Blog entry 3

The forms of knowledge in the Belief/Story Paradigm that are privileged are personal anecdote, as well as rhetorical devices such as pathos. These forms of knowledge are privileged because they are informative about the subject’s life or culture. These are the main aspects of the Belief/Story Paradigm; therefore, the use of scientific analysis-logos-is normally excluded. The belief paradigm would not be conveyed in a smooth, coherent manner if it included statistics, scientific terminology or other forms of more quantitative proof. Additionally, those quantitative forms of evidence are not necessary to prove what someone or a particular culture believes.

Scientific evidence is typically required to prove arguments which fall under the Information/Proof Paradigm. Therefore, many publications in that area will include statistics, site firsthand research or present the findings of a primary research study. The use of such quantitative forms of evidence is seen as making arguments about disease or the way which certain things function more robust and well informed. The audience is likely to accept those arguments. The use of logos is therefore privileged in the Information/Proof Paradigm. That means that more qualitative forms of evidence, such as personal anecdote are typically excluded from publications which fall under this paradigm.

Belief/story paradigm: photo credit: the time.co.uk

Investigation paradigm: phto credit: rebuildcreditscores.com

Link to Project 2

In case something isn’t clear on my home page/the navigation bar: https://mais2307.wordpress.com/project-2/webtext/

Extra Credit: CCW

In a digital presentation at the conference,  African American youth were able to use digital media platforms to present interviews and conversations they facilitated with citizens around the city. The questions they asked centered on racism. This pertains to the topics of circulation, expertise, and information. Circulation of these conversations was made very easy because of the digital format and ability to share the results online. Expertise was addressed in that these children without previous experience editing video or audio or composing a project of this type in any capacity were able to have their work viewed by others. Thus, the composition of their projects helped them gain certain skills, but their expertise was not due to intensive formal training. The digital world is a world in which the lines between amateur and expert are blurred, especially in cases such as this. Information in this field (documentary composition with sociological content) was  qualitative discussions and personal experiences regarding racism as opposed to numerical data or empirical research. Therefore, in this specialized field, information looks different than information in the sciences or history. It was very interesting to observe how a discussion about racism (such a lofty topic) was constructed from only a few simple acts.