Analyzing Wikipedia
This unit uses Wikipedia.com to demonstrate ways of engaging in
rhetorical analyses of visual and digital rhetoric. Some of the terms
originate from classical rhetorical analysis; others are specific to
analysis of multi-modal forms.
Analyzing Wikipedia
The Rhetorical Situation
Informed by Aristotle, Burke, Foss
The Rhetorical Situation
Informed by Aristotle, Burke, Foss
Speaker: Anonymous, collaborative writers.
Contributors are not necessarily experts in their field
Rather, the text’s ethos is constructed by the site’s policy of
openness, neutrality, and its extremely high number of viewers
and editors.
The Rhetorical Situation
Informed by Aristotle, Burke, Foss
Audience:
•Receives 684 million visitors/year
•Holds 10,000,000 articles in 250 languages
•Free to view
•Is ranked among the 20 most popular websites
in the world (Black 76)
The Rhetorical Situation
Informed by Aristotle, Burke, Foss
The purpose of Wikipedia is to
encourage ”the growth,
development and distribution of free,
multilingual content, and to
providing the full content of these
wiki-based projects to the public free
of charge.” (Wikimedia Foundation
“Home”)
The Rhetorical Situation
Informed by Aristotle, Burke, Foss
The function of
Wikipedia changes
with the user, as
Sonja Foss tells us
(215).
For some users,
the function is to
provide an outlet
for developing
and distributing
information
This user-based concept of
function perhaps explains the
conflicting relationships that
different users have with
Wikipedia.
But for others,
Wikipedia is
solely a place to
find information.
Design: “The argumentative work […] is contained more in their visual structures—their
screen and temporal arrangements, colors, typography, and use of photography—than in
their verbal” (Wysocki “Seeing the Screen” 601)
Design: “The argumentative work […] is contained more in their visual structures—their
screen and temporal arrangements, colors, typography, and use of photography—than in
their verbal” (Wysocki “Seeing the Screen” 601)
Arial typeface, a sans-serif spin-off
from Helvetica, denotes
modernism, transparency,
neutrality, and rationality—all
highly valued qualities of factbearing resources
(Helvetica: The Documentary)
“What order is reinforced by a design, and what designs give us chances to re-order?”
(Wysocki “Monitoring Order”)
“What order is reinforced by a design, and what designs give us chances to re-order?”
(Wysocki “Monitoring Order”)
Standardized page designs
limit the capacity for redesign
in all Wikipedia articles.
This limit over design
reinforces the transparency
of the interface.
Thus, Wikipedia limits design
creation by its contributors.
Such standardization is one
of the only ways in which the
site actively limits its
contributors’ capacity for
creation.
By standardizing the visual
design, Wikipedia suggests
that form is not intrinsically
tied to content. Additionally,
the format reflects
Wikipedia’s desire for
authority.
Design: “The argumentative work […] is contained more in their visual structures—their
screen and temporal arrangements, colors, typography, and use of photography—than in
their verbal” (Wysocki “Seeing the Screen” 601)
Design analysis informs many of
the following slides as they work
through analytical terms, such as
hybridity and transparency
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
Not a permanent part of
Wikipedia, this call for donations
nevertheless supports the ethos
of collaborative, grassroots
research produced by and for the
everyday Internet user.
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
History tab allows users
to read—and return the
article to the state of—all
previous iterations of any
article.
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
Call for citations demonstrates
desire for reliability, a touchstone
for accuracy and credibility. This
also nods to scholarly conventions
and cultural expectations of
authorship and ownership.
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
Linked contents allows quick
scanning and navigation. It also
develops an ethos of order and
control, suggesting a hierarchy of
the information’s importance and
chronology.
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
Hyperlinks to related
articles allows for
audience interaction
with text
Audience Stance: the way the author creates an ethos inviting various kinds of audience
engagement/participation (Hocks 632); “this stance results largely from the author creating
an ethos and a connection with readers that encourages different kinds of audience
participation” (Hocks 642)
Ubiquitous edit links confirm
the ethos of collaborative
knowledge building
Transparency: The “ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like
those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages;” the more familiar, the more transparent
(Hocks 632).
Transparency: The “ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like
those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages;” the more familiar, the more transparent
(Hocks 632).
These tabs—“Discussion,” “Edit this Page,” and “History”—all allow for
user interactions with the text that clash with print conventions. Hocks
would call this “defamiliarizing” the design and editorial capabilities
of Wikipedia in order to highlight the possibilities not present in print
forms (643)
Transparency: The “ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like
those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages;” the more familiar, the more transparent
(Hocks 632).
Table of Contents
conforms with standard
book-printing practice,
allowing for manageable
and familiar browsing
Transparency: The “ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like
those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages;” the more familiar, the more transparent
(Hocks 632).
Blue text perpetuates the
HTML standard for
hyperlinks, supporting an
established convention of
hypertext
Transparency: The “ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like
those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages;” the more familiar, the more transparent
(Hocks 632).
Footnote citations follow a standard
academic format for research writing
in print form. (The addition of
hyperlink mixes print and new media
conventions.)
Transparency: The “ways in which online documents relate to established conventions like
those of print, graphic design, film, and Web pages;” the more familiar, the more transparent
(Hocks 632).
Wikipedia’s frame-within-aframe interface follows fairly
pervasive conventions for
many Websites, allowing
meta-site navigation at all
times.
Hybridity: Refers to the interplay between the visual and the verbal in one constructed,
heterogeneous semiotic space (Hocks 637). Hybridity “works to the audience’s advantages
by increasing the experience of pleasure through identification and multiplicity” (Hocks
643).
Hybridity: Refers to the interplay between the visual and the verbal in one constructed,
heterogeneous semiotic space (Hocks 637). Hybridity “works to the audience’s advantages
by increasing the experience of pleasure through identification and multiplicity” (Hocks
643).
Icons pervasive to all of Wikipedia’s pages provide
site-wide cohesiveness. The site’s visual
metaphor—the globe being built by puzzle pieces—
reinforces its mission: a worldwide collaboration of
Internet users piecing together knowledge.
Hybridity: Refers to the interplay between the visual and the verbal in one constructed,
heterogeneous semiotic space (Hocks 637). Hybridity “works to the audience’s advantages
by increasing the experience of pleasure through identification and multiplicity” (Hocks
643).
A frugal approach to images (except for
scientific diagrams and charts)
establishes the staid, text-based
encyclopedic tone of Wikipedia.
Image rights to: Pennsylvania State University Library,
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/speccolls/rbm/images/burke.jpg
Analyzing Wikipedia
A series of questions designed to help students conduct similar
analysis of Wikipedia and other digital/visual materials is included
in the CD “handout” you received for attending today’s showcase.
You’ll also find writing assignments based on such analysis.
Thank you for attending!
Works Cited
Black, Erik. “Wikipedia and Academic Peer Review: Wikipedia as a Recognised
Medium?”Online Information Review 32.1 (2008): 73-88.
Foss, Sonja. “A Rhetorical Schema for the Evaluation of Visual Imagery.”
Communication Studies 45 (Fall/Winter 1994): 213-24.
Helvetica, The Documentary. Dir. Gary Hustwit. Plexifilm. 2007
Hocks, Mary. “Understanding Visual Rhetoric in Digital Writing Environments.”
College Composition and Communication 54.4 (Jun. 2003): 629-56.
Voss, Jakob. “Measuring Wikipedia.” Proceedings of the 10th International
Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and
Informetrics. 24-28 July 2005, Stockholm Sweden.
<http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00003610/01/MeasuringWikipedia2005.pdf>
Wysocki, Anne. “Monitoring Order: Visual Desire, the Organization of Web Pages,
and Teaching the Rules of Design.” Kairos 3.2 (1998).
<http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/3.2/features/wysocki/mOrder.html>
---. “Seeing the Screen: Research into Visual and Digital Writing Practices.”
Bazerman, Charles, Ed. Handbook of Research on Writing: History,
Society, School, Individual, Text, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2008. 599-611.