#19533
In contemporary business texts corporate sponsored online communities are described as central to the commercial development of the Internet. This paper presents a history of how online community has been represented in models of Internet commerce. It critically examines the arguments, narratives and rhetorical strategies drawn on within business texts to represent online community. The paper discusses why academics have an interest in involving themselves in helping organize alternative models of online community formation in the context of moves to corporatize and commodify higher education.
Werry, Chris. First Monday (1999). Articles>Cyberculture>Community Building
#14423
Language as Vision: The Ocularcentrism of Chomskyan Linguistics 
References to vision pervade Chomsky’s work. They are a key component of the figures he uses, the examples he provides, the analogies he makes, and the argumentative warrants supporting his central claims. When dealing with opponents Chomsky repeatedly exploits the rhetorical potential of visual analogies and metaphors in order to construct rebuttals. References to vision and to spatio-visual phenomenon constitute a key component of the most characteristic rhetorical moves Chomsky makes, and are central to the way Chomsky defines the project of linguistics. From Syntactic Structures to his most recently published texts, Chomsky’s writing is permeated by a constellation of terms centered on space, vision, optics and form. This is perhaps not altogether surprising, given that Chomsky is a thinker who identifies so strongly with Descartes, and who describes his theoretical project as “Cartesian”. In Modernity and the Hegemony of Vision David Levin argues that Descartes is the modern philosopher most obviously indebted to the metaphor of knowledge as spatio-visual, a writer whose work most clearly exemplifies a discourse that is dominated by an ocular metaphoric. While a range of figurative expressions characterize generative discourse, ocular metaphors are assigned a place of particular importance.
#21972
The course provides a Humanities perspective on web design. It introduces students to basic issues and practices of web design, but also examines how web pages can be seen as texts that are amenable to rhetorical and cultural analysis. Web sites embody 'architectures', which as MIT professor of architecture William Mitchell notes, raise many of the same issues of access, assembly, use, control, and community formation that occur with urban planning. We will thus not only practice designing web pages, but we will also consider methods for interpreting and analyzing web sites.
Werry, Chris. San Diego State University. Academic>Courses>Web Design>Writing
#10124
Surveying the City of Bits: Community, Commerce and the Virtual University
In contemporary business texts corporate sponsored on-line communities are described as central to the commercial development of the Internet, and to the imagined future of narrowcasting and mass customization in the wider world of marketing and advertising. My paper outlines a history of how on-line community has been represented within models of e-commerce. It critically examines the arguments, narratives and rhetorical strategies drawn on within contemporary business texts to represent on-line community. The paper also examines some of the connections that are emerging between commercial on-line community development, and commercial models of on-line education. My paper explores how many of the same organizations, strategies, and ways of representing on-line communities and community resources associated with corporate sponsored on-line communities are being reproduced in models of on-line education. I argue that strategic alliances ought to be made between academics and various community groups.
Werry, Chris. EServer (1999). Articles>Education>Online
#21970
Technical Communication Teaching Resources
This online version of the Department of Rhetoric and Writing Studies Instructors' Resource Guide is a manual for teaching undergraduate composition.
Werry, Chris. San Diego State University (2002). Resources>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
#21971
This web site contains information about Chris Werry's section of RWS 503W Technical Writing. You'll find the syllabus, course description, on-line readings, assignments, and other course materials here.
Werry, Chris. San Diego State University. Academic>Courses>Writing>Technical Writing
#13509
The Work Of Education in the Age of E-College and Campus Pipeline
Online education has become a topic of much debate within the academy in recent years. Martin Irvine, Associate Vice President for Technology Strategy at Georgetown University states that ‘Internet-based distance learning or elearning is on every educator's and corporate leader's agenda’, and that we are at the beginning of an ‘elearning revolution’.[1] There has been a mad rush by universities, venture capitalists and corporations to develop online courses, virtual universities, education portals, and courseware. The drive to develop a winning formula for commercial online education has fostered some unusual partnerships, as ‘Internet entrepreneurs, Nobel laureates, Ivy League schools, textbook publishers, venture capitalists, corporate raiders, and junk-bond kings’ look to education to drive eCommerce.
Werry, Chris. Lore (2001). Articles>Education>Online
