Urban Mappings: A Rhetoric of the Network

Abstract

This article outlines a rhetoric of digital mapping through the specific example of Detroit, Michigan. In particular, the essay challenges representational mapping by offering a database driven rhetoric. This rhetoric, the essay argues, offers possibilities for new media invention and arrangement practices.

Acknowledgment

I thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions on this article.

Notes

¹ http://www.nbc.com/Video/videos/snl_1432_narnia.shtml.

²Space limitations prevent a complete demonstration of Ramism today; however, it is worth noting that many contemporary textbooks still teach a Ramist-based pedagogy that emphasizes the outline as a way to arrange information.

³The radio show was once recorded in the Maccabees Building, the building where the Department of English now resides.

⁴ http://www.techtownwsu.org/

⁵See both Bizdom U's “out Us”site (http://www.bizdom.org/program/) and TechTown's news report (http://www.techtownwsu.org/techtown/news/detail.asp?ContentId=D666D97F-CFB3-42BC-965D-24A0BCFD4D10&bk=%2Ftechtown%2Fnews%2Findex%2Easp)

⁶The narrative I compose here was written while I worked at Wayne State University. Although I no longer work in Detroit, the narrative still has value for the points I am making as well as the larger project on rhetoric, Detroit, and networks that I am currently working on.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeff Rice

Dr. Jeff Rice is Assistant Professor of English and Director of Composition, The University of Missouri