Module 1: Taking Inventory

Module 1: Taking Inventory

Exploring texts „ Experimenting with multimedia „ Producing a collaborative or individual project on studying texts, authorship, and the idea of composition

According to Encyclopedia Britannia, the word inventory means “the act or process of making a complete list of the things that are in a place: the act or process of making an inventory” (See here: INVENTORY). What is the ‘complete list of things’ in this module? This module primarily deals with the concept of author and authorship and text, and an idea of composition. Here, as RWS (Rhetoric and Writing Studies) folks, we need to be mindful of the concept of composition. In our discipline ‘composition’ means all forms of writing, digital as well as multimodal compositions, (social) media content, oral as well as visual articulations, etc. For example, when authors write any literary texts, they are compositing, and so is the case when you are writing a job application and when a YouTuber creates YouTube videos. What about an artist compositing drawings? A musician composing a certain rhythm, a lyricist composing lyrics, and a painter painting a house adding some patterns of coloring? How about a politician delivering a speech, and how about an FYC teacher creating assignment guidelines? Despite the differences in their disciplines, forms, content, medium, genre, audience, and purpose, all of these geniuses are compositing, and their works are compositions. Therefore, we need to understand composition in a much broader sense now. The argument is the same with the concept of authorship. 

All the compositionists that we mentioned above are the authors of their texts or compositions. Much recently, with the advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models like ChatGPT, the concept of author and authorship has been much problematized. However, as RWS scholars, we need to concentrate more on the ethical use of such AI tools, we believe more in human intelligence than in artificial intelligence, meaning we prioritize human authors over artificial authors. Therefore, module one writes: “We will consider slowly and carefully what it means to be an author. We will also think about what qualifies as a composition or text and look at the components necessary to meet these qualifications” (p. 3). Here, the author means a human author.

Now, let’s talk about critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Merriam webster dictionary defines the term ‘critical’ as ‘exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation’ (See here, CRITICAL). Now, what are critical thinking and reading skills, then? The Foundation for Critical Thinking writes:

Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one's groups’, vested interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually, though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish use.

Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things, the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions is a life-long endeavor. (For reference: click HERE) 

Now, we can observe at least two things about critical thinking: 1. Ideally, it aims to be fair, unbiased, and neutral, but 2. Absolute neutrality or universality is impossible since the critical thinker’s thinking abilities have been influenced by many factors. Hence, critical thinking skills mean to analyze a subject from multiple angles and perspectives, accepts or respects other people's points of view, and remains open to dialogues and debates.

Now let’s go back to the concept of text, author, and authorship. Let’s think critically about a text. Does a text contain original ideas for its author? Is an author a self-made person who generates original ideas? Think of yourself, for example. Let’s discuss on some curiosity driven questions: When you write an email to your professor, are the ideas or messages solely your own? Or they are created in certain contexts? Would the message change if there was a change in context, or what do we call exigence in RWS? So, are there some factors at play within the email? Thus, when we look at the concept of ‘author’, an author is guided or preoccupied by some factors that are not visible and first glance. We analyze those influential factors, we need critical thinking perspectives. Thinking critically, and authors and the produced by them demonstrate their positionality. By positionality, we mean the totality of the factors influencing the thinking abilities. They may be family, community, race, class, gender, ethnicity, religion, lived experiences, education, dis/ability, etc. In the context of RWS, a community not only refers to your surroundings at your home but also a workplace, your classroom, your college, a group of people who share your positionality, etc. Thus, as stated in this module, an author is the summation of subject position, subjectivity, positionality, vantage point, membership, etc. Hence, positionality refers to “your particular vantage point, which is based on your past experiences, your membership in various communities, and your learned and embodied ways of knowing, being, and acting in the world, shapes the way you perceive the world.” (p. 4). Now, think about your positionality and reflect on how your thoughts, ideas, and values have been shaped by your positionality.

Do the Quiz, look at the images critically and then and discuss in class.

QUIZ HERE: CLICK IT, AND COMPLETE IT