Internet (and Virtual) Communication

Todor S. Simeonov

Institute of Rhetoric and Communication

E-mail: info@todorsimeonov.eu

Abstract: The article presents the results of a study based on autoethnographic research, in which the author participated during a university course in Group Therapy. Due to the extraordinary circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the training is conducted entirely in a virtual environment. The experiment is an exploration of experiencing group dynamics and therapy in a virtual environment. The focus of the research is the communication features and dynamics during this process and to what extent they differ from group work in a physical environment. The author’s personal experience is conveyed through the first-person narrative: a basic approach in autoethnography in which self-reflection is used to report included observation. Self-reflection as part of the autoethnographic study provides answers to the questions: Is a virtual environment a suitable communication environment for group therapy? What are the psychological dynamics of the group in a virtual environment? Important characteristics and qualities of the group facilitator leading such a group are presented. The hypothesis that the virtual environment is a suitable medium for group therapy and development of psychological dynamics and process is confirmed. Limitations, conclusions, and recommendations for future research are presented at the end of the study.

Keywords: virtual psychotherapy, group work in virtual environment, autoethnography, group dynamics.

Rhetoric and Communications Journal, issue 47, April 2021

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Media Communication

Simeon Vassilev

Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski”

E-mail: simeonvassilev@gmail.com

Abstract: The article advocates the need for a new genetic test aimed at modern media, which depends largely on the political, economic, and sociological implications for societies. The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 strongly affected the media ecosystem, and the infodemic with its morbid infoviruses, such as fake news, disinformation, and propaganda, is evidence of this. In this sense, the pandemic is a stress test for the media and a major challenge for media ecology. The assumption is that media impact in times of this unprecedented pandemic is of primary significance. The analysis aims to identify the factors for this impact; and it is important to establish whether it comes through metamedia, which control all media, or through the diversity of media and points of view that find a place in an accessible and free media environment. The terms “infodemia”, “infodemiology”, “metamedia”, “metaaudience”, “media ecosystem”, “democratic discourse” along with others have been introduced. A media analysis of publications presenting current events related to the COVID-19 pandemic on a national and international levels is made.

Keywords: media, metamedia, pandemic, globalization, digitalization, communication, media ecology.

Rhetoric and Communications Journal, issue 47, April 2021

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Rhetoric, Visual Rhetoric and Visual Argumentation

Igor Ž. Žagar

Educational Research Institute & University of Primorska, Slovenia

igor.zzagar@gmail.com

Abstract: For the past twenty years (or so) the field of argumentation has become more “flexible” and open to new approaches, to approaches that are not based merely on logic (of one form or another), nor even just on language. Visual argumentation started to develop in the nineties, and scientific literature flourished at the beginning of the new millennium (Groarke, Birdsell, Kjeldsen, Roque, Tseronis, …), in 1997 Michael Gilbert (Coalescent Argumentation) proposed four modes of argument (ation): logical, emotional, visceral (“physical”) and kisceral (“meta-physical”, “intuitive”), and about ten years ago, Christian Plantin published a large volume on the role of emotions in argumentation – “Les Bonnes raisons des émotions – Principes et méthode pour l’analyse de la parole émotionnée” (2011). This paper is concerned with understanding and interpretation in visual argumentation, more precisely, with its vague methodology and epistemology. Theoretical claims are supported by empirical findings, based on a questionnaire.

Keywords: visual argumentation, reasoning, understanding, interpretation, enchronic analysis, (re)constructed reality.

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Rhetoric, Visual Rhetoric and Visual Argumentation

Rafael Jiménez Cataño

University of the Holy Cross, Rome

Email: jimenez@pusc.it

Abstract: The different ways of defining the human being or of perceiving human essence involve shifts of the persuasive power among the three persuasive appeals. Aristotle defined man as an “animal that has logos,” but for him logos is only one of the three appeals. Nowadays, there is a very widespread sensibility in favour of the strong weight of pathos, which is sometimes sentimentalism, but often, it is simply a response to a paradigm of humanity that takes emotion more into account, without replacing reason with emotion. This sensibility is noticeable in the current propensity to see “human” traits in non-human animals, not primarily in their intelligence, but in attitudes that resemble acts of care. This means that we recognize humanity in care. Philosophy of care places vulnerability at the same level as rationality in the definition of the human being and in the relationships that are created between people. This highlights how truly social – communitarian – the “knowledge society” could become.

Key words: human identity, care, argumentation, knowledge society, pathos, empathy.

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Andrea C. Valente, PhD (c), is a Course Director at York University, Canada, with focus on teaching rhetoric and composition, Canadian culture, and social studies to ESL undergraduates. She is an Applied Linguist and her main research is on rhetoric studies and on foreign language learning and teaching in higher education. Her doctoral dissertation is at the intersection of the humanities and neurosciences with the title, “The Vernacularization of the Neurosciences: A Case Study of Neuro-Autobiographies in the Age of Complexity”. Her research interests are in the fields of Academic Writing, Discourse Studies, Cross-Cultural Communication, Applied Linguistics. Same publications: Resilience and Well-Being Among International Students During Acculturation Process: Blogging Without Borders (2018), Online Advertisements of Personal Brain Wearables in the Everyday: Click Here, Learn More! (2017), Shaking, Spinning and Entangling under Complexity Theories: A Case Study in Digital Autobiographies (2017).

E-mail: valentac@yorku.ca

Stanislava Rasheva

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, PhD student

e-mail: srasheva@gmail.com

Abstract: The article reveals the specifics of the first form of theoretical argumentation during a debate in the ancient Indian spiritual tradition. It presents the evolution of this technology in the Buddhist tradition and explains the importance of this approach for the emergence of the first categories in Indian philosophy. The analysis is based on original sources.

Keywords: prephilosophy; Sanjaya, Budha, Naagaarjuna, catuskoti, public disputes, philosophical dispute, catuskoti

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Iya Todorova Petkova – Gourbalova

Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, FEBA

E-mail: iya.petkova@feb.uni-sofia

Abstract: Leadership, as a process and social phenomenon, brings together people around a common goal. The leader empowers and guides followers to create added value for all stakeholders. Research on leadership, its formative elements, as well as its results, are dictated by the current interest in effective management and leadership. There is a strong interest in exploring communication as a factor for successful leadership. Leaders in their desire to be successful are also trying to be good communicators. Communication is perceived as a core management competence by both leaders and followers. With new technology advancing, it is necessary to rewrite the established leadership models that are built mainly on traditional forms of communication. New forms of communication impose a new type of leadership.

Keywords: leadership, communication, leadership communication, transformational leadership.

Rhetoric and Communications Journal, Issue 40, July 2019

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Maya Vassileva

Valeria Kardashevska

NATFA – Sofia

Email: kardashevska@mail.bg

Abstract: People have been communicating using the word since ancient times. The ability to influence the audience, to transmit emotions and to provoke feelings through speeches is more important in comparison with the sharing information. Today, new technologies establish new ways of communication the need to master the skill to act through spoken, not just written, is getting even bigger. It is affecting more and more spheres, today are looking for powerful and influential speakers and leaders who are prepared to engage and provoke in public appearances their audiences and followers. Consequently, the first part of the article is dedicated to present the information how to improve rhetorical and listening skills, and the second includes practical advice and exercises which are useful during the process of forming and developing skills, articulation, mеlogy and others.

Keywords: speech, public speaking, speaking skills, speaker, orator skills.

Rhetoric and Communications Journal, issue 38, January 2019

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