Digital Oratory as Discursive Practice: From the Podium to the Screen

Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
1: Approaching Oratory in the Twenty-First Century
1.1 From Podium to Screen: An Overview
A Renewal of Formats and a Public Speaking Revival
Some Examples of Contemporary Public Speaking Practices
“Social Media Oratory”
“New Oratory”
“Fully Digitalised Oratory”
Contemporary “Podium, Lectern Oratory”
On the Heterogeneous Nature of the Object of the Present Study
1.2 A Discourse Analytical Perspective
Literature Review
Linguistics
Discourse Analysis
(Digital) Rhetoric and Computer-Mediated Communication
Workplace Discourse and Critical Discourse Analysis
Research Questions and Organisation of This Book
References
2: Oratory as Communication Setup (I): Definitions
2.1 “Speech,” “Public Speaking,” “Oratory,” “Digital Oratory”
“Podium Talk,” Speech, Public Speaking, Oratory
“Podium Talk”
Speech
Public Speaking
Oratory
Oratory in the Electronic and Digital Eras
A “Declining Art”?
Towards a Definition of Oratory That Accommodates the Contemporary Context
2.2 The Specificity of Oratory Compared to Dialogic Speech
Oratory as “Spoken Monologic” Discourse
Oratory and the Asymmetrical Speaker-Addressee Relation
An “Extraordinary” Asymmetry
Discursive Divides and Their Negotiation
References
3: Oratory as Communication Setup (II): Towards a Typology That Incorporates Technological Mediation
3.1 When Oratory Combines with Electronic and Digital Media
New Setups and New Frameworks of Categorisation
The “Filter” Effect: Challenges Posed by Digital Communication
Co-presence, Context, Embodiment, and Community
Making a Connection Via the Digital Interface
3.2 Participant Frameworks
Composite Audiences
Remote Speakers
Feedback and the Complexity of Social Media
3.3 Summary: Oratory as Communication Setup
Oratory as Communication Setup
Main Categories of Oratory Distinguished Here
References
4: Oratory as Rhetorical Practice: The Renewal of Memoria and Actio
4.1 Oratory Minus the Lectern: The Move to a More Embodied Rhetoric
4.2 Mode of Production … and Memoria
Modelling Memoria: Different Modes of Production
Temporal and Spatial Thresholds
“Writing Orally,” Deictic Reference, and Kairos
Deictic Reference
Actio: The Body on the Stage—And Off
References
5: Multimodality and Technology
5.1 The Slideshow
The Slideshow as a Multimodal Resource
Negotiating More Complex Temporal and Spatial Thresholds
5.2 Other Technological, Multimodal Resources
An Ambiguous Relationship with Technology
Multiple Screens and the Projection of the Image of the Speaker
The Live Performance and Multiple Screens
The Live Performance and Interpersonal Meanings
Fully Digitalised Oratory: Screens Within the Screen
Immersive Experiences and Holograms
Use of “Captions” in Social Media Oratory
5.3 Filming
The New Oratory
Fully Digitalised and Social Media Oratory, and the Contraction of Social Space
References
6: Oratory as Social Practice (I): Discursive Genre, Culture, and Power
6.1 Oratory and the Question of Discursive Genre
Genre and the Heritage of Classical Rhetoric
An Initial Definition of Genre
The Heritage of Classical Rhetoric
A Discourse-Analysis Framework for Modelling Genre
Enclosing Scene
Generic Scene
Scenography
Multiple Scenes, and New Types of Enclosing Scenes
Digital Communication and the Decompartmentalisation of Generic Practices
6.2 Culture, Power, and Diversity (Or Lack of It)
Oratory and Culture
Some Cultural Considerations
Anglo-American Communication Culture
Power and Diversity
Access to the Public Speaking Floor
New Challenges
Anglo-American Hegemony and the Corporate World
References
7: Oratory as Social Practice (II): Presentation of the Self in a Digital, Neoliberal Age
7.1 Promotion and Exaltation of the Self
The New Economy and Reputation
The New Work Order and the Self as Enterprise
Digital Oratory and Corporate and Personal Branding
7.2 The Collapse of the Public/Private Divide
“Public” Speaking Gone “Private”?
Speaking from the Backstage
Backstaging
“Everyday Life as Public Performance”: The Paradox of Microcelebrity and Authenticity
7.3 Digital Oratory and Other Economic Stakes
An Economics of Attention … And Speed
“Showledge”
References
8: Ethos, or the Discursive Enactment of the Presentation of the Self
8.1 The Weight of Discursive Ethos—And “Interdiscursive Ethos”
8.2 The Generic Ethos of the Digital Speaker
8.3 Argument by Personal Example, and Storytelling
References
9: The Move from Rhetorical to Dialogic Staging
9.1 Rhetorical Staging
A “Superspeaker” and a “Superaddressee”
The Gettysburg Address and the Staging of the Signifier
Rhetorical Staging and Oratory Today
9.2 Dialogic Staging
The Example of Two Instagram Posts
A Renegotiation of the One-to-Many Relation
Staging an Interaction
Linguistic Markers of Dialogic Staging
References
10: TED Talks: A Case Study
10.1 Branding
The Intensive Formatting That Underscores the TED Brand
The Self-branding of Speakers
The Speaker: From Scientist to Guru
10.2 Two TED Talks, a Decade Apart
10.3 Showledge and Empowerment: TED Under the Critical Lens
Showledge and Form Versus Science and Substance
Change as a Discursive Construct
10.4 TED Talks Through the COVID-19 Pandemic
References
11: Enacting Oratory on Social Media
11.1 Numerous Orators, Numerous Enclosing Scenes
Media and Corporate Enclosing Scenes
Other Professional Enclosing Scenes
11.2 Social Media Oratory and the Political Enclosing Scene
Social Media as an Alternative to Podium Oratory
Volodymyr Zelensky, or a War Waged Via Social Media Oratory
Negotiating Between Languages and Cultures
Inventing Scenographies
A Specific Enactment of Rhetorical Staging
References
Index