• Critical Concept One: Communication Is Rhetorical
  • Ethical Communication
• Critical Concept Two: Communication Involves a Process
• Critical Concept Three: Communication Is Multimodal

The Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Tech emphasizes three critical concepts: communication is rhetorical, communication involves a process, and communication is multimodal. You probably already know a considerable amount about these concepts, but English 1101 and English 1102 help you build on what you already know by encouraging you to explore your ideas about communication and to use these concepts in ways that focus on their relationships to society, science, and technology. You learn how to use rhetorical strategies in ways that create professional, expert-like communication and to consider variations in both modes and media. This approach provides you with the communication strategies necessary to excel in a 21st-century world.

Critical Concept One: Communication Is Rhetorical

Rhetoric is about being persuasive with a well-crafted and specific argument—specific to the context, specific to the purpose, and specific to the audience—using the tools available to you. Whether in Ancient Greece or 21st-century Atlanta, persuasion involves constructing a logical and credible argument to convince an audience that your position or point of view is appropriate. How can you argue persuasively? Since Ancient Greece, three appeals have been considered requirements for a good argument:

• One appeal, ethos, is based on your own reputation and credibility as a writer, speaker, or designer.
• A second appeal, logos, is based on the logic and coherence of your argument.
• A third appeal, pathos, is based on the emotions, beliefs, and values you evoke.

You’ll be reminded of these appeals in various ways throughout this textbook. They should become so familiar to you that you automatically think of them whenever you are creating or critiquing a communication artifact.

These three appeals all work together to support the arguments of your artifacts. An argument—a position or stance supported with logically organized, credible, convincing evidence—can be made by individuals as well as groups, in a variety of cultures, modes, and media. An argument needs to persuade; being persuasive is challenging and involves making strategic decisions about rhetorical elements.

Some people say that “everything’s an argument”! Explain the ways that this is a defensible position. #Understand

To create successful arguments, you need to ask questions about rhetorical elements, beginning with audience: Who are my audiences? What prior knowledge does a particular audience have? Knowing who your audiences are and having some sense of each group’s prior knowledge enables you to adapt many aspects of your work to serve your audiences’ needs. Based on your audience awareness, you might adjust aspects including the nature of the argument, complexity of the content, organization of the information, formality of the diction, types of supporting evidence, and visual design.

Questions about other rhetorical elements are equally important to consider: What are the contexts in which readers, listeners, and viewers will use my document (or presentation or visual)? What purposes do I have? And what purposes do my audiences have? What argument am I making? What’s the most compelling evidence I can use, given the attitudes and needs of my audiences? What’s the most effective way to organize the information? What visuals will work, given the audiences and purposes? How does the design influence the ways that audiences access, understand, and use the information? What language conventions should I use? What visual conventions should I use? As you write a paper, prepare a presentation, or design a visual—by yourself or with collaborators—you need to ask and answer questions such as these.

Ethical Communication

Contributed by Dr. Russell Kirkscey, a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow alumnus.

As we discussed, ethos refers to the credibility of a communicator. Ethical communicators make arguments supported by strong logical and emotional appeals. However, ethical communication practices begin long before you address an audience. An ethical approach to communication shows that you understand and act on an argument for the right reasons, whether you are researching a topic or deciding which mode to use to communicate your ideas.

Values Every act of communication contains ideas about what a society or culture values. Social psychologists Shalom Schwartz and Wolfgang Bilsky define values as “(a) concepts or beliefs, (b) about desirable end states or behaviors, (c) that transcend specific situations, (d) guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and (e) are ordered by relative importance.” Humans value many different concepts and beliefs such as safety, inclusiveness, honesty, happiness, and justice. Search <core values> for lists of terms to help you think about what you and your audiences value as you research and write.

Sometimes values conflict, and you need to decide which ones are the most important to you and your audience. For example, if you value human life, you may argue that we should find ways to recycle water. But others may value other parts of the ecosystem as much (or more) than the needs of humans. If building a water recycling facility destroys a bird habitat, then you may have to consider how to address these competing values as you create your arguments.

Ethical Approaches Writers use ethical approaches to emphasize values that may help us decide what actions to take, whether we are choosing which fruit to buy or what arguments to make in a multimodal composition assignment. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (https://www.scu.edu/ethics/) outlines five basic approaches to making decisions, though there are many more. Each approach emphasizes different ways to think about issues. The example arguments below and the chart on the following page give brief definitions of these ethical approaches along with the possible values they emphasize.

Example: The Use of Ethical Approaches in Arguments about Hate Speech If you are writing about hate speech in the United States, you may want to persuade your audience that certain forms of hate speech are undesirable and should be banned. If you take the utilitarian approach—the greatest good for the greatest number—you might say that the majority of people would benefit from not sustaining mental harm from the few who use hate speech. Alternatively, you could argue that making hate speech a crime would cause the least harm to the fewest people. You can make a similar argument with the common good approach, which values the needs of the community above the actions of individuals. Looking at the issue from the virtue approach, you might argue that a virtuous person has compassion for others and that hate speech would not support a compassionate view of humanity. However, if you use the rights approach, you would have to consider the justified claim that any barrier to free speech would harm the rights given to people by the First Amendment of the Constitution. If you frame this same argument using the fairness approach, you would claim that a society must distribute freedom of speech equally without consideration of how people use that freedom.

Professional organizations have codes of ethics that outline appropriate actions for their members. Search the Internet for the profession that interests you, and read about the ethical approaches used by that group.

The chart below summarizes the ethical approaches and corresponding values discussed in these arguments about hate speech. However, you can transfer these approaches to any topic you are considering. Note also that many of the ideas in the ethical approaches chart overlap. You may use different approaches and come up with the same decision about an action, or  you may find that one approach gives you very different answers compared to another. Each approach gives you a chance to examine your arguments critically and to decide what information you want to emphasize to different audiences. Communicating ethically means understanding and acknowledging that your arguments may be appropriate only in certain contexts—and that only particular audiences may be persuaded by your position.

Ethical Approach	Definition	Example Value
Utilitarian (Consequentialist)	The greatest good for the greatest number of individuals or the least harm to the fewest people; emphasizes the outcome of an action	Mental health
Common Good	Valuing the needs of a community over an individual for everyone’s advantage	Community
Virtue	Behavior that reflects a high moral standard	Compassion
Rights	Justified claims to values based on social standards	Freedom of speech
Fairness	Equal treatment of people; may involve distributing wealth or other social goods like health care and rights	Equality of condition

Additional Readings

Blackburn, Simon. Ethics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

“Ethics: A General Introduction.” BBC, 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml.

“Introduction to Ethics.” YouTube, 2013, uploaded by Lon Schiffbauer, 9 Aug. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_t4obUc51A.

Schwartz, Shalom H., and Wolfgang Bilsky. “Toward a Theory of the Universal Content and Structure of Values: Extensions and Cross-Cultural Replications.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 58, no. 5, May 1990, pp. 878–91.

Zalta, Edward N. (Editor). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2016, https://plato.stanford.edu/.

Critical Concept Two: Communication Involves a Process

Although all processes are idiosyncratic, most effective processes also have commonalities. You have probably already learned about basic processes (e.g., planning, drafting, revising), but in English 1101 and English 1102 you will explore a broad variety of processes, so that you can decide which ones work best for you when completing various communication tasks. Your goal should be to develop a repertoire of processes from which you can select each time you approach a new situation. This section introduces two of the many considerations affecting your processes: decision making and affordances.

Decision making. All of your processes involve decision making that is either strategic or tactical:

• Strategic decisions in communication are important to your overall purpose, so they typically take a long-term, big-picture view of the situation. One strategic decision frequently affects multiple aspects of the situation. For example, changing the audience for an artifact necessarily changes the nature of the argument, the organization of information, the kinds of persuasive examples, and the kinds of visuals you select.
• Tactical decisions in communication are short-term decisions that address immediate concerns. Tactical decisions are often localized decisions. Could the topic sentence be clarified? Is “receive” spelled correctly? Does “well-insulated” need a hyphen? Will adding a transitional phrase be sufficient to strengthen the coherence between the paragraphs?

Simply put, in English 1101 and English 1102 you learn to engage in processes that are strategically and tactically sound.

Identify an example of substantive communication you’ve engaged in during the last month (written, oral, visual, or nonverbal). Identify both a strategic decision and a tactical decision you made related to that communication. #Understand

Affordances. Your instructor will ask you to complete projects that “consider the affordance of the medium.” What does this mean? Dr. Janet Murray, an expert in digital media, explains in her blog, Inventing the Medium, that affordance refers to “functional properties of objects or environments—the properties that allow particular uses. For example, a blackboard affords writing and erasing; a low, flat, supported surface 30 inches square affords sitting.”

When you are planning a project, you need to consider (1) characteristics of the mode (e.g., written, oral, visual) as well as (2) affordances of the medium for dissemination (e.g., book, newspaper, radio, television, or Web site). Each has particular properties and advantages, letting you do certain things easily and effectively. You need to match the particular mode and medium to your rhetorical intentions—that is, the content, context, purpose, and audience of your project.

To help you consider the affordances of a medium for designing digital projects, Dr. Murray developed a planning tool, an affordances grid you can sketch as you develop and analyze your digital projects. The grid considers four affordances of digital media—spatial, encyclopedic, procedural, and participatory (each defined in the sample grid)—that are important to consider.

Spatial affordances—attention to location and place	Encyclopedic affordances—attention to collection(s) of information
Procedural affordances—attention to executable rules, to instructions	Participatory affordances—attention to interaction and manipulation of the represented world

You add your own planning notes to the affordances grid to help you determine what categories of affordances you’re addressing in your digital project. The affordances may not be mutually exclusive. You can see how the grid works with examples from a digital project about skateboarding. If you wanted to create a Web site about skateboarding, your affordances grid might look like this:

Spatial affordances—attention to location and place Planning notes that consider location and space: Include Google map of local skateboard stores. Local, regional, and national skateboarding competitions. Laws against skateboarding in various locations.	Encyclopedic affordances—attention to collection(s) of information Planning notes that consider collections of information: Create archive of skateboard designs. Collect safety instructions about skateboarding (parents, professional skateboarders). Identify equipment for different levels of experience and/or expertise.
Procedural affordances—attention to executable rules, to instructions Planning notes that consider rules and instructions: Create site map. Provide site navigation. Define usable menus. Identify usable links.	Participatory affordances—attention to interaction and manipulation of the represented world Planning notes that consider interaction and representation: Develop skateboarding blog. Create a Twitter feed. Provide annotated videos that show tricks.

This grid works well when considering the affordances of digital media; other media may have different affordances. Make sure that the medium you select for a project can do what you want it to do. Or, phrased the opposite way, make sure what you create is conveyed in an appropriate medium. Every medium has particular affordances; learn the capabilities of media that intrigue you and also learn the media that will enable you to communicate ideas that matter.

A planning grid is just one way to define affordances and think about the modes and media of your projects. You’ll find your projects are more effective and less stressful to create if you institute deliberate planning steps for accomplishing your rhetorical goals when working on a first draft.

Critical Concept Three: Communication Is Multimodal

You may think that the communication courses you take at Georgia Tech are simply variations of the writing courses you’ve already taken, but writing is just one part of what you need to master. You need to become competent in all modes of communication, not just writing, as you can see in the following examples.

Whether people are working individually or collaboratively, domestically or internationally, a WOVEN approach emphasizes ways to create and integrate ideas in multiple modes and in multiple media.

• Modes are means of representation—that is, the manner you choose to express your ideas, whether written, oral, visual, or nonverbal.
• Media are means of dissemination, whether in a face-to-face presentation, a print document, or a digital artifact.

A WOVEN approach does not isolate or segregate modes and media; instead, it focuses on how these different modes are woven together in our daily lives and in the work world. This section helps you understand more about the individual modes and media.

W—You need to be a good writer. Being an excellent writer would be even better. Written communication involves creating artifacts that inform, persuade, and/or entertain audiences using alphanumeric characters. As you develop experience as a writer, you will become more and more skillful in using rhetorical elements to help you make informed, strategic decisions about composing for particular purposes and audiences.

Compare the mode, medium, and affordances from these four examples. How do they work together to make an argument about what it means to be part of the Georgia Tech community? #Analyze #Evaluate

A WOVEN approach in no way de-emphasizes the importance of written communication. Instead, WOVEN communication emphasizes the crucial role that writing plays in other modes as well. Digital composing, for example, relies heavily on traditional approaches to writing, but with important differences because writing on a keyboard and reading on a screen are different from writing and reading on paper. Ultimately, a strong foundation in writing is vital to supporting other types of composing, as well as in virtually every career path. Both English 1101 and English 1102 include a variety of written activities and assignments. These courses stress the importance of planning, researching, drafting, organizing, revising, editing, and publishing your writing. As you would in more traditional writing courses, you read in conjunction with writing, using the writing of others both as models and as evidence in your own documents.

Read. The flip side of writing is the receptive competence, reading; you need to be able to interpret and use the texts others write.

O—You need to be a competent speaker, capable of contributing to conversations and discussions and giving individual and team presentations. Your competence in these areas requires various kinds of collaboration: participating in, facilitating, and sometimes leading groups and teams. Oral communication involves creating artifacts to inform, persuade, and entertain audiences using spoken language, which may be transitory (e.g., a face-to-face conversation) or recorded (e.g., a political speech that is videotaped). From telephone conversations to team presentations, oral communication is important in your everyday interactions—in personal relationships, in academic activities, and in the workplace. As with writing, the preparation and practice of oral presentations mean you need to be responsive to rhetorical elements.

Oral presentations, group activities, and class discussions are the most common methods of practicing oral communication in first-year writing and communication courses. Presentations are used both informally, with discussions of responses to daily assignments, and formally, with presentations in front of the class, to help you gain confidence and experience. You may also conduct interviews, create podcasts, shoot videos with audio elements, and record voice-overs for PowerPoints and Prezis.

Listen. The flip side of speaking is the receptive competence, listening. You need to be able to actively listen and respond thoughtfully, respectfully, and productively to presentations and in discussions.

(For more on assumptions about language and about languages and dialects, see Chapter 8.)

As part of these oral communication activities, you can strengthen your ability to present information logically and clearly, as well as develop an effective style that may incorporate humor and audience interaction. The conversations you have in class help you learn how to be a productive member of both small and large groups, how to present your positions persuasively, and how to discourage unproductive conflict and encourage productive engagement.

View. The flip side of designing is the receptive competence, viewing; you need to be able to watch, interpret, and use a range of visuals—ads, photos, paintings, drawings, videos, films, maps, tables, graphs, charts, diagrams, and signage.

V—You need to be visually competent, which includes planning, designing, and creating individual visuals for documents, Web sites, and presentations as well as designing entire print pages or screens. You need to be able to select and integrate visuals into print and digital artifacts as well as into demonstrations and presentations, making decisions about the balance of visual and verbal information.

Visual communication uses images to inform, persuade, and entertain audiences. Understanding various ways to interpret and create images is an important part of your first-year writing and communication experience. The same rhetorical concerns that influence your strategic decisions in writing a report or preparing an oral presentation also shape the visuals you create.

E—You need to be competent in using electronic/digital media as they emerge and evolve, selecting them for various contexts, audiences, and purposes. You can’t possibly learn about every issue and every new digital application, but you can learn about new categories and affordances. Electronic communication is a rapidly expanding field that encompasses a huge array of practices and possibilities. Consider this list (which is by no means inclusive) and know that each category can be subdivided. Decide what interests you and what will likely be useful to you personally, academically, and professionally.

• Mobile technologies
• Apps and tools
• Hardware
• Coding
• Telecommunications
• Internet
• Intranets
• Organizational strategies (e.g., branding, internal communication)
• Research (subject of study; method of dissemination)
• Online publications
• Social networking and online communities
• Entertainment (e.g., online gaming, integration of animation and live action)
• Ethics (e.g., manipulation, taboos, stereotypes)
• Accessibility (e.g., digital divide, physical limitations)
• Big data and data visualizations
• Publications (e.g., e-books, journals, newspapers)
• Interactive installations (e.g., iKiosks, art and scence museums)
• Educational options (e.g., MOOCs, LMSs)

Changing the medium changes the message. Electronic communication is a major part of your English 1101 and English 1102 courses in four broad ways:

• Using Canvas, Georgia Tech’s electronic course management system
• Using your laptop computer, tablet, and/or smartphone as a communication tool and perhaps also as an object of study
• Learning about electronic communication and its cultural influences
• Using electronic communication as part of your own processes—for example, engaging in online peer editing or electronic publication

N—You need to understand and appropriately use nonverbal communication (e.g., facial expression, eye contact, body language, vocal expression, spatial distances, clothing) in ways that convey your credibility and cultural sensitivity. Nonverbal communication comprises any communication that doesn’t emphasize words. It may include kinesics (gestures and body movements), oculesics (eye behavior, such as eye contact), paralanguage (vocal information, such as volume, pace, pitch, tone and inflection), vocalizations (e.g., “shhhhh” and “uh-huh”), proxemics (spaces between people who are interacting), haptics (touch), chronemics (use, structure, and orientation related to time), posture, and clothing.

Respond. The flip side of engaging in nonverbal communication is the receptive competence, responding; you need to be able to interpret and respond to the nonverbal communication of others.

When you are engaged in teamwork and class discussions you will see nonverbal communication. You should regularly ask yourself how and why you react to certain nonverbal cues, especially in group interaction. Nonverbal communication, which is powerfully influenced by culture, can either reinforce or contradict a verbal or visual message. Some experts believe that people can more easily distort verbal or visual messages than they can nonverbal messages.

The WOVEN approach to communication encourages you to craft effective arguments multimodally with focused attention to and reflection on rhetoric and process. Understanding the roles these three critical concepts play in communication positions you as a strategic communicator. While this chapter serves to outline the key qualities of each mode, the next chapter provides you with examples of WOVEN modes working synergistically to create compelling and purposeful artifacts.