Advances in the History of Rhetoric Jan 2012

Googling the Archive: Digital Tools and the Practice of History

Janine Solberg

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article argues the digital tools and search environments that increasingly support historical scholarship in rhetoric and composition have material and epistemological implications for how we discover, access, and make sense of the past. In light of these changes, I suggest that more explicit reflection and discipline-specific conversation around the uses and shaping effects of these technologies is needed. Tracing my own digitally enabled search for information about an early-twentieth-century advice writer named Frances Maule, I describe how mass digitization has shifted conditions of findability. I conclude by outlining a heuristic for critical reflection—a “principle of proximity”—and urging rhetoric and composition historians to take a more active role in shaping the emerging landscape of digital research.

Journal
Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Published
2012-01-01
DOI
10.1080/15362426.2012.657052
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Topics
multilingual writers place and space

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (7)

  1. Kirsch et al. (2010)
    Feminist Rhetorical Practices: In Search of Excellence
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Eplattenier (2009)
    Opinion: An Argument for Archival Research Methods: Thinking Beyond Methodology
    College English
  3. Mattingly (2002)
    Telling evidence: Rethinking what counts in rhetoric
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  4. Bizzell (2000)
    Feminist methods of research in the history of rhetoric: What difference do the…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Enos et al. (1997)
    Octalog II: The (continuing) politics of historiography (Dedicated to the memor…
    Rhetoric Review
Show all 7 →
  1. Miller (1993)
    Teaching the histories of rhetoric as a social praxis
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Murphy et al. (1988)
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    Rhetoric Review
Also cites 14 works outside this index ↓
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    Science  ↗
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    Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences
     ↗
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CrossRef global citation count: 29 View in citation network →

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