The meaning of the term “digital rhetoric”, has gone through some change throughout different centuries. Starting with its earliest inception in ancient Greek, Aristotle believed rhetoric to be the “art of finding out the available means of persuasion for a given argument” (1991, 37). As pointed out by Aristotle, rhetoric is the practice of persuasive communication, and in a way a study of how it effects society. Fast forward to the year 1989, where a man named Richard Lanham presented a lecture which depute the phrase “digital rhetoric”. He related the classic rhetoric with modern technology, calling the latest computers a “rhetorical device, as well as a logical one” (1992, 221).
Three Main Elements of Digital Rhetoric
The first prominent term is rhetoric itself. As mentioned up above, “rhetoric” was one of the first terms to come about. It provides the “primary theory and methods for the field of digital rhetoric, the objects must be digital compositions rather than speeches or print texts” (Eyman 18). Rhetoric is important for writers as it is the basis for works made via online platforms.
The second term is digital. According to the text, “digital” refers to “our fingers, our digits, through which we make sense of the world and with which we write into the world” (Eyman 19). Being digital allows us to communicate with one another through online platforms. It is most beneficial for writers as they can publish their works out there in hopes of getting recognized.
The third and final term is text. This term is based on the “understandings of design: an understanding of what the social and cultural environment is into which my text is to fit, and the purposes it is to achieve” (Eyman 22). Texts are an object of interpretive attention and writing. This is important to writers as it can be used to communicate to people via online. Two of the prominent uses for text would be to persuade or inform.
The Guide 