Digital rhetoric is a hard term to define. It is broad and wide ranging. Despite being contemplated heavily by academics for decades, there is no precise and singular definition. Douglas Eyeman sums up the term in a relatively painless way with “digital rhetoric is perhaps most simply defined as the application of rhetorical theory (as analytic method or heuristic for production) to digital texts and performances.” Essentially, Eyeman says digital rhetoric is the process of applying classical rhetoric theory to modern digital texts. Digital rhetoric is an essential term to writers because almost anyone writing in 2020 is practicing digital rhetoric, whether they know it or not. Having an understanding of the term can only enhance ones writing and communication skills.

To understand digital rhetoric better, writers should also understand the term rhetoric. Rhetoric is an even harder term to find a precise definition for, as it has been debated and argued about for centuries. The most basic definition goes back to Aristotle. He defined rhetoric as “the art of finding out the available means of persuasion for a given argument.” Loosely, rhetoric is the practice of persuasion, which exists in nearly all communications of any form. This definition is a practical one because it is vague enough to be used throughout time, even with modern innovations like the internet. Understanding rhetoric is important to a writer because nearly all writing involves some form of persuasion. A personal blogger has to persuade the reader to like them. An ad writer has to persuade the reader to buy their product/service. A greater understanding of what rhetoric is and how to use it gives the writer an upper hand in their writing, both professionally and personally.

Another term that writers should understand, as simple as it may seem, is digital. We all use this term frequently, but what does it actually mean? Commonly, the word digital is used to reference all things computerized and on the internet. The definition is more complicated however. Eyeman says that “digital systems are made up of discrete values whereas analog systems feature a continuous range of values, often represented as a wave.” He also states that in digital media “the fundamental information content of any message could be represented by a stream of 1s and 0s.” Combined, one can ascertain that digital can be described as information which has been codified into a binary for a non-analogue system. Understanding the nature of what digital means is very helpful for writers. Most writing published is done so via digital mediums. Knowing exactly how and what digital media is allows the writer to optimize their writing for the format.

Lastly, it’s important a writer knows exactly what a text is. Text is another term that is often tossed around, but not often do we consider its actual definition. Eyeman describes his early interpretation of text as a “fairly limited term that referenced printed text.” However, our understanding of the term has changed as society has shifted away from print media. Eyeman then cites a more modern definition of text as being “a communicative event.” This definition opens up text to include things such as videos, social media posts, digital writing, etc. This allows for a broader understanding of text that can include just about anything. It is important for a writer to understand this newer definition of text because it encompasses so much more. If a writer is stuck thinking a text must be a printed page, they may miss out on the opportunity to create more engaging works that include multiple medias.