of multimodal rhetoric to examine the ethical implications of composing on social media platforms. Most social media platforms are designed to value consumerism, efficiency, quantity of web traffic, and constant synchronous response over concerns of responsible and critical communication. I propose a rhetorical approach of techno-social relationality (TSR) as an intervention against such corporate-minded design. Through this approach, I argue that civil engagement is not limited to people’s social responsibilities but rather is entwined in complex, material-technical contexts. By considering the responsibility of our machines as much as ourselves, I lay a foundation for the multimodal writing pedagogies I would like to see implemented in composition courses. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Considering Ethics and Technical Mediation Together ............................................................................................ 4 Notes on the Particular Focus of this Dissertation .................................................................................................... 9 Defining a Techno-Social Relational Approach: An Overview .............................................................................. 12 Chapter One: Framing Ethical Concerns as Social Relational and Material ............................................................... 15 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 15 Butler’s Feminist Ethics .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................... 29 A Last Contextual Note… ....................................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter Two: Ethical Mediations of Techno-Material ................................................................................................ 33 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 33 Agency and Materiality: Current Conversations in Composition and Rhetoric ..................................................... 39 The Limitations of Deterministic Ethics ................................................................................................................. 42 Seeing Beyond the Human-Technical Binary ......................................................................................................... 47 Toward Material Ethics, 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 50 Toward Material Ethics, 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 61 Chapter Three: Toward an Approach of Techno-social Relationality ......................................................................... 65 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 65 Layer 1: A Composer’s Relationship to Other People through a Text ................................................................... 70 Layer 2: A Composer’ Relationship With the Platform Interface........................................................................... 74 Layer 3: A Platform Technology’s Relationship with Other Technologies............................................................ 78 Circulation .......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Automation ......................................................................................................................................................... 88 Surveillance ........................................................................................................................................................ 89 A note about how the layers intersect ..................................................................................................................... 91 Expanding Our Rhetorical Seeing Through a TSR Approach: Facebook Meme Sharing and Political Consequence ............................................................................................................................................................ 92 Layer 1: A Composer’s Relationship to Other People ....................................................................................... 94 Layer 2: A Composer’s Relationships With Platform Technology .................................................................... 98 Layer 3: Platform Technology’s Relationships with Other Technologies ....................................................... 105 Expanding Our Rhetorical Seeing Through a TSR Approach: Digital Accumulation and Consumption on and of Pinterest ................................................................................................................................................................. 113 Pinterest Layer 1: A Composer’s Relationship to Other People through a Text ............................................. 124 Pinterest Layer 2: A Composer’ Relationship With the Platform Interface: Pinterest Interface Design, Affectual Awareness, and Self-reflection within digital environment .............................................................. 135 Pinterest Layer 3: A Platform Technology’s Relationship with Other Technologies ...................................... 141 The Three Layers Together .............................................................................................................................. 150 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................. 153 Chapter Four: Techno-social Relationality in First-Year Composition Classes ........................................................ 155 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 155 Introducing Ethical and Techno-Material Awareness in the Composition Classroom ......................................... 156 Bringing Social-Relational Ethics into the Composition Classroom ............................................................... 157 Introducing Techno-Material Awareness in the Composition Classroom ....................................................... 163 Folding the Three-Layers of TSR in the Composition Classroom ........................................................................ 169 TSR Approach in the Composition Classroom: Layer 1 .................................................................................. 173 TSR Approach in the Composition Classroom: Layer 2 .................................................................................. 184 TSR Approach in the Composition Classroom: Layer 3 .................................................................................. 190 TSR Approach in the Composition Classroom: Final Analysis of a Social Media Platform ........................... 204 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................. 213 iii Chapter Five: Conclusion ..........................................................................................................................................