This month, I was pleased to virtually attend and present at the 4th Applied Rhetoric Symposium. I spoke on a new project I’m developing, and this initial version of the project was called “Let’s Have Better Arguments About the Internet: A Stasis-Question Analysis of Rhetoric Concerning the Governance of the Internet.” The short abstract is here:
One reason that discussions cannot reach productive ends surrounding internet issues is that there is no consensus on what the fundamental elements of internet governance are, much less agreement on how those elements should be handled. I propose a set of stasis questions that reflect five elements of internet governance, with the hopes of leading to better grounding for arguments and ultimately more productive rhetoric.
For this presentation, I conducted rhetorical analysis of published research from scholars concerned with internet policy. I am still investigating which directions which this project may go in terms of data collection; the goals of the project are concrete (and encased in the title of the talk), but the way to get to those ends is very speculative at this stage. I expect I’ll be working on this project for the next few years.
This new research project corresponds with my teaching interests. I’ve taught Digital Ethics in Internet Governance and Policy twice now, and I plan on teaching it again in Spring 2023. It’s exciting to be able to align research and teaching tightly; I enjoy the ability to be right there in the work when my students ask questions.
Thanks again to ARC for accepting my proposal and allowing me to present virtually!