Producing Civic Action and Public Discourse from Online Communities


Speakers
Katie DeLuca
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
kdeluca1@umassd.edu
@kmdeluca

Kaitlin Clinnin
The Ohio State University
kmclinnin@gmail.com
@kclinnin

SHARED PASSIONS, SHARED COMPOSITIONS
Online Communities & Affinity Groups as Sites for Public Writing Pedagogy

Katie DeLuca
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
kdeluca1@umassd.edu
@kmdeluca

Click here to download a copy of this talk. Please feel free to explore the rest of this website as I continue this presentation.

INTRODUCTION

Image representation of argument, showing movement back and forth from online community, to in-class community, to outside communites

KEY CONCEPTS

Image representation of key concepts, showing movement in a circle from collective ethos, community, affinity groups, and Heimat.

KEY CONCEPTS

Image representation of key concepts, showing examples of the discussed fandom, Game of Thrones, and two websites, Tumblr.com and LiveJournal.com.

MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION AS PARTICIPATION

.Gif collage of Varys reaction .gifs.

MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION AS PARTICIPATION

Screencaptures images of various types of fan compositions.

MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION AS PARTICIPATION

TAKEAWAYS & SUGGESTIONS

Screencapture image of student work.

TAKEAWAYS & SUGGESTIONS

Screencapture image of student work.

CONCLUSIONS

Image representation of argument, showing movement back and forth from online community, to in-class community, to outside communites.

THANK YOU.

Katie DeLuca
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
kdeluca1@umassd.edu
@kmdeluca

RECLAIM THE COMMENTS
A Call for Technorhetoricians to Conserve Spaces of Online Discourse

Kaitlin Clinnin
The Ohio State University
kmclinnin@gmail.com
@kclinnin

An illustration of a bridge.
A sampling of comments from online trolls.

Technorhetoricians and Internet citizens need to reclaim the comment section as a productive space for civic engagement and participation.

"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS": THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET COMMENTS.

An illustration of trolls captioned with the words Don't Feed Them.

"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS": THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET COMMENTS.

The Guardian

  • 70 million comments
  • 1.4 million blocked comments
  • 10 writers with most blocked comments on their work included 8 women and 2 black men

"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS": THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET COMMENTS.

An image of writer Jessica Valenti discussing abuse in internet comments.

"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS": THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET COMMENTS.

Abusive or disruptive comments include:

  • Author abuse
  • Dismissive trolling
  • Hate speech
  • “Whatboutery”

"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS": THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET COMMENTS.

"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS": THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET COMMENTS.

An image of media critic Anita Sarkeesian speaking in a TED Talk.

THE CIVIC AND RHETORICAL POTENTIAL OF COMMENTS.

An illustration of an angry troll.

THE CIVIC AND RHETORICAL POTENTIAL OF COMMENTS.

An illustration of a happy troll and its friends.

A space to collaboratively understand issues.

THE CIVIC AND RHETORICAL POTENTIAL OF COMMENTS.

An illustration of a happy troll and its friends.

A space for coalition.

THE CIVIC AND RHETORICAL POTENTIAL OF COMMENTS.

An illustration of a happy troll and its friends.

A space for diverse perspectives.

THE CIVIC AND RHETORICAL POTENTIAL OF COMMENTS.

An illustration of a happy troll and its friends.

A space to participate in citizenship practices.

CURRENT "SOLUTIONS" TO THE COMMENT PROBLEM.

An illustration of an angry troll.

CURRENT "SOLUTIONS" TO THE COMMENT PROBLEM.

An illustration of a troll in chains.

CURRENT "SOLUTIONS" TO THE COMMENT PROBLEM.

An illustration of a troll without a bridge of boulders.

CURRENT "SOLUTIONS" TO THE COMMENT PROBLEM.

An illustration of a troll without a bridge to stand upon.

CURRENT "SOLUTIONS" TO THE COMMENT PROBLEM.

An illustration of an angry troll.

A CALL FOR TECHNORHETORICIAN INTERVENTION.

Technorhetoricians should intervene in the comment section because the presence of comments impacts popular understanding of public issues and civic engagement on these issues.

A CALL FOR TECHNORHETORICIAN INTERVENTION.

“…help our students compose often, compose well, and through these composings, become the citizen writers of our country, the citizen writers of our world, and the writers of our future.” – Kathleen Blake Yancey

A CALL FOR TECHNORHETORICIAN INTERVENTION.

Use pedagogical training to providing feedback on abusive or disruptive comments.

A CALL FOR TECHNORHETORICIAN INTERVENTION.

Use expertise in rhetorical theory, cultural analysis, interface design, and other areas to produce commenting systems that better facilitate rhetorical discourse and civic engagement.

A CALL FOR TECHNORHETORICIAN INTERVENTION.

Online comments are the digital manifestation of a patriarchal, racist, homophobic, nativist, classist, ableist, and otherwise unequal society.

Technorhetoricians can help make these spaces more accessible, equitable, and safe for all by working with users, interfaces, and cultures.

An illustration of a happy troll.

Kaitlin Clinnin
The Ohio State University
kmclinnin@gmail.com
@kclinnin

DEVELOPING COLLABORATIVE TAKEAWAYS
A Mini Workshop

Our goal for this panel is to offer pedagogical takeaways, illustrating connections between online communities and the classroom, to help instructors as they prepare students to enter into discourse and civic communities as engaged, digital citizens. We wanted this panel to highlight the interconnectedness among online communities, civic action, and rhetorical engagement, especially as they shape the experiences of digital citizens, both within and beyond the classroom.

We’d like to use the remainder of this session to explore these points of connection and link them back to our classrom practices. As educators and researchers, we value--and a value we share with the computers and writing community--merging theory and praxis. So, we’d like to take time today to find the connections between what we have said today and what we can do to help our students become savvy rhetoricians and writers.

Activity—With our takeaways in mind, or of your own development, make a new friend and come up with some specific ways you might engage these practices in your classroom. We’ll give you a few minutes to develop ideas (and if you like, you can record them in this google doc < http://go.osu.edu/cwa6 > ). We’ll then come together to discuss and share.