{"id":492,"date":"2021-07-07T22:33:18","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/?p=492"},"modified":"2021-07-07T22:34:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:34:55","slug":"bogosts-rhetorical-moves-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/2021\/07\/07\/bogosts-rhetorical-moves-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogost’s Rhetorical Moves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is very likely that those who read the title of Ian Bogost\u2019s article, The Problem with Diversity in Computing,<\/em> are not expecting it to open with the following paragraph:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Amy Webb broke her ankle, she was forced to hobble around on a walking boot. That inconvenience spawned others: among them, she couldn\u2019t pass through the metal detector at airport TSA PreCheck lines any longer. Instead, she had to use the backscatter machines that produce X-ray images of passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bogost\u2019s first rhetorical move gets the better of the reader\u2019s curiosity by making them wonder \u201cwhat does this have to do with diversity in computing?\u201d Their interest has been piqued and they are now invested in reading more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, the author introduces us to Ms. Webb\u2019s background where we find out \u201cWebb, who is a professor at New York University and the author of The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity<\/em>, took the inconvenience as a firsthand opportunity to watch how this technology, which uses computational methods to mark possible risks on the body, really works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we are starting to get the picture! Amy Webb has some expertise on how people are affected by technology and uses this knowledge to enlighten us on how technology can be discriminatory at the airport. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the screen,\u201d she says of the image that appeared from her scan, \u201cand my cast, head, and breasts were big blocks of yellow.\u201d \u201cIt was because of underwire bras, she later learned, which the system sometimes can\u2019t distinguish<\/a> from potential weapons.\u201d Here, the author\u2019s rhetorical move is to use Webb\u2019s authority on the subject matter to help the reader buy into whatever he writes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Bogost doesn\u2019t explicitly say so, we realize he probably agrees<\/em> with Webb\u2019s sentiment about technology because he utilizes a third rhetorical move where he states, \u201cWebb\u2019s experience is among the more innocuous consequences of computer systems that don\u2019t anticipate all the types of people who might use them.\u201d He also cites a fact that \u201cComputers have started issuing prison sentences<\/a>, for example.\u201d to further point out how things have just gone too<\/em> far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, the author employs the \u201ctwist it\u201d move in TSIS, where he agrees with Webb\u2019s initial assessment that \u201csomeone like me wasn\u2019t in the room\u201d when the system at the airport was being developed. Yet his evidence supports a contrary position. The author opines \u201cFor years, companies and educators in the tech sector have framed diversity as a \u201cpipeline<\/a>\u201d problem.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ve had this obsession with STEM education,\u201d he quotes Webb as saying. \u201cIt\u2019s reached fever pitch, manifested in these programs where every kid has to learn to code.\u201d Then Bogost further quotes Webb stating \u201cIf 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? \u201cCritical thinking is what the computers won\u2019t be able to do,\u201d she said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Bogost illustrates to us that solutions are more complex than we thought, and, in the end, it may not be about gender, ethnic or racial diversity, but about an exclusive computing education and culture that discriminates against us all. The author writes \u201cAnyone who falls outside of that core group of interests are not being represented,\u201d Webb said. If she\u2019s right, then the problem with computing isn\u2019t just that it doesn\u2019t represent a diverse public\u2019s needs. Instead, the problem with computing is computing.\u201d This last rhetorical move implements a TSIS template for agreeing on one view and challenging another; if X is right that___, then the problem is___. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fancy that. Even a professional journalist has made use of a template!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is very likely that those who read the title of Ian Bogost\u2019s article, The Problem with Diversity in Computing, are not expecting it to open with the following paragraph: \u201cWhen Amy Webb broke her ankle, she was forced to hobble around on a walking boot. That inconvenience spawned others: among them, she couldn\u2019t pass … Continue reading “Bogost’s Rhetorical Moves”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[60,23,58,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ksoakes.expressions.syr.edu\/wrt205summer2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}