Assignment #8

My view of communication hasn’t changed that much over the course of the semester. It was weird looking at the first writing assignment because I feel that I understand it better. I still have the same view but looking back at the words I used is interesting. To define communication I mentioned that it is the way we “deliver messages” and “share knowledge.” Those words mean so much more to me now that they did before. I said that knowledge is interpreting “raw facts” and “making them into something important.” Now from that statement I interpret that we make/create knowledge. I was right on target but now I can say it more clearly. I also said that if enough people believe something is real, then it becomes “truth,” which I still agree with.
I think learning about the rhetorical view will help me in my future endeavors because I am conscious of the effects it has on communication. While I am no expert, I already think about it everyday. With my friends, knowing more about communication helps me transmit information more effectively. I can see more clearly what information they are taking in from what I’m saying. This summer I will be interning at The Student Media Group. For the first six weeks I will be meeting with businesses to seal advertising space in the free planners the Student Media Group distributes at universities at the beginning of the academic year. For the rest of the summer I will be working with marketing for campusfood.com. Knowing what I know now about rhetoric will help me tremendously in the sales aspect of my job and hopefully help me make as much money as possible!

Reading Assignment 8

I think that my definition and understanding of communication hasn’t really changed over the course of the semester, but rather expanded. Certainly at the beginning of the semester I didn’t think that communication was just an act of transmission with no strings attached, but at the beginning of the semester, it was much more difficult to put into words what else communication did.  I don’t think I could necessarily change the definitions entirely from that first assignment, but perhaps now I could voice some of the other things that communication does and is.

The main lesson that I felt was reiterated through the course was “don’t be an ass.”  I certainly learned a lot about the rhetorical view and how it is different from the serious premises, but the main thing I think that will stay with me throughout my “endeavors” is don’t always assume you’re always right and there’s only one way to be right.  There’s an entire world out there that effects every decision we make and that every decision we make effects.  Just because one thing is considered “right and proper” at one point in time, doesn’t mean it will be or that it ever should have been.  We can’t go through life thinking everything is bland, unchangeable and ineffectual; we have to be able to see through and beyond the realities defined for us.  Don’t be an ass and take everything for granted, perhaps…maybe, try to think a little…bigger?

Assignment #8-Will A.

Looking back at the first assignment I realize how much my perspective of the words communication, culture, knowledge, truth, reality, and identity have changed.  I said for communication , “Communication is between a sender and a receiver, through the use of a medium such as spoken words, body language, email, text message ect”.  My definition of communication has grown greatly over the past semester.  I believe that my definition was on the right track but I didn’t think deep enough as to how we communicate and what it actually means.  Our communication shapes everything.  Our culture, knowledge, truths, reality, and identity are shaped by the man made tool of communication.  This has opened my eyes to were we are now and how we have created all of these terms in order to better our understanding of the world around us.

I have enjoyed my semester taking this course.  It has opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas that I never knew existed.  I specific part of the class that started to make sense to me was when we were discussing the author Goffman.  Goffman showed me how my performance is everything in this world.  If we don’t perform the proper way it can lead to miscommunication.  I learned how many performances I put on in daily basis.  These fronts shape the identity that I have in other people’s eyes.  I feel that this course will help me in better understanding the people in the world around me.  Everything that I do now, professionally and socially, I will be able to apply towards this class such as the myths that we have and the way people perform in certain situations.  Last assignment-sick nasty ridiculous!

Reading Assignment #8

When I first attempted to figure out what communication was, I just believed it was the transmission of facts. I thought it was clear and concise information. I perceived it as truth, knowledge, and information we gather. All the primary readings I didn’t put together, and understand what the underlying creation of communication truly was. I then started to put together all the different concepts and that everything in communication was created and finally understand the meaning of rhetoric as a whole. I started to understand through the readings about myths, and metaphors, and how society shapes it all. The problem posing versus banking education was able to shed light on the preconceived thoughts (banking) versus, freely being able to question what was learned (problem posing.) It shed light on how the rhetorical view can even effect our communication and understanding in our day-to-day acts of going to school and learning.

In the class we started off learning about rhetoric and Plato and I didn’t understand the concepts. Then, I started seeing how things such as creating fronts are involved in my everyday life. Goffman describes how we are performing all of the time which is what makes us real. It helps me realize how people are performing all of the time, and makes me more aware of why people act in certain ways. I never realized why people were worried about Facebook and whether or not their profile was appropriate because it defined them. Now, I’m aware to not take Facebook, and miscommunication, such as text messages sending a strange message, too seriously. Now, after having learned about rhetoric, I’m able to notice who a person really is underneath it all. I’m better equipped in noticing things about society because I can see the true self they hold and whether or not they are performing. I plan on keeping everything I learned in this class, about myths and what is real or a front in my internship this summer with The Maury Show. I will be working with booking people on the show and will have to decide who has an interesting enough story to be on it. I hope to keep my guard up, and recognize who is being sincere or who is putting up a front or not, when working this summer.

R.A. #8…FINAL ONE! :)

My initial definition of communication consisted of a very narrow view that could not connect well to the various sub concepts such as, truth, knowledge, reality, identity, and culture. I had written, “When I first think of the word communication, I imagine two people discussing any type of information whether it is being transmitted face to face, through the mail, via e-mail, cell phone, or any other type of technology. The ways in which one can communicate has grown exponentially over the past decade, thus allowing for more accurate and immediate responses. Communication allows for the exchanging of ideas, messages, opinions, or simply to be social and interact with another human.” This definition did not connect to any of the other concepts and only focused on person-to-person communication. I did not address the power of communication or what communication can lead to and how it ultimately shapes our lives and determines the success in having a greater understanding of a person or idea.

I had a very simplistic definition for reality and truth as well. I more or less stated that what is “real” to some may not be “real” to others depending on life experiences and prior knowledge. I also tied this to the definition of truth and discussed how truth is a rather arbitrary word and what is “right” and “wrong” for some may be different for others. While these statements were a step in the right direction, I learned how to expand on these concepts and develop a more complex understanding of how and why we believe the things we do. My knowledge of communication has changed greatly because I am able to take a “step back” and look at the greater meanings behind certain conversations, acts, movies, songs, debates, etc. We discussed how rhetoric and communication play a large role in many mediums and how if we are more tuned in to the rhetorical view, we are able to take away valuable information and lessons and apply them to many other aspects of our lives.

I will be better prepared and more equipped to interact with others in a job setting or as a leader/member in an organization due to the past few months in this class learning about the rhetorical view of communication. I have already noticed myself thinking about various topics that are in the media that seem to be concrete and the views of society and how the views are that of a standard view. I have learned to question certain aspects of my own life and consider alternative opinions when having discussions with others. I am also not so quick to take something at face value and feel that I have definitely broadened my horizons of knowledge and truth. This greater understanding of communicating will help me in the future when working with others and making decisions because I will be more flexible and likely to give value to opinions that are much different from my own and be able to challenge those of others. This class has honestly opened my eyes to a whole other communicative world and I truly believe that I will encounter many times in my future where this information of the rhetorical view will be prevalent.

Final Assignment

Coming into this class I actually had to look up the definition of rhetoric.  And going into probably the first 4 readings I had really a pretty fuzzy grasp on what it all was about.  When defining communication I said it was simply a way to convey a message but through this class I realized communication actually IS the message.  To look at knowledge and reality and say it does not really exist would have baffled me before this class, but now I simply node my head in agreement.  I now comprehend how much everything has had man’s hand placed upon it and how much humans have altered everything that we believe to exist.  To say now “I am telling the truth,” brings me to think of what is going on completely differently.  I now think of how much human relations have modified our way of thinking and that truth is actually a naturalized myth.  Everything has a new twist placed on it.

Now that I have been introduced to the “rhetorical view” I have a different outlook on why things are the way they are.  Sitting in lecture hall makes me realize how much we are expected to learn certain myths without questioning or looking at how they came about.  Now when people begin to discuss underlying truths or who a person really is, I will automatically think about rhetoric.  I am more equipped to notice how people perform depending on there circumstances.  When I see a person acting in a certain manner, or being “sincere,”  I will make the connection that it is yet another front even if the person does not realize it.  In my personal and professional relationship I will better comprehend that there is no way of telling the other person exactly how I feel or completely understanding how they feel.  I will overthink everything dubbed as “beautiful” or “ugly.”  I now question everything considered to be real and see everything as fake in someway.

Assignment 8

I feel like my knowledge and understanding of communication has changed a lot over the course of the semester. One would be not just looking as communication as a way to speak to one another but to express one’s opinions and how they feel. Also, I did not realize how much society has influenced communication through myths and metaphors. I did not feel that communication was such a complicated matter, that there were so many ways communication became apparent. Because of this, I would change some of my definitions and explanations. While I still think truth is something that is proven, I know now that truth is made through people are their actions. In this, I learned that truth is made by reality, not reality is truth like I previously stated. But, identity to me hasn’t changed, it’s who a person is which I think was enforced throughout the class.
I can see the rhetorical view of communication helping me in future roles in a few ways. Learning about the rhetorical view helped me to think about the things I do in a more open way. It brought me to think more openly as far as conversation and other people’s views. I also feel like in my future job it will cause me to not be as judgmental, to think about the bigger picture and other ways to do things. This also applies to my life with my friends and family. Being able to think in different ways can help with my communication between my friends whether its listening to their problems or giving them advice when they are having problems.

Final Reading Assignment

1)      I would say my knowledge of communication has evolved considerably due to the concepts and idea taught in this C205 course. When I first began the course, I only thought of communication in terms of the transmission of facts. I now see there aren’t many ideas that are truly facts. Rather, everything we know as facts have been inspired, created, and modified through our communication. The definitions I created in the fist reading assignment would definitely be changed because of what I have learned in this course. I believe I could define them more precisely and the perspective of the definitions may be slightly different now that I have learned to look at communication and culture in a different way. I also believe I could add significantly more relevant information as to what my thought are in regards to communications, truth, knowledge, identity, and culture.

 

2)      I think a rhetorical view will make me more aware of my surroundings. I will more thoroughly understand why it is individuals are performing in certain ways and why certain aspects of society and culture have become the way they are. I believe the concepts and ideas I have learned in the course could potentially make me look at certain situations in a different light, which in turn could possibly aid in my personal growth. They could very well help me read situations better, leading me to more intelligent decisions because I may be able to see through what it is that people are saying, and realize why they are saying it and what it is they are trying to accomplish.

Final Assignment

What I originally said was that communication was how we express our ideas and desires through rhetoric in many forms to ultimately persuade people or make them understand your thoughts, beliefs, ideas, etc. I would like to add on that it is also how we interpret what others are saying that there are many schools of thought on how to interpret. This class has obviously given me a wider and more sophisticated grasp on the rhetorical view in general. I have been able and will continue to point out when a film or person or argument falls under one of the many categories we have looked at over the semester. I was thinking today how this knowledge has the ability to possibly keep me away from goals in a relationship of any kind (business related, love, etc). I wonder is it enough just to recognize these differences or reasons why a person believes something or acts in a certain way. People don’t like having knowledge shoved down their throats and they don’t like to think of themselves as unintelligent. I see what we have gone over this semester as a better tool to decipher what is being presented to me so I can make better and more intelligent decisions on how to act and of course reading through the bullshit.

I have enjoyed this class and i will take a lot away from it so thank you.

Our final Project and Facebook

Last week we presented our final project that was about facebook and the rhetorical aspect it can take in society today. We went in depth explaining the background of it, but if you haven’t seen it it’s www.youtube.com/stogie393. 

It made me realize just how dependent our society is with technology. It really is all about the newest way to contact someone, and to not have to see them. Email, phone call, texting, facebook IM, facebook message, wallpost, AIM. It has become a complete myth that it’s better to avoid face to face communication, and take the easiest way out. And that’s maybe what it is in general, that our society is using technology as an easy, and lazy way out. Which means in the end, real pure communication is getting challenged more and more each day.