Narrates a short story
Before Bogost jumps into his argument, he engages the reader with a story. This story is an account of what happen to Amy Webb who experienced sexism at an airport. This incidence occurred due to an injury Webb had that put her in a walking boot. Because of this, she had to go through a backscatter machine with X-ray imaging instead of the normal metal detector. The machine picked up on her hair and breast area as a weapon. She claims that when developing these machines, they have these issues because “someone like me wasn’t in the room”. Her experience ties into the entire point of Bogost’s article about the lack of diversity in the world of technology.
Explaining
Bogost also provides a simple explanation and solution for the readers. He says that “computer systems that don’t anticipate all the types of people who might use them” . He follows up by saying, “Increase the diversity of representation among the people who make these systems, and they will serve the population better”. This straightforward explanation to the topic of his article helps the reader narrow their focus on this issue and the end goal which pushes the argument forward.
Comparing and Contrasting (They Say)
Bogost pulls quotes and opinions from multiple people in his article. In one section he references both Amy Webb and Kamau Bobb. He compares their opinions back to back in a section. This allows the readers to see the relationship between different people’s opinions. This helps the reader figure out where they stand on an issue.
‘In Webb’s view, that argument is unlikely to ever gain traction among big, wealthy tech companies. “A moral imperative is unlikely to motivate public companies,” she told me. Bobb agrees—Google’s focus on the “next billion users” entails a better understanding of people of color, he said, but only because the company finally understands that they represent an untapped market for advertising.’
But to Webb, that doesn’t mean those companies are hopeless. The problem, she said, is that scale, market share, and speed matter more than anything else. She believes the problems that arise in computational social infrastructure, such as backscatter X-ray devices and facial-recognition systems, are caused by the ferocious competition between these companies. Webb thinks a better approach to solving the social ills in artificial-intelligence systems would come from some kind of federal office or consortium that might encourage collaboration between tech firms; one such project could be revising data sets that don’t fully represent the general public.
Quoting
To keep the article flowing, the author incorporates many quotations. Following the guidelines of TSIS, Bogost frames his quotes. This is an important move that carries his argument because it provides the reader with more insight about a topic as well as spark questions or new ideas.
Poses questions to the reader
To keep the reader engaged, Bogost throws in questions throughout the piece. These questions push the reader to analyze their stance on certain issues before continuing to read. Additionally, Bogost asks questions (like the one below) that are easy for the reader to agree with (which builds some common ground between the author and the reader).
If everyone is focused on the nuts and bolts of making software quickly at scale, where will they learn to design it with equity and care?
I also used this website to help come up with rhetorical statregies…
https://wwnorton.com/college/english/write/read12/toolbar/set02.aspx