Rhetorical Convergence: Earlier Media Influence on Web Media Form

Author:

Anders Fagerjord

Email:

anders.fagerjord-at-media.uio.no

Advisor:

Gunnar LiestØl

Award Date:

November 2003

Institution:

University of Oslo

Institution Location:

Oslo, Norway

Web Location:

http://www.fagerjord.no/rhetoricalconvergence/

Abstract:

This thesis takes as its starting point the widespread conception of media convergence. If all media are converging, as many believe, what do the texts look (or sound) like in the new convergent media? Using feature journalism on the Web as the object of analysis, Fagerjord asks whether the means of expression of earlier media are converging on the Web, and if so, how. Fagerjord argues that many Web genres can be viewed as cases of rhetorical convergence, following various forms of technological convergence of digital media. Using semiotic and rhetoric theory, a large number of Web sites and genres are analysed. The thesis consists of nine essays, each addressing a specific problem related to the multimediated composition of Web sites. More theoretical problems include questions of linearity and nonlinearity in Web sites, and the use of semiotic theory on computer texts. Specific examples of multimedia genres are analysed in detail, such as interactive graphics, photo collections on the Web, Web sites combining video with written material, and "edu-tainment" texts resembling computer games. In the introductory essay, the insights from the following contributions are brought together to a higher and more general level of analysis, as elements in a four-dimensional theory of relations between Web genres and earlier media. Fagerjord argues that any text may be described according to the four axes Mode of Distribution (the balance of amount of material and time between authoring and reading); Mode of Restrictions (range and detail in space and time); Mode of Acquisition (the reading process required of the reader); and Mode of Signification (the particular combination of sign systems). Rhetorical convergence is when a text is similar to one genre on one axis and another genre on another axis. However, the model implies that rhetorical divergence may be better than convergence in describing the changes.