"Novelty or Replication: A Pedagogical Foray into the Technical Communication Class"
About the AuthorJosephine Walwema received her MA in Rhetoric and Writing from the University of New Mexico. She is now a doctoral candidate in the Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design Program at Clemson University. Her research interests include the history of rhetoric, rhetorical theory, technology as human capacity, and mechanical technology. Contents |
The TopoiNow, a major concept assisting invention is topoi or the commonplaces. The topoi are defined as familiar concepts to both audience and rhetors and signify a supply of the available means of persuasion. Aristotle considered the topoi as the place where rhetors and audience meet. George Kennedy writes that in classical times, Isocrates used topoi to "refer to forms of argument, such as fact or possibility" while Aristotle used them to mean "strategies of argument" because the topoi held premises common to the rhetorician and his audience (45). Today's topoi have taken on new forms to include visual and digital dimensions, prompting Richard Lanham to name the topoi the (digital) common places in the mind or in the world (Handlist 170). In this category are libraries and data bases of electronic text, images, and icons, which Lanham calls "visual common places" that are cheap and sometimes free for the public (170). Microsoft templates are examples of visual topoi that both rhetors and audiences recognize for their rhetorical formats. These topoi can be of great pedagogical benefit for the technical communication instructor. Examined from the Platonic and the Aristotelian perspectives, the topoi imply discovery and invention, respectively. They serve as conceptual structures engaging thought and interpretation. Carolyn Miller makes this distinction in her article "Aristotelian Topos: Hunting for Novelty" when she argues for topoi not as ends in themselves but as sources, as places where rhetors can invent anew, based, of course, on the rhetorical situation. Based on dissenting contentions of invention as discovery (a la Plato), or creation (Aristotle), Miller arrives at a rapprochement to the effect that through topoi "creation, novelty and innovation are possible" (137). It is in that possibility of novelty and innovation that topoi serve the technical communication class as places of creating novel ideas. They leave room for new interpretations enacted in the form of originating ideas. In the world of visual design, templates as topoi are a form of argument that can be artistic tools of invention and discovery, in a situated ethic. They can serve as models of best practice. Teaching from good models, specifically imitation, is a time-honored tradition in pedagogy dating back to the ancients. Plato in the Republic suggests that imitation can be a "theory in the visual and poetic arts" (Belfiore 122). Likewise, Aristotle offers mimesis as a rhetorical form of invention in creating art (Crowley 23). This precedent suggests that imitation can be accomplished without replication. In contemporary times, imitation has been understood by its many variations as to "mimic," "represent," "copy." To that end, Jim Porter and Nicole DeVoss consider certain forms of copying "ethically acceptable within certain communities" (3). They argue that because writing today takes place in "computer mediated environments," there is "a new digital ethics of appropriation…" which sanctions "allowable plagiarism" (3). They suggest areas of grey that "allow students to make ethical decisions regarding copying and the re-use of others' text because creating requires collaboration, sharing, interaction" (3). Notice the underlying issue of ethics here. While the beneficial effects of collaboration are not questionable, when it comes to templates, we need to acknowledge the practice and openly discuss it, rather than circumvent the ethics therein. When we focus on the end product, we are implicitly sending the message that ends matter more than means. Students' only skill amounts to parodying existing forms and merely replicating without knowing why. That, in my view, not only undermines but defeats a crucial pedagogical intention, and fosters a paradigm that elevates the objectivity of content with little regard for its rhetorical appeal. Technical proficiency and a signature style often make a good technical communicator and arriving at this marker calls for a recognizable critical perspective. For example, material in the topoi is available for whoever can find it in places of abundance. Miller may have anticipated the interpretation of topoi as a static place, hence her telling title, "Hunting." In using the metaphor of hunting, however, she invokes the term sylva—literally forest (see Novelty and Decorum 9) that signifies "an abundance or collection of material" (141). Consider countering this interpretation through the situatedness of discourse. Situatedness assures that we create new from existing (old). For example, résumé templates cast in the light of "past experience," can be examined from the perspective of "new circumstances," so that we can select options "most likely to work" (Miller). This strategy is more than imitation or even replication. It is transformational. It allows for the expansion and growth of knowledge. Instructional practices of classical times advanced by the likes of Quintilian took into account the innate abilities of the rhetors, but further utilized models to teach the precepts necessary for the practice of rhetoric. As instructors we want students to see what is available in the library of templates, where they can see models and prototypes. At the same time, we want them to exercise intelligence in allowing themselves to be in the moment of composing as dictated by the rhetorical situation. Associated with invention is decorum, which balances the principles and the ethical characteristics of the document, while reflecting the ethos of its creator to culminate in persuasive discourse. This quality does not just happen, it is deliberate, hence the case for novelty to ensure appropriateness to the moment. If it is indeed the case that topos also "functions as an instrument of decorum," that "it has accommodative, aesthetic, and moral value", then topos make the case for nurturing students' individuality in the technical communication class (Miller 142). When we evaluate the use of Word templates in the technical writing classroom, we should not simply assure that the document fits the context. We should determine that it performs the function of rhetoric, which is to persuade. For example, a student who uses a readymade template for her résumé aiming to persuade the prospective employer to hire her above fifty candidates who have used the same template perhaps lacks understanding of the implications of her choices. Her résumé, which is largely a replication, cannot stand out enough to persuade neither does it reflect her individuality. Further, it does little to project the creative kind of ethos a prospective employer may seek as it shows an unimaginative person lacking in resourcefulness. As Enos and Lauer put it:
In other words, templates can be used as models, not to be copied or "filled" with content but to assist creative or inventive work on the part of students in devising new ways of disseminating information. The example of the jobseeker's resume failing its purpose suggests the relevance of rhetorical theory, in particular Greco-Roman (or classical) theory in better understanding how templates might figure in the technical writing classroom. This perspective of topoi depicts them not as static places where ideas can be mined, but where ideas can be created. They can reveal insights on how students use available means to good effect. |