With my campaign, I hope to reach teenagers and young adults who use technology heavily. There is minimal talk around the possibility that radiation from electronic devices can cause harm to the body’s biological systems, but I plan on bringing this issue to light. This audience would be best targeted by creating a series of documents that can be readily shared via social media.
From The Available Means of Persuasion, I believe that it will be crucial to work with the idea of Kairos–simply put as “timing” or “the right time” (Sheridan, et al). I struggle with this concept since the ideal time to enter the conversation would be once a study is released or if the news reports a person injured due electronic radiation. It would be unethical to wait until this “opportune” time, because public health could be at risk. Thus, using a rhetorical approach to “ripen the time” would be more beneficial, since this is a public issue regardless if people know it or not. The approach to this issue is not me saying that electronics should be avoided, rather reducing the use of these devices could potentially protect you from harm. If I do not join the conversation soon, it could be too late.
I’m also struggling the idea of “public” and “public sphere” discussed by Sheridan et. al. Originally, I liked the idea that my public would “exist only by virtue of address;” however, this seems limiting to the potential audience that I could reach. I can sit here and say that because I am using social media to relay my content, only those individuals whom I share my content with would be my audience. There is no real conversation around my topic, thus I cannot simply enter a “public sphere” of people concerned with this issue. Instead of creating a bubble for people to enter and leave whenever, I hope to keep people linked with one another in a sort of web or network. Recognizing that when my target audience shares my content, they are providing me with access to many others that were not in my original “public.” This means that my public will include my target audience as well as the vast number of subgroups that reside on social media. This includes, but is not limited to: the elderly, minimal-technology users, parents, aunts and uncles, etc.
One sentence really stood out to me from The Available Means of Persuasion. The authors note that “a kairotic approach to public rhetoric means being aware of available options, aware of possibilities and constraints that operate at any given moment of action” (Sheridan, et al). Integrating the concept of Kairos to my campaign has made me aware of possible limitations I may face and broadened my idea of the public that I am writing for.
References
Sheridan, D. M., Ridolfo, J., & Michel, A. J. (2012). The available means of persuasion: Mapping a theory and pedagogy of multimodal public rhetoric. Anderson, SC: Parlor Press.
You make several interesting points here regarding your public or public sphere about the issue of overusing electronics. I immediately agreed with you about how your initial public would consist of teenagers and young adults who use technology constantly. However I did not consider how through the use of social media, your public and audience can shift to a totally different demographic. I think it is very important for you to tailor your piece so that it appeals to a wide variety of individuals.
Secondly, it seems very difficult to address this topic with the right timing because there does not appear to be much conversation going on about the issue. Therefore, you need to be able to grab people’s attention immediately because not many people will be seeking out information regarding how radiation from electronic devices influences biological systems. Perhaps the use of easily understandable and conclusive charts and graphs will be able to attain many readers’ attentions.