In the WIRED article "Don't Ask Wikipedia to Cure the Internet, writer Louise Matsakis explains how Youtube's upcoming use of linking Wikipedia articles on conspiracy theory videos could potentially backfire, using a strong appeal to logos and an accusatory tone. Matsakis uses many appeals from logos by utilizing statistics showcasing that Wikipedia can't always be relied, on such as the fact that "Only 16 percent of the site's volunteer editors identify as female, according to a 2013 study." and that "Nearly half of all articles about geographic places were written by inhabitants of just five countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy, a 2015 Oxford University study concluded.". This appeal is also showcased by the author bringing up examples of when Wikipedia was changed to fit someone else's bias, such as when "someone with access to New York City Police Department computers had edited Wikipedia pages detailing alleged police brutality."
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In the WIRED article "Meet Steve, A New Kind of Aurora Borealis, the author (who is not listed) uses a casual tone, and frequent personification. In this article, a new special kind of Aurora possessing unique colors and features, dubbed Steve, is described. The author's casual and conversation tone is demonstrated by their opening sentence "Everyone, meet Steve.", akin to as if you were conversing with them in person as they introduced an acquaintance of theirs. This same sentence also demonstrates their personification of Steve the aurora, treating the inanimate natural phenomenon as a person that can actually be met. This is later continued with the statement "NASA will use ground observations alongside satellite data to learn exactly what Steve’s up to and how it’s creating a new show of lights.", characterizing the aurora's state as "what's it up to" as if it is doing a personified action.
In Megan Molteni's article "How You Could Get An Early Warning for The Next Big Earthquake" discusses the development and growing relevance of early earthquake detection applications for phones. This piece like others from the Science section of WIRED is aimed at those wishing to know about the latest in scientific and technological advancement. Molteni argues that the US's current lack of a fully-developed early earthquake warning system "is obviously a problem". They back up this claim with the fact that "Several highly populated US cities sit on top of dangerous seismic zones." citing a related article to verify this statement. The article then goes on to give examples of the proven usefulness of these applications such as QuakeAlert such as the slowing of trains, stopping of elevators on the nearest floor, and de-energizing electric lines in an effort to minimized damage posed by an incoming earthquake.
Rhetorical Analysis #3: Robots Threaten Bigger Slice of Jobs in the US, Other Rich Nations11/28/2017 In this WIRED article, author Tom Simonite explores the growing possibility that robots will take the jobs of the working class with the rise in advanced technology, while noting that the same will not happen as soon in countries such as India. Simonite adopts a rather informational and formal tone, supporting all of his points with the help of statistics in forms of visual, statistical, and citations from experts.
The aforementioned strategy and devices in the article are evidenced by statements by Simonite saying "the MGI report guesses that automation will displace the jobs of 400 million to 800 million people between now and 2030.", demonstrating the statistical data present. He also proceeds to present the expertise of the co-author of the reports from which the statistics were retrieved, with the quote “There will be enough jobs for all of us in most scenarios,” says Susan Lund, a co-author of the report.", along with its accompanying chart. In the WIRED article "Scientists Are Rewriting the History of Photosynthesis" Jordana Cepelewicz utilizes formal scientific diction and appeals to logos to attract an audience interested in biological science, The author uses the word "extrapolated" in place of deduce when discussing the findings of Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University, is an example of just some of the common polysyllabic wording used throughout the article. Cepelewicz favors logos over over other persuasive techniques (reasonably in an article surrounding scientific discovery) with factual statements such as "Photosynthesis directly or indirectly powers and sustains almost every organism on Earth. It is responsible for the composition of our atmosphere and forms the foundation of the planet’s many interwoven ecosystems.".
In my first close analysis of material from Wired, I will be taking a look at their article "BAD INFO FOLLOWS EVERY TRAGEDY. DON'T FALL FOR IT" where the currently recent Las Vegas strip shooting is used to bring awareness to misinformation associated with major events that are still developing stories. The author, Brian Barrett, adopts a rather wary tone in this passage, with the intention of reminding the audience to not just accept rumors or conspiracies as facts without checking for the confirmed facts behind the event.
Barrett develops his argument by using the at the time relevant Las Vegas strip shooting to exemplify that you can only trust the basic reported information on a major event, and to be aware that anything else is either speculation or is just a falsehood. Next, they proceed to provide numerous examples of many being convinced by misinformation about nationwide disasters or tragic events, such as "when Reddit wrongly identified college student Sunil Tripathi as one of the attackers." and " during and after Hurricane Sandy upended New York, when Photoshopped images of sharks and a doctored shot of a scuba diver underwater in the Times Square subway station consumed Twitter.". |
AuthorMichael J. Harrison,professional procrastinator. Archives
January 2018
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