Rhetorical Criticism of Public Discourse on the Internet

This chapter shows that the theory that emerges from critical study of computer-mediated rhetorical activity will need to be adapted to the modality and environment of new communication technologies. The various forms of Internet communication are discontinuous, fragmented, interactive, increasingly multi-mediated, and they lack the cues of face to face interaction and the seeming transparency of print. The chapter considers how alterations in new media affect the practice of rhetorical criticism, survey some work completed by rhetorical critics studying computer-mediated communication (CMC), and suggests possible directions for future research. Many forms of neoclassical rhetorical theory and traditional public address criticism view the message as legitimated and formed by an identifiable author. Research on Internet communication by rhetoricians has suggested a number of features and trends in computer-mediated public discourse. The chapter argues that studying Internet texts as systems of texts rather than as discrete texts may prove fruitful.