Module 1: Rhetoric, Digital Spaces, and Identity

Learning Outcomes

• Analyze how language choices, visual codes, and unwritten rules function within a specific digital platform or online community.

• Identify and evaluate specific architectural choices, rhetorical strategies, and design elements used by creators to engage audiences in written and digital texts.

• Generate and pitch multiple potential topics for a multimodal digital literacy narrative by reflecting on personal experiences with digital communication artifacts and platforms.

• Correctly identify subjects, predicates, nouns, and action/linking verbs to construct clear, complete sentences in early narratgive drafts.

Read WS: How to Read Like a Writer

Think About It: Social Media Curation

Each week, we will share an example of composition in the real world. The goal is to help you begin to recognize all of the ways that composition already exists in your everyday life. 

So, did you know that social media photo dumps, video stitches, stories, and even simple posts are composition? That's right! Curating images or arranging videos isn't random; it's constructing a visual or thematic narrative for a specific audience. If you engage in modern social media, you already edit, sequence, and frame media daily to convey a precise "vibe" or aesthetic.

Module 1 Discussion: Digital World, Cultural Identity, & Reading Like a Writer

This week, we are getting to know each other, exploring how our online spaces shape the way we communicate, seeing how language connects to identity, and learning how to read texts "like writers."

Instead of a traditional Q&A post, treat this board as an open workshop. Follow the steps below to introduce yourself, share your experiences, and start collaborating with your classmates. 

Step 1: Your Main Post (due Saturday)

Craft a response (around 250-300 words) with the following in mind:

1. The Introduction (Who You Are): Tell us your name, major/intended path, and one fun or surprising detail about your daily digital habits (e.g., your most-used emoji, a niche subculture you follow online, or your current screen time record).

2. Spotlight an Online Space: Pick one specific online platform, community, or digital space you inhabit (e.g., a specific subreddit, a Discord server, a TikTok niche, LinkedIn, or even a tight-knit group chat). What are its unwritten language rules, slang, or shape how you present yourself?

3. Read It "Like a Writer": Mike Bunn compares reading like a writer to an architect studying a building. Look at your chosen space as an "architect." What is one design choice or rhetorical strategy used in that space (e.g., character caps, video captions, pinned comments, visual overlays) to hold an audience's attention?

4. Pitch Two Literacy Narrative Ideas: For your first assignment, the digital literacy narrative, you'll tell the story of a specific moment, platform, or artifact that shaped how you read, write, or communicate digitally. Give us two rough, potential pitch ideas you are considering, and ask your peers their feedback or thoughts on the two ideas. 

Step 2: Peer Responses (due Tuesday)

To build genuine connections and help each other refine assignment topics, reply to at least two classmates using this peer review framework:

1. Welcome & Icebreaker Connection: Greet your classmate and react to their intro/digital habit (e.g., share if you have a similar daily habit or emoji choice).

2. Language Decoder: Compare the communication norms of their chosen space to one of your own. Do you recognize the "unwritten rules" they described, or is that space completely foreign to you?

3. The Vote & Feedback: Vote on which of their two literacy narrative pitches sounds most compelling to you as an audience member, and explain why.