Simply put, rhetorical velocity is a theory of rhetorical delivery where a rhetorician strategizes the ways in which a third party may revise, recompose, and redistribute a text. In this sense, a future instance of plagiarism (such as a journalist lifting a large amount of text from a press advisory and using that text in a way advantageous to the rhetor) may be a completely desirable and intended rhetorical outcome. Thinking about rhetorical velocity may include considering a number of questions related to social values/rhetorical norms, technology, law (copyright & IP), labor, and probability:
- - If I’m writing a text (say a press release), how likely is it that a newspaper (third party) will recompose my press release into a news article?
- how might a work be recomposed by a third party for a wholly different (perhaps even harmful to the original rhetor…) purpose?
Inductively thinking about any of these concerns is what I call composing with a sense of rhetorical velocity. Studying how a text is recomposed, such as watching the RT (re-tweet) of a message on twitter, is analyzing the rhetorical velocity of a specific text.
pedagogical resources
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Depew, Kevin. “Delivery: Activity II – Considering Your Own Velocity.” English 686: Introduction to Rhetoric & Writing. Old Dominion University, 14 June 2009. Web. 16 Sept. 2009.
Eyman, Douglas. “Module Three: Rhetorical Velocity (Press Release).” WRA 202-201: Introduction to Professional Writing. May 2005.
Webb, Sue. “WRA 202:: Project II: Revising for a New Audience: New Needs/Different Delivery Methods.” Aug. 2008.
rhetorical velocity comics [teaching resource]
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Episode one: The press release
Episode two: A beginning
Episode three: But not all is well in digital remix land…
rhetorical velocity bibliography
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Ridolfo, Jim and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss. “Composing for Recomposition: Rhetorical Velocity and Delivery.” Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy 13.2 (2009). Available: http://www.technorhetoric.net/13.2/topoi/ridolfo_devoss/index.html
Ridolfo, Jim, and Martine Courant Rife. “Rhetorical Velocity and Copyright: A Case Study on the Strategies of Rhetorical Delivery.” Proposal has been accepted as a book chapter for Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom Eds.: Dànielle DeVoss, Martine Rife and Shawn Slattery.
Ridolfo, Jim. “Rhetorical Veloooocity!!!: The Economics of the Press Advisory and Tactics of Activist Delivery.” Computers & Writing, Stanford, CA. May 2005.
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Presentation reviewed by Michael Edwards: http://www.vitia.org/wordpress/2005/06/28/cw05-materializing-resistance