Making Your Words Go Further

When writing rhetoric, your choice of words and style may seem like the most critical component of your piece. This is especially true due to the way that we learn our writing and our speaking skills in school. At least for me, in past years, English classes have been pretty much entirely dedicated to textual components, things like ethos pathos and logos. After reading chapter 4 on kairos however, this view of mine has changed considerably. Now it seems that a speech or a magazine piece that is timed well, even if may not be written amazingly, has a much larger impact than a well crafted piece that has missed the kairotic moment. Timing and taking advantage of the pressing issues of the day has such a profound impact on how your piece will be received. 

Being able to harness kairos rather than letting it slip away is the difference between a successful piece and a piece that gets lost in the hustle and bustle of the world. News sites try to hold onto this kairos by linking (hopefully) relevant articles at the bottom of headline news stories. They realize they need to take advantage of the situational opportunity in order to make their smaller stories get the views they need to stay in business.

In fact, when you think about it, many businesses, especially those whose success depends on page views, rely on kairos. Take YouTube for example. They have employees who are entirely dedicated to tweaking the 'related videos' algorithm in order to supply the most rhetorically relevant videos to the viewers in order to 'strike while the iron is hot,' to get them to watch just one more video, to get one more ad shown.

Kairos is such a universally relevant element that is used everywhere, even if we may not consciously think about it. We have to know when to talk to get the largest impact, companies must know when to present their products to customers to get the most viewership. Kairos amplifies your message, letting it reach a larger more receptive audience.

Internal vs. External Development

Scientific research is such an enthralling idea. All of the technology around us that we take for granted was made possible due to tedious research and development. The research that is being done now in private industry as well as in universities all over the world will end up integrated into products that save lives, make our days easier, and protect the future of the environment. For my passion blog, I want to take a look at some current research being done, and see how it may improve our lives in the future. The one thing that I must still determine is the scope that I should adopt.

One possibility, that I am favoring more at the moment, is to focus on current research that is being done here at Penn State. The benefit of this is that it would provide a much more personal feel to the blog (at least for readers here at Penn State) and inspire some sense of pride and ownership for the developments being made here. Because all of the faculty doing the research is right here at University Park, it would also be feasible to actually talk to the professors or students in the labs and get a more intimate view into the research. I particularly like this scope because it would force me to start looking into all of the research that is being done here before I start trying to get into lab work myself.

The other scope that I am considering is world-wide. I would get to cherry-pick the most exciting and promising research and development that is occurring all over the world, which may lead to a more engaging blog. On the down-side, without careful consideration of my composition, it could easily lead to being a technology news type of publication that one could easily find on CNN or the BBC.

Both blogs could be successful and engaging and each has unique pros and cons, but I think I would take more enjoyment out of writing about what is happening right outside my dorm. Just focusing on Penn State would also create a much more unique experience for the readers and show just why Penn State is one of the best research universities in the country.