Traditional Rhetoric versus Cyber Rhetoric
PROFESSOR KEEFER (COPYWRIGHT 1996)
A COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL VERSUS CYBER RHETORIC:
- PREDOMINANTLY LEFT BRAIN THINKING VERSUS RIGHT AND LEFT BRAIN COORDINATION.
- SPECIALIZING IN AND EXHAUSTING ONE DISCIPLINE AT A TIME VERSUS FINDING THE PATHS WHERE A
KALEIDOSCOPE OF DISCIPLINES INTERSECT.
- CRITICAL THINKING VERSUS WINDOWS THINKING:
- ANALYSIS VERSUS MULTIPLE SYNTHESES (different paths);
- EVALUATION (assessing assumptions and discovering logical fallacies) VERSUS OPENING ANOTHER
WINDOW.
- ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC (syllogistic reasoning) VERSUS BOOLEAN LOGIC (intersecting circles of and, or
and not):
- DEFENDING ONE POINT OF VIEW WITH A STRONG THESIS
VERSUS JANUSIAN PROCESSES OF LOOKING IN OPPOSITE
DIRECTIONS AT THE SAME TIME.
- OBSERVING THE UNITIES OF TIME/SPACE/ACTION VERSUS
SUPERIMPOSITION OF TIME/SPACE/ACTION (i.e. allowing two or more
discrete objects to occupy the same space or time or action).
- SPECIFIC, DEFINED AUDIENCE VERSUS UNPREDICTABLE GLOBAL AUDIENCE.
- SELF-CONTAINED ORGANIZATION OF THESIS, DEFINITIONS, DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THIS, THEREFORE THAT,
INDUCTIVE AND/OR DEDUCTIVE REASONING AND A CONCLUSION VERSUS
INTERACTIVE ORGANIZATION AROUND IMAGES AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING QUESTIONS.
- TRADITIONAL PARAGRAPHS AND PAGE NUMBERS VERSUS
NO PAGE NUMBERS BUT VISUAL BREAKS SUCH AS BULLETS AND
DIFFERENT FONTS AND IMAGES.
- LINEAR READING VERSUS CLICKING ALL OVER THE PLACE!