Harlot » General http://harlotofthearts.org/blog A revealing look at the arts of persuasion Tue, 01 May 2012 00:02:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Capitol Words http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2012/04/18/capitol-words/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2012/04/18/capitol-words/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:33:54 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2340 Continue reading →]]> I was recently asked what type of digital corpuses are available to track word frequency changes over time.  In addition to Google’s N-gram I would recommend their Insights project, which allows for a more recent and detailed picture.  Though the time span is considerably shorter (’04-’12), Insights is a remarkable tool, since search queries have a more democratic tinge to them than publications.  It reveals what populations are curious about and willing to seek out.

Then just this morning I discovered Capitol Words, a project by the Sunlight Foundation.  As they describe it,

Capitol Words scrapes the bulk data of the Congressional Record from the Government Printing Office, does some computer magic to clean-up and organize the data, then presents an easy-to-use front-end website where you can quickly search the favorite keywords of legislators, states or dates.

The new version now allows users to search, index and graph up to five-word phrases that give greater context and meaning to the turns-of-phrase zinging across the aisle. Where we once could only track individual terms like ‘health‘ or ‘energy,’ now we can break down the issue further into ‘health care reform,’ ‘renewable energy,’ ‘high energy prices‘ or however you wish.

Such a site promises to be a playground for rhetoricians.

Now go play.

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2012/04/18/capitol-words/feed/ 0 enculturation: McLuhan at 100 http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2012/01/10/enculturation-mcluhan-at-100/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2012/01/10/enculturation-mcluhan-at-100/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:32:06 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2282 Continue reading →]]> If you haven’t already, I encourage to check out enculturation‘s latest issue: Marshall McLuhan @ 100: Picking Through the Rag and Bone Shop of a Career, launched on the final day of centenary celebrations, 21 years to the day of McLuhan’s death.  Editors David Beard and Kevin Brooks have pulled together quite a stunning issue.

McLuhan quote

image by stefan.erschwendner, flickr

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2012/01/10/enculturation-mcluhan-at-100/feed/ 0 +1 and like http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/12/16/1-and-like/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/12/16/1-and-like/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:38:47 +0000 PaulMuhlhauser http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2266 Continue reading →]]> I don’t know much about tenure or impact factors and journals. I don’t really know much about how academic journals get rated for prestige, influence, and coolness. But I’ve been thinking about new sorts of ratings for academic publications—especially those DIY publications. I’ve been thinking about those self-published pieces that don’t go through a journal but are published online ready to be experienced. There are some outstanding pieces out there that may not have a home in a journal but are important and need some support and academic cred. I’ve also been thinking about all the work comp and rhet teachers do online. I mean often they are blogging about rhetoric, vlogging about rhetoric, youtubing about composition, facebooking composition and, in general, engaging in academic activities through social media platforms that they never get credit for. So I wonder about liking and +1ng. And I ask ya these questions:

1. Should there be some sort of calculation (impact factor type) for articles, books, and websites based on likes and +1s and tweets ?

2. Could academic prestige be equated to social media numbers?

3. Should social media presence help with tenure?

If the answer is yes to any of the above then ya gotta ask the next questions:

1. Would a like from Villanueva mean more than a like from Muhlhauser?

2. Would a +1 from Yancey be rated higher than a +1 from Brad Pitt?

What would a university look like if tenure were based on social media presence?

Please like, +1, and tweet this post. I’m preparing for the future.

later

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/12/16/1-and-like/feed/ 1 Classical Rhetoric: A Manly Introduction http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/10/24/classical-rhetoric-a-manly-introduction/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/10/24/classical-rhetoric-a-manly-introduction/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 03:52:04 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2223 Continue reading →]]> The Art of Manliness has a well written series of primers on classical rhetoric and the five canons.

Check ‘em all out:

Classical Rhetoric 101: An Introduction

Classical Rhetoric 101: A Brief History

covers the sophists, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintillian, Medieval, Renaissance, and the “modern day”

The Five Canons: Invention

includes a brief section on Topoi

The Five Canons: Arrangement

covers narratio, partitio, confirmatio, refutatio, peroratio

The Five Canons: Style

covers the five virtues of style: correctness, clarity, evidence, propriety, ornateness

The Five Canons: Memory

not just about memorizing, but making memorable

The Five Canons: Delivery

master the pause, watch your body language, vary your tone, let gestures flow naturally, match your speed with your emotion, vary the force of your voice, enunciate, look your audience in your eye

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/10/24/classical-rhetoric-a-manly-introduction/feed/ 0 The Perfect Campaign Speech http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/10/13/the-perfect-campaign-speech/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/10/13/the-perfect-campaign-speech/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 03:04:53 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2206 Continue reading →]]> I would like to see more (a lot more) of this type of rhetorical analysis:

For similar videos check out “Trailer For Every Oscar-Winning Movie Ever,” Charlie Brooker’s “How to Report the News,” and The Onion’s “Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere.”

More please.

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/10/13/the-perfect-campaign-speech/feed/ 0 “The ‘War on Cars’: A brief history of a rhetorical device http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/09/20/the-war-on-cars-a-brief-history-of-a-rhetorical-device/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/09/20/the-war-on-cars-a-brief-history-of-a-rhetorical-device/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:28:53 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2201 Continue reading →]]> I just found an interesting piece over at grist that charts a genealogy of sorts for the phrase, “War on Cars.”  It a curious expression that’s been used to frame just about any type of regulation of cars, from congestion pricing (in London, for example) to investment in alternative transportation.

Click on image to access article

It doesn’t take much intellectual effort to look around and realize that our urban infrastructures are hardly waging a war on cars.  But the factual absurdity of the phrase doesn’t mean it isn’t rhetorically powerful; maneuvering into a position of victimhood and defensiveness is often an effective move.

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/09/20/the-war-on-cars-a-brief-history-of-a-rhetorical-device/feed/ 0 Buy This Junk: Spatial Design as Persuasion http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/08/03/buy-this-junk-spatial-design-as-persuasion/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/08/03/buy-this-junk-spatial-design-as-persuasion/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:02:10 +0000 Ben http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2195 Not an entirely new idea, but this Australian video explores the notion of “scripted disorientation” as a technique used in places like shopping malls, supermarkets, and even Ikea to subtly persuade (trick) you into buying things you didn’t intend to:

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/08/03/buy-this-junk-spatial-design-as-persuasion/feed/ 0 The single word creates a pivot… http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/07/17/the-single-word-creates-a-pivot/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/07/17/the-single-word-creates-a-pivot/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:53:16 +0000 Ben http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2185 From the Disinformation website comes this post that illustrates the “micro” level of persuasion: two AP stories five decades apart reporting on two similar examples of unanimous parliamentary votes, using two different descriptors to characterize the event…
AP diction

What institutional pressures determine these choices in diction?

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/07/17/the-single-word-creates-a-pivot/feed/ 0 Rhetoric Quote of the Day http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/02/03/rhetoric-quote-of-the-day-2/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/02/03/rhetoric-quote-of-the-day-2/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:42:46 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=2084 Continue reading →]]> Picture of Huey Long

Huey Long, Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932

 

 

 

“Don’t write anything you can phone.  Don’t phone anything you can talk.  Don’t talk anything you can whisper.  Don’t whisper anything you can smile.  Don’t smile anything you can nod.  Don’t nod anything you can wink.”

 

 

 

 

 

]]> http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2011/02/03/rhetoric-quote-of-the-day-2/feed/ 0 Rhetoric Quote of the Day… http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2010/09/17/rhetoric-quote-of-the-day/ http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/2010/09/17/rhetoric-quote-of-the-day/#comments Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:53:43 +0000 Tim http://harlotofthearts.org/blog/?p=1883 Continue reading →]]>

 

“When Confucius was asked what would be the first thing he would do if he were to lead the state—a never-to-be-fulfilled dream—he said, Rectify the language. This is wise.  This is subtle.  As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too.  Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: You liberate a city by destroying it.  Words are used to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.  Finally, words must be so twisted as to justify an empire that has now ceased to exist, much less make sense.  Is rectification of our system possible for us?”

 

~ Gore Vidal

 

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