Understanding Rhetoric on the Internet

Stephen Toulmin was a British philosopher, author, and educator who sought to understand the analysis of moral reasoning. The Toulmin model was later found to be useful for the analysis of of rhetorical arguments. Rhetoric, or the art of persuasive speaking, is one of those classes that you notice existing in college, but never really think of again. But maybe you should. Understanding arguments can be helpful not only in such cases as making a great presentation at work, but can also help you decipher others arguments so the wrong ones don't pull you in. Being good at persuasive speaking can help get you that raise. And understanding the building blocks of arguments can help you defend yourself against them.

Of course a great example of the need for understanding and analyzing arguments is the internet. I know you have seen thousand of posts on Facebook that people have reposted without checking the facts of the claim. And if you've browsed any forum at all you've seen the thousands of arguments and counter arguments in the comment section, and sadly many of these arguments can't even hold water. There are a plethora of weak arguments out there on the internet without any evidence at all. And there are others whose facts aren't actually facts. Many of these you can tell are false just from personal knowledge or quickly googling the stated evidence. But it is when the evidence seems good that understanding the building blocks of arguments can really come in handy to understand the flaw that you suspect might be there.

And, who knows, maybe understanding and making solid arguments will become your thing, and you will be the one that no one can out argue in the comment section. But just a piece of advice, the best persuaders will be believed to have the readers interests at heart. So while you're building up your rhetoric, build up your ethos as well.

Basics of the Toulmin Model
In any good argument the reason should not only support the claim, but it should be built on solid assumptions(warrents), as well as having solid evidence to back it up. There are two other parts to Toulmin's model those being qualifiers, that which limits or clarifies the claim, and rebuttals in anticipation of counter arguments.

Learning of Online Interviews

I'd like to think that interviews in many ways support Walter Fisher's Narrative Paradigm that believes that all meaningful communication is a form of storytelling. This is almost more true when having an online interview. For in an online interview, it is you who are setting the stage, choosing your background, and working to tell the most compelling story you can.

Interviews aren't the great joy of my life. I tend to go mind blank at the strangest time. And the amount of tension in my body is phenomenal. Unless I can distract myself I also tend to go into hyperventilation. But my recent experience with an online interviewing teaching aid makes me wonder if online interviewing might not be an answer to many of my problems. While using this online technology on a mock interview for a class I was taking I found that I found talking to a camera to be much easier that talking to real people. But I do wonder how much of what I learned from the experience would actually apply in a situation where I am doing a live video conference, such as with using Skype where there is an actual person on the other side of your screen.

Using the online interview technology allowed me to easily work on my flow and positive demeanor. I loved how I could reshoot when I flubbed my lines, or when I heard how a pause was affecting my delivery I could instantly reassess what I was saying. This was one of the best, and most helpful parts of the experience. However, I never was happy with the lighting I achieved, and this is something I will definitely have to work on in the future. I also was unfortunately unable to get my android tablet to access the program used on the site, so I had to borrow another computer with video capability, but that worked out okay for this instance. I was surprised that I enjoyed the format of the interview as much as I did.

Overall this online interview training was fairly positive and I feel that I was able to use it fairly easily to tell the story that needed to be told. I was able to set the stage, and tell the lines with more control online that typically possible in face-to-face. So if you have thought of the possibility of having an online interview in your future, I would suggest setting the stage, and learning the technology variables so you too might tell the best story that you can, in this small portion of your life story.