Wikipedia: Rhetorical Situation
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The document discusses the rhetorical situation of writing content for Wikipedia. It describes the audience as English speakers around the world seeking reliable information. The medium is the online, collaborative Wikipedia encyclopedia which allows for multimedia content and hyperlinks. As a collaborative project, any reader could potentially become an author by editing content.
Wikipedia: Rhetorical Situation
- 1. Wikipedia's Rhetorical Situation How to convince WP that your content belongs...
- 2. Rhetorical Situation Before making any rhetorical Audience choices, you should consider the rhetorical situation. Let's start with the audience.... Author Text
- 3. Rhetorical Situation Who is the audience of Wikipedia? Audience Author Text
- 4. Rhetorical Situation Who is the audience of Wikipedia? Audience EVERYONE! Author Text
- 5. Rhetorical Situation Who is the audience of Wikipedia? Audience EVERYONE! But let's describe the audience in more detail. Author Text
- 6. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. That's huge. Humans speak English on every continent. Even in countries where English is not the dominant language, many people speak English. For this audience, you have to think super global. Author Text
- 7. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. That's huge. Humans speak English on every continent. Even in countries where English is not the dominant language, many people speak English. For this audience, you have to think super global. Your readers could be in every nation on Earth, belong to almost any religion, and be of any age old and young. Author Text
- 8. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around the Audience world. Think about how this may change your writing. Can you write this sentence: "The Constitution established freedom of speech as an inalienable right." What is wrong with this? Well, what constitution? In America, we talk about the constitution, the church, the president, congress as if the American versions are the only ones in the world. When writing with a globally diverse audience, you cannot assume that your audience will share much of the 'common knowledge' that we share as fellow Americans. Author Text
- 9. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Your readers go to Wikipedia to learn information about a topic. Some will want a very brief introduction. Those people will just read the first few paragraphs. Some readers will want more in-depth knowledge. Those readers will keep reading through the body of the article. Those readers may also keep researching by looking at your references Author Text
- 10. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Ok, that's a good start. Let's talk about the text. Author Text
- 11. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. What is the text? Wikipedia. Let's talk about text as both a medium and a genre. Author Text First, how is the medium of Wikipedia unique?
- 12. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Because the medium is online, Author Text we know that Wikipedia is not limited like print publications. Wikipedia can grow and grow without worrying about space.
- 13. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that Author Text anyone can edit. The articles change on a daily basis. After you finish this project, future editors will change your contribution. That's how WP improves. Constant change!
- 14. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Wikipedia articles include text, Author Text images, and even video.
- 15. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Author Text Finally, Wikipedia articles link to other articles. Have you ever gone to WP for information on one topic and then clicked through links for way more time than you planned? I know I have! That's a virtue in Wikipedia.
- 16. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text Encyclopedias are not considered scholarship. They do not make original arguments.
- 17. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text Encyclopedias summarize existing knowledge. They collect notable information. Readers go to encyclopedias to gain a broad understanding of a topic.
- 18. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text Ok, that's a good start on the medium. Think about how you the medium may change your writing style. On to author...
- 19. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Who is the author of Wikipedia? You are! Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 20. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Who is the author of Wikipedia? You are! No... not really. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 21. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Who is the author of Wikipedia? The word author means the originator or creator. You are not creating anything new. Instead, you are Text: Medium, Online. summarizing and Collaborative, Multimedia, paraphrasing existing Hyperlinking. Genre: knowledge. Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 22. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Who is the author of Wikipedia? Also, your work is not the final version of the Wikipedia article. Other editors will revise, remove, Text: Medium, Online. and expand your Collaborative, Multimedia, contributions. Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 23. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Who is the author of Wikipedia? You are not the author of Wikipedia; you are an editor of Wikipedia. Who, then, is the author of this Text: Medium, Online. rhetorical situation? Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 24. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Author: Generic Wikipedia Editor. You need to adopt the persona of a generic editor of Wikipedia. Text: Medium, Online. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 25. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Author: Generic Wikipedia Editor. You need to learn about Wikipedia conventions so that your contributions are cohesive with every other Text: Medium, Online. Wikipedia editor's Collaborative, Multimedia, contributions. Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text
- 26. Rhetorical Situation Audience: English speakers around Author: Generic Wikipedia Editor. Audience the world. Seeking reliable information. Why is this important? Think about how each of us has a unique voice. We have to train and discover our voice as writers. In WP, you need to train your voice to blend with the voices of Wikipedia. This is not an individualistic project. Instead, the best editors are the editors who create the most Text: Medium, Online. cohesion across Wikipedia. Collaborative, Multimedia, Hyperlinking. Genre: Encyclopedia. Author Text