Abstract

The evolution of social media platforms and other public forums in the digital realm has created an explosion of user-generated content and data as a component of the already content-saturated digital landscape. The distributed, horizontal nature of the internet as a platform makes it difficult to ascertain value and differentiate between texts of varying validity, bias, and purpose. In addition, the internet is not an inanimate interface. As Pariser (2011) argues, content aggregators, such as Google, actively filter, personalize, and therefore limit each individual's access to information, in both range and type. This has created a crisis of information valuation and control. Importantly, conventional curriculum does not furnish students with the information literacy tools necessary for them to navigate the digital landscape effectively. Information miners and developers, including news organizations, are falling victim to this fallacy as well. Lankshear and Knobel (2011) posit that empowering navigation and control in the digital landscape requires a new mindset. This research offers a context-driven approach that acknowledges this new mindset, promoting "rhetorical consciousness" (Murphy et al., 2003) within the network and providing a framework to recognize, challenge, and co-create gatekeeping roles and mechanism as they increasingly shift to the individual.

Thesis Completion

2018

Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Guenzel, Steffen

Degree

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Writing and Rhetoric

Degree Program

Writing and Rhetoric

Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

5-1-2018

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