Title

Messy Rhetoric: Identity Performance as Rhetorical Agency in Online Public Forums

Authors

Authors

J. T. Grabill;S. Pigg

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Rhetor. Soc. Q.

Keywords

SCIENCE; ARGUMENTATION; Communication; Literature; Philosophy

Abstract

Our essay draws from a study of interaction in a large and active online public forum. Studying rhetorical activity in open forums presents a number of methodological and conceptual challenges because the interactions are persistent and nonlinear in terms of when and how participants engage, and engagement often happens via textual fragments. We take up two related issues in this essay: one is the methodological challenge of how to study engagement in open digital places. We take up that issue by way of the example study featured here. The second issue is more conceptual and concerns how identity is leveraged as a form of rhetorical agency in these conversations. We argue that in the context of open forums like Science Buzz these identity performances are crucial as rhetorical agencies, creating space as they function to move discussion.

Journal Title

Rhetoric Society Quarterly

Volume

42

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

99

Last Page

119

WOS Identifier

WOS:000305175300001

ISSN

0277-3945

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