Studying Rhetoric: Key Terms

Ridolfo and Rife provide us with many important terms to consider when studying the case of Maggie: rhetorical velocity, delivery, recomposition, and appropriation. While these terms are not synonyms, their definitions depend on each other and are all tied closely to rhetoric.

Delivery can be best understood as how something is said. Delivery has changed immensely due to digital advancements: content has become "more readily available to mix," and the ease with which we can copy and paste and share has greatly influenced our methods of delivery (229). In Maggie's case, the delivery method was public and unique. Recomposition is when someone's material is taken and reused by another (the delivery is changed). The term does not necessarily have a negative connotation. Relating it to the Maggie case, the aim of the protest was to get media attention, so that they would recompose it and distribute it on a wide scale. While they were successful in this, Maggie also dealt with a form of recomposition that was less desirable: appropriation. Appropriation is when content is taken out of context and used for a different purpose. In Maggie's case, it was the university's use of her protest photo as a recruitment tool. The final term, rhetorical velocity, can be defined as "a strategic concept of delivery in which a rhetor theorizes the possibilities for the recomposition of a text (e.g., a media release) based on how s/he anticipates how the text might later be used" (229). As we can see, it directly draws on the other terms; it cannot exist without them.

Rhetorical velocity is arguably the most important term in the article. It brings all of the terms together and presents us with a central concern: "How could Maggie have realistically anticipated this latent reappropriation of her work, if at all?" (230). This term could also be applied to Miller's definition of genre. She states that to study genre is to "take seriously the rhetoric in which we are immersed and the situations in which we find ourselves" (Miller, 155). Both concepts have everything to do with examining the rhetoric we use and considering the possible outcomes. This is also the term that surprised me the most. I had never considered the importance of this sort of strategy. Considering how your message can be reused and perhaps even altered is vital when it comes to choosing methods of delivery. There is nothing worse for a rhetorician than to have their message taken out of context and used contrary to their original intentions. Rhetorical velocity should be studied seriously if it can prevent cases like Maggie's from occurring in the future.