Journal 3

The key word of composition I have chosen for project 1 is audience. I have always been fascinated by the interconnections of an audience and rhetoric. I think an audience is what makes rhetorical pieces relevant and meaningful. As of now, the three artifacts I have selected for my exhibit are Facebook, Genius, and the Reply All podcast. The artifacts I have keep changing as we read more and more opinions of rhetoricians. The artifacts have a trend of audience interaction to find meaning. In our readings this week, design and materials were discussed. It is mentioned that the material and design influence the way an audience interact with it and how they interpret it.

First, Facebook has a tool where you can sponsor a post: Organizations and companies can manipulate who is able to see their post(s). The Facebook sponsor tool allows you to add keywords or tags to a post. Generally they are things related to the subject of the post. Then, this will cause the post to appear on the news feeds of people who have had some previous interaction with the keywords or tags selected. This benefits both the audience and the organization. While the organization reaches a larger audience, the audience may discover something similar to their pre-existing interests. The creator here has a group of people it would like to reach and modifies their work in such a way that it will meet the target.

Second, Genius is another website mostly known for their interpretation of lyrics. It is separated by music genre and contributors translate song lyrics. The lyrics (typically full of figurative language) are given meaning in a common language which everyone can understand. Contributors decipher the lyrics and offer their opinion on the meaning. The audience generates the meaning which is not always the same as what the artists intended to express.

Third, the Reply All podcast has a segment where they find odd tweets, usually memes, and try to figure out what they mean. They use the text, images, and previous replies to find the context. The speakers in the podcast use their previous knowledge and experiences to find meaning. The rhetorician created the tweet with a specific intended meaning. This podcast reminds me of Mead and Morris’s significant symbol. Their ideas was to create common understanding with their audience to find the same significance of the tweet.