A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric Read Online Free Page B

rhetoric's desire to find the most appropriate form for expression of an idea or need. The underlying principle here is one of clarity and functionality, of using the modes and media of expression to provide a valid and transparent account of that which is being expressed.
    But articulation can also refer to how elements of communication are joined to each other, and for what purpose, in a composition of any kind.Examples are the joining of one piece of wood to another in a'joint'—say, in the design and making of a chair; the linking of one idea to another in verbal argumentation; the conjunctions in a narrative; the way the frames of a comic strip or
manga
are joined (sometimes in straight sequence, sometimes with one large frame leading to smaller ones, or vice-versa); or the way different modes combine, for example, a caption with a photograph, or the score of musical composition with verbal annotations and photographs. Each
join
is a conscious compositional decision. Indeed, the joining together of parts into a new whole is at the heart of the nature of composition (as in collage, bricolage, or patchwork where joining is most obviously evident). The chapter on rhetoric and composition attempts to explore such articulation in more detail.
    So far we have mentioned multimodality, framing, and articulation. There are at least three further considerations before the theory of contemporary rhetoric is complete in its outline form. These elements are outside the immediate frame of reference for composition but help to determine the framing itself. They are the time-based dimension, contextual factors, and the question of digitization.
    Articulation has a part to play in the editing of a film. Conventionally, in predigital technology, each image of a film was captured on celluloid, each image was further articulated with another, and the overall articulation of the sequence, played at a particular speed, gave the impression of verisimilitude. Such time-based representation aimed to capture “realtime,” at least in part, in the effort to construct a work that was either fictional or documentary.
Time
, then, is a dimension of experience that rhetoric has to accommodate in order to build a theory that is adequate to needs, not least because digital media, such as smartphones and television or computer screens, increasingly provide the means not only to read the moving image, but also to create it. From my static desk, composing text in words, the world of the moving image seems some way off; so too, to an artist composing a painting or sculpture, or to a designer working on a new object. But the dimension of time is never far away: the written text is not only composed over time, it is also read or received over time. Paintings are viewed in particular places and times. Time, if we see it from a Western perspective, is continually moving, even if we have the impression that it can stand still. Rhetoric, therefore, has to embrace the dimension of time, most ostensibly in musical compositions, in films, in TV programs, and in clips that are created for YouTube; but also as a fundamental principle of operation in the world in whichever mode and/ or medium. The least that rhetoric can do is to create snapshots in time in order to create and analyze communicative phenomena; but it can do more—it can provide subcategories of analysis and consideration, such as rhythm, pace, and tempo, which in themselves help to define and create communication.
    Contextual factors
have been written about much in the consideration of communication in the last 30 of 40 years. They are partly a result of the significance of time and place to communication, but they are also presented as a counterpoint to the overly inward and psychological theories of communication. The social dimension of communication requires that a consideration of context takes place. Who is speaking? To whom? About what? What is the motivation, purpose, and intention? What are