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- 1. Ars DictaminisThen and Now: Toward a Multimodal ApproachChanon AdsanathamMarch 25, 2011
- 2. 117 billion letters were processed in 2009.2.8 million emails are sent every second.
- 3. “There is scarcely any Species of Composition deserves more to be cultivated, than the Art of Writing Letters, since none is of more various or frequent Use, through the whole Course of human Life.” Charles Johnson, The Complete Art of Letter-writing, 1770
- 4. FocusHow has letter writing been theorized in the past? How do contemporary business textbooks teach letter writing? How might we recast the canons of rhetoric as a multimodal heuristic for letter writing in the 21st century?
- 5. History: AntiquityDemetrius’s On Style (1st century BC)“virtual image of the writer’s soul”not too long nor too grand in styleLanguage = plain, simpleJulius Victor (4th century CE) 2 kinds of lettersFamilial: use plain style Official: use ornamented style
- 6. History: The Middle Ages Birth of ars dictaminis (1087)Alberic: Letter = 5 standard partsSalutationExordium (goodwill)Narration (background)Petition (request)ClosingStyle: cursus or rhythmic prose
- 7. History: The Renaissance Erasmus (1469-1536)Argues against rigid formulaAdvice: adjust style and arrangement to fit the purpose and audience Places the rhetorical situation at the heart of letter writing
- 8. History: 17th to 19th CenturyGeorge Snell’s (1649) 5 parts of a letter:Proper greetingRespectful phrasesSmooth closureAppropriate lengthConcisionStyle = plain styleImportance of grammar, politeness, graceLetter as a reflection of one’s class and character19th century: taught as a subject in school
- 9. In sum Emphasize style + conventions Theory of style + arrangement
- 10. Contemporary ars dictaminisHow do contemporary textbooks teach letter-writing?8textbooks published between 2005-2011
- 11. Common Textbook Features: In Order Linear writing process/analysis of the rhetorical situationinvention = brainstorming and clusteringrevision = proofreading and checking accuracyGenres: letters, report, instructions, proposal, presentations, resumesGrammar manual in the appendix What do you notice about this ordering? Any implications?
- 12. Letter Writing Coverage Writing that Works (Oliu, Brusaw, Alfred, 2010)Writing Email & Instant MessagesConfidentiality NetiquetteDesign considerationWriting & managing instant messages Designing LettersHeadingInside addressSalutationBodyClosingSignature blockRoutine and Positive MessageInquiriesResponding to inquiriesSales & promotionsNegative MessageCollections Complaints
- 13. Design Considerations in the Email SectionHow to useBulletsNumberingFontsBlock signatures
- 14. But email messages are looking like this:
- 15. And this:
- 16. In SumRhetorical: focus on audience, purpose and context Focus on language, format and conventions (required elements) Current-traditional, “objective rhetoric” (Berlin, 1987) Logocentric: graphics and design not a part of letter-writing chapter
- 17. What’s Missing: Why oh why? Emails are now like web interfaces.Why aren’t textbooks (and we) teaching students to pay more attention to design? What can we draw from rhetorical theory to help us address this gap?
- 18. Ars DictaminisNow: Recasting the Canons of Rhetoric as a Heuristic for Letter Writing
- 19. Invention Drawing from common topics Content often merge from various communications before writing (e.g. meetings, phone calls)Analyzing the rhetorical situationUsing the heuristic as a thinking tool/aid
- 20. ArrangementFollowing conventions with rhetorical flexibilityCreating a professional ethosUsing arrangement for emphasisEmploying design and layout strategically
- 22. Style Understanding why and how the following matter:MaterialityAccuracy and perspicuityEmphasis and subordinationComprehensibility/usabilityAppearance
- 24. Delivery Paying attention to how the media/medium impactthe mode of delivery Distribution/circulation (Porter, 2009) Access/accessibility (Porter, 2009)
- 25. MemoryUsing the elements in the canon to create a correspondence that is efficacious and enable readers to remember, retain and recall the message.
- 27. What can we do with this theory? Does NOT replace the importance of alphabetic writing Use the heuristic to generate possibilities for how to compose a correspondenceConceptualize style as both a matter of language and visual designSee the relationship between arrangement (the 3rd canon) and design and think about arrangement in a non-linear manner
- 28. Pedagogical ApplicationBreakdown and reframe the canons into exploratory questions and havestudents blog to them beforeconstructing a business correspondence.Style Materiality What type of media/medium can one use to compose and deliver the correspondence; what kind of “feel” and “look” are you going for; and how might this impact the quality of the message?
- 29. In conclusion… A greater awareness of ars dictaminiscan help instructors and students become a more rhetorically and historically informed composers and readers of letters in the 21st century.By now over 300 billion emails would have been sent.
Editor's Notes
- #2: Ask: on average how may letters do you get a week—things that come through your mailbox? What about email?