Abstract: The paper presents the results of a research studying new practices in business communication of visually challenged people. The focus is on new practices, social networks and virtual rhetoric. The interdisciplinary approach includes rhetorical analysis, in-depth interviews and participatory observations. The specific techniques used by the visually challenged in business online have been explained.

Keywords: business communication, online, visually challenged people, virtual rhetoric

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The focus of the following article is to show a sample research approach for the selection and further research of several organizational structures. There are detailed descriptions of views and opinions of researchers, theorists and practitioners in regards to supporting and working with web-based platforms in the virtual communication. Three levels are used – functionality, dynamics, and navigation of the web visitor. Criteria and features in regards to the selection of sites of organizational structures of a sample group are discussed. An attempt is made to extract a concept with criteria and examples for identity. Based on that conception the number of the organizational structures that belong to the researched sample is determined.

Keywords: concept, identity, criterion, organizational structure, web visitor, website, Internet.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The current article looks into the uses of pre-election slogans from a rhetorical point of view. The comparison between slogans used during the elections in 2011 and 2015 is another part of the research. The examples are selected from the Bulgarian public sphere and are illustrating the possibilities of large number of people being manipulated. The research includes 25 slogans, which are analyzed in context of their media representation and uses. The main thesis of the article is that slogans play a significant role during the process of establishment of attitudes, images as well as particular models of thinking and behavior of the specific electorate. The focus of the study is on rhetorical features of pre-election slogans used during the election campaigns which are featured in online media, as well as posters.

Keywords: rhetoric, slogan, poster, election campaign, online media.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The globalization of the world is a fact that cannot be underestimated. Internet and particularly social networks and social media play key role in non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Social media and networks involved in the formation of public opinion have changed the importance of public relations. They can be defined as a modern means of communication and rhetorical influence on an unlimited large group of people in a virtual environment. The purpose of this study is to assess how and whether Bulgarian environmental NGOs use the social network Facebook to attract the attention of society on global issues such as sustainable development.

Keywords: social platform, Facebook, sustainable development, communication, rhetorical effect, globalization

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: This text explores the communication between Facebook users, such as single individuals, based on continuous monitoring of profiles of the author’s friends on the network including their contacts visible to her, without giving out names and personal data. What is taken into consideration are the topics that interest members of the social network, the manifested activities, their line of behaviour usually dictated by trends in the network and also the response on intriguing posts with visual and/or verbal content. The text does not focus on communication in the form of advertising messages, slogans and texts with representative information of company profiles, organizations, institutions and brands, but focuses on the individual and the ethics of interpersonal relations in the social site. The goal of the present research is to identify trends in Facebook communication, and as a result, to establish a kind of ethical code of standard in online behaviour, the need for which has clearly come as the existing codes of conduct in real life have proven inapplicable in most cases in social network environment in general and in Facebook in particular. It is the latter point, which is the main contribution of the text since it deals with a currently topical problem worldwide and an uncharted one from a scientific point of view in Bulgaria.

Key words: ethics, social networks, Facebook, interpersonal relations, codes of conduct, ethics online

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: Taking in consideration the development of digital self-representation formats companies should pay extra attention to the online channels where they make appearances, share their company values or latest news. LinkedIn is still partly a new communication area that allows companies to talk about themselves and a platform that even further initiates dialogue with the stakeholders. The article aims to overview the main characteristics of the corporate profile in the business social media, highlight genre specifics and successful rhetorical approaches used for the effective usage of the website as well as to differentiate LinkedIn among other online tools for corporate digital self-presentations. The article presents business communication features on LinkedIn and gives practical advice for successful development and maintenance of a company page on LinkedIn.

Keywords: business communication, corporate image, self-presentation, web writing, netiquette, professional social network, online content, stakeholders.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The article summarizes through the lens of visual virtual rhetoric the new representations of rhetorical canon dispositio manifested in virtual sphere. Object of the research are the new modes and variations of the traditional rhetorical canon. The purpose of the paper is to study these new representations through the lens of visual rhetoric in the virtual sphere. The methodology comprises of critical interpretative analysis of fundamental rhetoric works, visual rhetoric analysis of presentations from TED.com and rhetorical analysis of communication in the virtual sphere. The results aim to establish traditional and new manifestations of the canon dispositio, features of presentations in virtual sphere in TED.com.

Key words: rhetorical canons, dispositio, argumentation, composition, structure, virtual rhetoric, TED.com, TED presentations, rhetorical genre analysis, elements, parts, characteristics.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: Pre-election campaigns of the candidates for municipal elections in 2015 used social media as a platform for campaign promises. The purpose of the proposed analysis is to follow both visual and verbal messages posted on Facebook by political parties, organisations and associations. The presence or absence of modern political rhetoric is taken into account in order to mark the specifics of digital variations of political agitation. The main thesis of the paper is that the political, economic, social, cultural and technological features determine the pre-election rhetoric of most candidates running for local government in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the digital political communication between e-politicians and e-citizens does not respect basic canons of the rhetoric science.

Keywords: visual rhetorical analysis, pre-election political rhetoric, social networks, municipal elections.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract:The article focuses on media-political discourse and its current rhetoric appearing in the context of contemporary European politics. It presents new international methods for carrying out political propaganda and alternative rhetoric forms for wining an electoral consensus. Since it emerged in 2009 in Italy “Five Stars Movement” founded by Beppe Grillo is considered a precedent in leading pre-electoral political campaigns entirely through the social media and a paradigmatic case on its own of how this can be transformed into actual votes. The case described in the article shows the certain tendency towards establishment of a new “civil-virtual model” of political communication. The analysis outlines aspects of a new type of “Digital Democracy” which opposes the old-fashioned communication forms and stands against the existing traditional types of political representativeness.

Keywords: political communication, virtual rhetoric, “Five Stars Movement”, civil-virtual model, consensus, political blog.

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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Abstract: The focus of the present research is to establish the specifics of the nonverbal behaviour of the current Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is one of the most influential politicians from the beginning of the 21st century. Object of the study is a video record of a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the managers of “Basel Cement” Alumina Refinery in Pikalyovo city on the 4th of June 2009, refinery owned by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska at that period. Through the methods of observation and descriptive analysis, an attempt is made to answer the question what the degree of mastery of body language of the former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation is as well as how his gestures, poses, mimics and intonation support the manifestation of the dominant position which he possesses in comparison with his interlocutors.

Key words: Vladimir Putin,nonverbal behaviour, gestures, mimics, body language, intonation

Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 20, November 2015, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464

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