Rhetorical Velocity
From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative
Contents |
Defining Rhetorical Velocity
Rhetorical Velocity is a term coined by Jim Ridolfo and conceptualized by Ridolfo and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss as "a strategic approach to composing for rhetorical delivery.... both [as] a way of considering delivery as a rhetorical mode, aligned with an understanding of howtexts work as a component of a strategy." [1] The concept describes a strategy in which rhetors compose a text in consideration of how it might be recomposed. The notion of velocity emphasizes what Ridolfo and DeVoss describe as "a conscious rhetorical concern for distance, travel, speed, and time, pertaining specifically to theorizing instances of strategic appropriation by a third party." As such, the concept relates to both the process of invention and indicates the way in which delivery has changed from how it has been historically situated.[2]
Ridolfo and DeVoss demonstrate that this concept of rhetorical velocity has considerations for traditional texts, such as press releases, as well as for digital media. Rhetorical velocity also has impacts concerning copyright[3] and Creative Commons.[4]
Understanding Rhetorical Velocity
Conceptual knowledge of rhetorical velocity helps writers deal with new issues of rapid delivery brought about by advances in communication technologies and the expanded frequency of recomposition practices. When we release a composition (be it text, video, image or some combination thereof) into a digital venue, what will happen to it as it is remixed and delivered among different discourses, venues and audiences? By considering rhetorical velocity beforehand, writers anticipate the ways in which their texts will be reconfigured, and re-used in both digital and physical spaces. By anticipating how a text will evolve, the writer can also attempt to control their intended delivery and outcomes to accomplish a text's rhetorical goal's
Analyzing Rhetorical Velocity
Jim Ridolfo and Danielle Nicole DeVoss provide a useful heuristic for analyzing rhetorical velocity as a concern of invention. A text's velocity can be anticipated by considering the following heuristics:
"1. Who is interested?
2. Why do they want to recompose my work?
3. What will they produce?
4. How might it be delivered?
5. How might I work to facilitate this?
6. What genres and mediums will the works potentially transcend (ex: from press advisory to broadcast news, web text, and analog newspaper)?
7. And what will the temporal lifespan be? (ex: how long will the newspaper be in circulation?)"
Furthermore, they categorize possible outcomes of a text's velocity by theorizing three "future possibilities" of appropriation: "positive appropriation" in which the text's velocity and recomposition works towards its original rhetorical goals; "neutral appropriation," in which the text's velocity is "neither seen as directly harmful or beneficial" to the text's rhetorical goals; and "negative appropriation," in which the text's appropriation by a third party is harmful to the original goals. [5]
Teaching Resources
McKinley, Megan. "Rhetorical Velocity and Growing Publics." Youtube. 12 May 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u095F6UQzo.
References
- ↑ Ridolfo, Jim and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss. "Composing for Recomposition: Rhetorical Velocity and Delivery." Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy 13.2 (2009). http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/13.2/topoi/ridolfo_devoss/intro.html
- ↑ Ridolfo, Jim and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss. "Composing for Recomposition: Rhetorical Velocity and Delivery." Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy 13.2 (2009). http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/13.2/topoi/ridolfo_devoss/history.html
- ↑ Ridolfo, Jim and Martine Courant Rife. "Rhetorical Velocity and Copyright: A Case Study on Strategies of Rhetorical Delivery." Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom. Eds. Martine Courant Rife, Shaunt Slattery, and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press. 2011. http://http://wac.colostate.edu/books/copywrite/chapter12.pdf
- ↑ Charles Lowe. "Considerations for Creative Commons Licensing of Open Educational Resources: The Value of Copyleft." Computers and Composition Online September 2010. http://www2.bgsu.edu/departments/english/cconline/open/applying-rhetorical-velocity.html
- ↑ "Velocity." Ridolfo, Jim and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss. "Composing for Recomposition: Rhetorical Velocity and Delivery." Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy 13.2 (2009). http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/13.2/topoi/ridolfo_devoss/velocity.html
