Analytic Reflection

 

Interested in hearing the thoughts behind my thoughts on my post How the U.S. Fails (Again) at Pandemic Response? Keep reading!

            Science- technology, or sci-tech, blogs exemplify powerful discourse through their complex nature. In my time as a sci-tech blogger, I used course materials to help create an effective discourse which fits its genre. Keith Grant-Davie’s piece “Rhetorical Situations” explains four keys points of any rhetorical situation or discourse: exigence, rhetors, audience, and constraints. Jill Walker Rettberg elaborates on the complex nature of blogs and I speak to how my post fit into it. I use Joseph Williams’ handbook on syntax to review my post.

            Grant-Davie’s breakdown of four main points in a discourse helped me to structure my piece. Rhetorical situations are sets of “related factors whose interaction creates and controls a discourse;” he defines these factors as exigence, rhetors, audience, and constraints (Grant-Davie 265). Exigence is the meaning, purpose, and goals of a discourse. In the context of my sci-tech blog, my exigence is based on the United States’ experience of pandemics- this is what the discourse is about. I make clear the need, or purpose, for my discourse through its connection to the current moment and the grave danger pandemics pose when faced with poor governing. My blog is attempting to further the conversation of the United States’ experience of pandemics and question the effectiveness of some policy and procedure from the government and media. As a rhetor, I transition with each alternating paragraphing as a historical observer to an active member of the community I am speaking about. Other rhetors of my blog post include my hyper-linked sources and the course materials for as both of these pieces were integral to my blog’s construction. To develop my audience, I thought about how I wanted to “define and create context for readers” (Grant-Davie 271). I chose to not make assumptions about the level of knowledge of my readers by giving clear background and  some relatively basic knowledge of the two pandemics; I want to have an accessible blog which can allow people of different disciplines to understand and discuss the post. There are many constraints working on my blog post including geographical, political, and historical factors. Grant-Davie’s four pieces of rhetorical situations helped me cognitively structure my piece in writing and analyze the post after creation.

            Blogs are a unique genre to compose in because they are a semi-long, permanent, form of social media which allows for asynchronous conversation. It was difficult for me to identify myself as a sci-tech blogger; I am not familiar with the innerworkings of that social network nor am I particularly interested in most of what the field has to offer. Jill Walker Rettberg discusses social network theory in Chapter 3 of her book Blogging; she explains the value of weak ties across social groups as bridges for knowledge (81). The more weak ties one has, the more potential connections that can be made; weak ties reach a larger audience than the close knit ties of a distinguished group. As a first time blogger, I do not have a reputation or readers in which my relationship develops. According to network theory, the “blogs that already have ‘power’ will get more,” making it hard for new bloggers to come into an established space (Rettberg 85). Power translated to linkages to the post; more linkages means more power because the post is more influential/ relevant. I attempted to give myself more credibility as a blogger by ensuring links were made to my blog, both on another post of mine and on the ‘see related’ blog posts. Blogs result in “publicly articulated relationships” with four distinct qualities: “persistence, searchability, replicability, and invisible audiences” (Rettberg 98). My blog will be recorded and accessible on the internet forever through archives and it can be searched anytime in the future to be found. My blog could be misunderstood by some readers who are not able to ask questions or those who have different core beliefs, and I would never know because my audience is only seen if they choose to make themselves seen. Composing a sci-tech blog as a sci-tech blogger when I am truly not one is difficult to do.

            In my revision process, I looked for sentences with a nominalization and empty verb. This is something I did often in my first draft, given that half of the piece was written in past progressive tense. I found it very difficult to position myself away from the piece as the author and critique it. Joseph Williams addresses this difficulty in his book as a phenomena called the problem of familiarity; the author of a piece can read it as he/ she intends for a reader to read it, so some integral information or connections for the piece may be missing if it is not clearly evaluated or looked at with fresh eyes (). I was able to have a friend help me with my syntax errors which allowed me to work past the problem of familiarity. When editing my piece for my portfolio, I found a clearer voice in my blog. I carried the theme throughout the piece more by constantly referring to misinformation and following it with the true science.