a rhetorical approach: establishing a presence on the web

APPLIED THEORY SUMMARY• Presents a framework— grounded in the

classic rhetorical concept of ethos—forexamining the Web and its audiences

• Argues that the usefulness and popularity of theWeb depends on how well technology is used toestablish an online ethos

Establishing a Presenceon the World Wide Web:

A Rhetorical ApproachKEVIN HUNT

Technical and marketing communicators have wit-nessed and perhaps even participated in the diz-zying rush into cyberspace, as a phenomenalnumber of individuals, institutions, and busi-

nesses have created sites on the World Wide Web. At thispoint, it is apparent that many organizations have sensedthe value in using this new communication medium, butsome are still grappling with questions about what sort ofinformation the medium can best deliver and to whom. Inthe nish to establish a presence on the Web, many of thefirst wave of firms to create Web sites have merely placedelectronic versions of print materials—marketing bro-chures, catalogs, technical reports—online without givingmuch thought to how the Web might differ from tradi-tional, print-based delivery systems. Having succeededin establishing an initial Web presence, many are justnow starting to think about the unique characteristics ofthe medium and the audiences it serves, and the ways tobest take advantage of the possibilities the Web affords.Moreover, most are struggling to figure out just how theirsites fit into the eclectic mix of uses to which the Web isbeing put.

Although the Web is eclectic, in general there are twoclasses of sites emerging: "organization sites," created byinstitutions, businesses, and other firms, usually with a "realworld" equivalent (for example, the White House, Rens-selaer Polytechnic Institute, AT&T Corporation), and "spe-cial interest sites," usually created by individuals acting ontheir own initiative to provide an online voice either forthemselves or for a specific concern or area of interest, andusually existing only in the virtual world (for example,NrrdGrrls, the Computer-Mediated Communication StudyCenter, the HTML Writer's Guild). The challenge to techni-cal and marketing communicators engaged in Web designis to consider how the sites they constnict should be situ-ated within the cacophony of individual and organizationalvoices that make up the Web.

This article offers a framework—grounded in the clas-sic rhetorical concept of ethos—for thinking about howcommunicators might begin this consideration. The useful-ness and increasing popularity of the Web extends beyondits function as an efficient and economical informationdelivery system; the allure of the Web is based on how wellboth individuals and organizations use the technology as ameans of establishing an online presence—an ethos—thatconveys the sorts of values they hold in common with theWeb navigators they wish to attract to the site. Technicalcommunicators, in their work with print-based materials,are already quite familiar with the obvious goal of estab-lishing a professional ethos—an ethos that conveys credi-bility, coherency, and unity. But this might not be the onlyethos that they should consider creating on the Web. An-other sort of ethos Web designers might consider is diverseand commimal in nature. This ethos is expressed in the"special interest" Web sites constaicted by individuals, andseveral commercially oriented organizations have also suc-cessfully incorporated this ethos into their sites.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF VIRTUAL SITESTo begin examining how Web sites can be constructed toconvey a specific type of presence or ethos requires shiftingour thinking about information products from a document-oriented schema to one that is more spatially oriented. Thisapproach contrasts with the way the original designers andmany of the current advocates of Web hypermedia tech-nology have tended to think of the Web—as a vast collec-tion of documents, a rhetorically neutral, globally accessi-ble database in which users can find a huge variety ofelectronic documents (Berners-Lee and others 1994; Pow-ell 1994). Yet increasingly, users are beginning to concep-

This article was originally published in the November 1996issue of Technical communication (43, no. 4:376-387).

Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 • TechnicalCOMfllMCATlON 5 1 9

APPLIED THEORYEstablishing a Presence on the Web Hunt

tualize computers and computer networks as comprisingspaces through which they can "navigate." Moreover, re-searchers in computer-mediated communication havepointed out that computer users tend to conceptualizecomputer networks such as the Internet using languagethat maps physical attributes to the virtual locations that thenetworks comprise (Gurak 1994). World Wide Web usersare no exception. The way that users conceptualize theWeb is manifested in the language and metaphors they useto describe the Web itself. Many describe the Web as athree-dimensional space with specific locations. For exam-ple, a menu in Netscape, one of the software browsers foraccessing the Web, provides a list of "Web Starting Points, "virtual locations where new users can "go" to access infor-mation about learning how to use the Web.

In addition to this metaphorical constmction, the tech-nical design of the Web contributes to the physical con-ceptualization of Web "cyberspace." The Universal Re-source Locators (URLs) for information nodes on the Webserve as cyberspace addresses, and they have become ascommon on business cards, print ads, and television com-mercials as physical addresses and fax and phone num-bers. Moreover, central to the metaphorical construction ofthe Web as physical space is the means by which organi-zations organize information on the Web.

We are all familiar with the language used to describethe Web, and we speak of an organization's or an individ-ual's home page, an electronic starting point for accessinginformation pertinent to the organization—as well as ametaphorical device for creating a virtual home for theorganization. For example, the non-profit organizationComputer Professionals for Social Responsibility refers toits home page as a "foyer." In effect, CPSR metaphoricallyconstnicts an architectural site—a virtual entrance hall tothe organization's virtual offices—^which Web browsers can"enter." As another example, at MCFs Gramercy Press siteWeb users are greeted with a photo of a solid stone build-ing that they can "enter" by clicking on any of the windows.

THE ETHOS OF VIRTUAL SITESwhen we think of the Web in spatial terms, then the virtualsites that individuals and organizations establish becomemore than just points of reference in the cyberspace of theWeb, more than virtual reading rooms that Web readerscan enter to examine the organizations' documents. Aspreviously mentioned, the overall constRiction of the sitesconveys a presence that in turn acts as a means of convinc-ing potential Web readers of the organizations' profession-alism, credibility, usefulness, or value. In effect, the virtualsites seive a classic rhetorical function: they are means ofpersuading potential readers to take action, to explore theorganization's information, to interact with the organiza-tion, perhaps even to join the organization.

Just as with traditional hypertextand hypermedia products,

Aristotle's three rhetorical appealsare present in the content and

structure of the virtual sitesthat organizations create on the

World Wide Web.How do these virtual sites carry out this function? It is

useful to think of the Web sites as means of exhibiting arhetorical appeal first advocated by Aristotle: the visualcues and hypertextual structure used to constmct a Website can be used to create a site that conveys a specificethos, or character, for the organization.

Aristotle defined rhetoric as "the ability, in each partic-ular case, to see the available means of persuasion" (1991,pp. 36-37). For Aristotle, there were three means of per-suasion: logical appeals (logos), appeals to emotion (pa-thos), and appeals based on the credibility or character ofthe speaker (ethos). Most technical and marketing commu-nicators use these appeals in their work without reallythinking about it as they persuade the users of their infor-mation products about such things as the credibility andusefulness of the information they provide.

In traditional hypermedia and hypertext projects thattechnical communicators undertake (in which the goal is topresent information to a specific group of users to helpthem complete a specific task), technical communicatorsfrequently make appeals based on logos by ensuring thatthere is a logical structure that the users can follow so thatthey don't get "lost in hyperspace." Moreover, technicalcommunicators might make an appeal based on ethos byusing language that is clear, simple, and concise and that,therefore, appears understandable and credible. And fi-nally (though perhaps less frequently), they might make anappeal based on pathos by designing interfaces that usemetaphors for calming nervous users by activating familiarframeworks (Gurak 1991).

Just as with traditional hypertext and hypermediaproducts, Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals are present inthe content and structure of the virtual sites that organiza-tions create on the World Wide Web. Because the Web ismade up of multiple information sources vying for theattention of multiple information seekers, the virtual sitesthat organizations establish through their home pages pro-vide numerous examples of the various means of persua-

5 2 0 TechnicalCOMMUNCATION • Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003

APPLIED THEORYHunt Establishing a Presence on the Web

sion that Web hypermedia technology avails. Yet each ofthe appeals comlDine to establish the character of the orga-nization, the organization's ethos. How?

According to Aristotle, the speaker establishes ethosby "manifest[ing] the proper character through thechoices made in his speech," choices which "manifestthe virtues most valued by the culture to and for whichone speaks . . . " (Halloran 1982, p. 60). Whereas Aris-totle focused on the ethos of the solitary speaker, con-temporary theorists have expanded the notion of ethos toencompass collective acts. Halloran (1982), for example,points out that "[t]he most concrete meaning for the term[ethos] in the Greek lexicon is a 'habitual gatheringplace'..." (p. 60), a public place where people gatherto share experiences and ideas.

It is this notion of ethos that I believe is useful indescribing how the virtual sites that the home pages orga-nizations set up create an ethos in conjunction with otherrhetorical appeals. In short, whereas the visual cues, con-tent, and stnicture of the nodes and links within a Web sitecontain all three rhetorical appeals, all appeals work to-gether to convey the values or virtues of the organization.The site, as a rhetorical "gathering place," delineates alocation on the Web that users can "enter" and share inthese values. On the Web, establishing ethos involves sit-uating the organization's values in a specific social context,a context in which those values, experienced and sharedby users who "enter" into the organization's virtual site,become realized.

But what is of value within the social context of theWeb, I suggest, might differ from what is of value withinthe contexts to which technical and marketing commimi-cators are used to writing. While technical commimicatorsare used to conveying professionalism and credibility in theproducts they create, in the next section I discuss how, duein part to the Web's unique technical capacities, thesemight not be the only values worth exploring when creat-ing Web texts.

PROFESSIONAL ETHOS IN THE AGE OF PRINTAn analogy is frequently made between the early days ofdesktop publishing and the current state of the Web. Whendesktop publishing was first introduced, inexperienced de-signers experimented with the plethora of newly availablefonts and graphics tools, and ended up creating documentsthat looked like ransom notes. Similarly, on the Web, any-one with even rudimentaiy HTML skills can create a homepage, though many have given little consideration to issuesof aesthetics, information structure, or usability. The resultis similar to one writer's description of the Internet ingeneral: a "melange of odd and uncomfortable places [that]highlights the need for a more conscious esthetic to bear onthis unique, intangible environment" (Jacobson 1993, p.

328). More than just uncomfortable, many of the sites onthe Web today are inconsistent in look and feel, and areillogical in information stmcture. As a result, the informa-tion these sites convey loses credibility. Thus, these siteslack a key value for establishing a professional ethos.

Fortunately, technical communicators, having skills inthe rhetorical analysis of audiences, in the aesthetics ofvisual communication, in the design of information, and inthe dynamics of usability testing, are now helping to estab-lish "comfortable" Web sites, whose content, appearance,and staicture are logical, coherent, and consistent. The ideaof establishing a professional ethos for an organization isnothing new, and much has been written, primarily in thefield of marketing, about ways of establishing a corporateimage, a unified, consistent "voice" that expresses how theorganization embodies what the potential clients and cus-tomers consider valuable.

For example, most technical communicators workingwithin an organization are familiar with the company styleguide, the codified mles for maintaining consistency inlanguage, document design, typography, and sometimeseven the design and placement of graphics and the use ofcolors and paper stock. In short, technical communicatorsare already familiar with techniques for conveying a pro-fessional ethos in the information products they create, andthis familiarization is easily transferable to the task of con-structing a professionally engaging Web site.

Just as it took time for most of those new to desktoppublishing technology to begin creating professional-looking products, so too are those involved in Web designbeginning to create professional-looking sites by, for ex-ample, paying attention to how graphics are used consis-tently for navigation, as well as for conveying informationand for aesthetics. Yet the idea of conveying a unified,professional, authoritative voice for an organization via thedocuments it creates is grounded in the tradition of print, atradition in which the act of writing and, later, the processof printing gave words a look and feel of permanency andthus established the creator as an authority, and later, as aprofessional (Bolter 1991; Freidson 1986).

Today, in the late age of print (Bolter 1991), the idea thatauthority and professionalism is embodied in print-based doc-uments is being transformed, as words on the screen lose thefeel of pennanency and as the Internet is expanding thenumber of information creators. As a result, one of the valuesthat is emerging on the Web is the ability to establish connec-tions with other infomiation creators. The next section dis-cusses tliis value and the way it comes into play in establish-ing what I call a communal ethos for Web sites.

COMMUNAL ETHOS ON THE WEBwhereas the obvious reason to establish a Web site for anorganization is to provide potential clients with useful infor-

Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 • TecliniculCOWMlNCATION 5 2 1


mation about the organization, and in the process establishthe credibility and usefulness of the organization, this reasonaccounts for only one kind of audience, those who activelyseek out the site, either because they are already familiar withthe site, or perhaps after having seen the firm's UniversalResource Locator (URL) listed in some other medium (a print-based brochure or advertisement, for example), or after hav-ing used a Web search tool to find information on a specifictopic. In all these cases, the Web navigators accessing the sitehave a specific purpose in mind when traveling to the site:they seek information necessary to help them perform atask—to make a decision or answer a question.

But this task-oriented matrix of Web navigators is byno means the only type of users that are traversing thestrands of the Web. Part of the Web's allure is that, alongwith the wealth of task-oriented professional information itprovides, it also permits users a means of finding—andcreating—connections to those sharing common interests.For example, much of the discussion about hypermediatechnology in general (Lanham 1993; Landow 1992) andthe World Wide Web specifically (December 1994) hasfocused on what many have characterized as its democra-tizing potential. As December (1994) has pointed out, "Onthe Web, everyone with the necessary skills owns a press.Dissemination of ideas on a mass and medium scale is nolonger filtered through organizations and institutions butcan come directly from individuals" (p. 7). The result hasbeen a proliferation of "special interest" sites, virtual clear-inghouses of information of use for establishing connec-tions between people sharing common personal interests.This should come as no surprise because the ability toforge connections with others has always been a primeaspect of the Internet.

In the "early" (pre-Web) days of the Internet, a fairlysmall and homogeneous body of users shared in the valuesof how the Internet should be used. This virtual communitywas bound together by what became an unwritten code ofunderstanding encompassing "what it means to be a re-sponsible, honest and polite user" sharing limited comput-ing resources (Hahn 1993). The original Internet commu-nity fostered a working atmosphere based on cooperation,mutual aid, and camaraderie (Miller 1996), an atmospheresustained by tradition. With the advent of the Web and thefiock of new users to the Internet over the last 3 or 4 years,the values of this community have been eroded by newusers having no understanding or appreciation of the tra-dition or values on which the original community of usersoperated.

Yet the vestiges of the values of the original Internetcommunity still exist, and traces of these values emerge inthe design and content of the sites that many individualshave constructed on the Web. The communal ethos on theWeb becomes apparent when navigating around the Web

with no specific task in mind, checking out the home pagesof people from diverse locations around the world, peoplewho frequently traverse the strands of the Web (though, ofcourse, the Web populace isn't limited to this group) andwho are information consumers and also information pro-viders. If the content and links on home pages are anyindication, the Web at this point is valuable to many be-cause it is a means of establishing interest enclaves thatvalue and provide

• Individual creativity• Connectivity and interactivity• Reciprocity

In short, the Web differs from other media that tech-nical communicators may have worked in precisely be-cause technologically it provides the ability to forge con-nections with a diverse collection of infomiation sources atmultiple and diverse locations, and in the process constRicta communal ethos. While technical communicators whoare designing Web sites should be concerned with estab-lishing their organizations' sites as useful locations for Webnavigators to obtain information, they can also look to Websites created by individuals for ideas about how to foster acommunal ethos. The sections that follow examine howeach of these values is established by the work of individ-uals constructing "special interest" sites. Examples are pro-vided of how these values have been melded into theconstruction of more commercially-oriented Web sites,while at the same time maintaining a sense of profession-alism.

Individual creativityBecause the Web is in many ways democratizing the com-munication process, one of the most interesting phenom-ena on the Web is the emergence of personal home pages.Created by individuals, these pages often serve as outletsfor self-expression—sites for placing personal manifestos,essays, and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs),digitized artwork, poetry, family pictures, and so forthonline for public view. The home page as a vehicle forself-revelation is becoming a valued feature in some Webcommunities. As a result, including personal informationon a home page serves as a means of enhancing one's "Netpresence" (Agre 1994), and thus in many cases serves tolegitimize the credibility of the individual, especially whenexamined within the specific context in which the individ-ual is situated.

An interesting example of an individual home pageexpressing this value of creativity and self-expression isthat of Howard Rheingold, shown in Figure 1. Rheingold,the author of The virtual community: Homesteading on theelectronic frontier (199^), has created a personal Web sitein which he displays his artwork and writings. Because inhis writings he frequently discusses the value of forging

5 2 2 TechnicalCOMMRNCATION • Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003


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Points of PresenceOnRamp provides Internet access and webservices to Dallas, Ft, Worth, Houston, Lubbock,San Antonio, and Atlanta, Georgia. Our dialup28.8 and dialup ISDN numbers are available fromthis page.

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Figure 2. OnRamp Technologies employee page (courtesy of Jeff Smith, OnRamp Technologies).

Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 • Technica lCOMMlNCATION 5 2 3


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Go here for the MrrdCrrll E-Mail Directory

Now, without further ado, here are the first brave HrrdGrrls! to stand up a:nd be counted:

*aweligw (yeah, that's me.)

*ci3ndy c, (she asked first!) A fellov VoXXen. Cindy's is a smart, well-rounded, well-designed andunderstandably popular page! Check out her women's resources section.

*kai»i "i'm with you all the way!" Kami's page ha3 wonderful pictures and information for animallovers.

•annie "i understand this perfectly." Snnie's page is beautifully designed around the theme ofwolves, and women's spirituality. Check out the Den! Lots of well chosen links too.

* angel svan "count me in too!" Angel's got one of the most definitive Star Trek pages I've everseen. Her women's page is top-notch!

* Suzanne payne "oh my god- I *3iii* HrrdGrrl!" Suzanne's page is full of whimsical, self-deprecatinghumor. She'3 got a terriffic women's page too.

; Lee Anne's got everything you ever wanted to know about women and books!

*ellein "a home within a home" Ellen's page is really smartly designed. Check out her photography.

*iylCTma Glenna's got links to women's pages from around the world.

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Figure 3. NrrdGrrls! Directory page (courtesy of Amelia Wilson).

personal connections and sharing resources and talentswith others online, his own Web site provides an exampleof what he writes about and thus enhances his credibility.

Based on the value that some Web navigators place onthe expression of personal creativity on the Web, Webdesigners might consider how to facilitate this expressionat their organization's site. One firm that has incorporatedthe value of individual creativity into the more traditional,professional presence of its Web site is OnRamp Technol-ogies, an Internet service provider. OnRamp has con-structed a professional ethos by designing a site that has aconsistent, unified "look and feel" through its grid struc-ture, through its style and placement of graphics, andthrough a consistent tone in language and graphics. Forexample, to express a unified, team-oriented feel, OnRamphas placed a group picture of its employees on a page at itssite. Each employee is dressed in a similar looking darkpolo shirt.

At the same time, the firm counters the monolithicorganizational ethos conveyed by this "team picture" byallowing the personalities of each employee to showthrough. The team picture is an image map, and the Webuser can click on the face of any employee to bring up the

employee's "official" company home page, where the em-ployee's picture is displayed and the employee expresseshis or her opinions on a set of company-specified topics,such as "favorite house pet," "favorite movies," "life goals,"and so forth, as shown in Figure 2.

From this "official" home page, each employee can setup a link to a more personalized, less official home page,where the employee is free to express her or his ownpersonality, unhindered by the constraints of the company.The result of OnRamp's allowing employee home pages isthat it expresses the value of cultivating a multivoiced,internal community. OnRamp establishes itself as a smallfirm made up of interesting individuals, and current orpotential customers can seek out the people at OnRampwho seem likely to provide them with needed information.

Connectivity and interactvityOne of the most fascinating and alluring aspects of the Webis a tradition that has emerged in which individuals withhome pages establish on their pages links to the homepages of their colleagues, friends, or others who share intheir interests, in effect creating "electronic tribes" (Decem-ber and Ginsburg 1995). This tradition has broadened in

5 2 4 Technica!COMMlNCATION • Volume .W, Number 4, November


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pixelcareerby Jim Murray

Meet Walter Arnold, Renaissance Man. A native Chicagoan, true e n o u ^ but his heart and soul arepure, sixteenth-century Italian. See: It's alive!

Walter, you see, fell in love at age twelve. Fell in lovewith stone. See: A stonecutter's training.

Today, Walter Arnold carves stone for clientsaround the globe. His work is flie finishirig touch foroffice buildings, museums, parks, and private homes.See: Architectural work.

"I considermyself a sculptor," says Walter,"although I bridge two separate skills. Most stonecarvers don't execute their own designs the way Ido." See: The turtle.

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Figure 4. Gateway 2000's "Pixel carver" page (courtesy of Gateway 2000).

scope to the point where several individuals have begunassembling lists of people—usually having home pages—who share a common interest, professional association,and so forth.

An excellent example of a directory established by anindividual to facilitate connections between people withcommon interests is the NrrdGrrls! Directory, shown inFigure 3, a virtual group that includes a directory of per-sonal home pages for (as creator Amelia Wilson describesit) "any woman who has measured herself against theprevailing, confusing, impossible, societal yardstick andfound herself coming up short" (NrrdGrrls 1996). The list isopen to any woman who sends the list creator an e-mailmessage citing her interests and home page address.

Based on the idea of creating or strengthening connec-tions between people within a specific interest enclave.Web designers might consider using the Web to set up adirectory of clients that use the organization's products orservices as a means of facilitating communication betweenthe community of clients. The intent of facilitating commu-nication between clients is similar to the intent of estab-lishing user group meetings for software products; it servesto facilitate frank discussion about the product in ways that

are beneficial to both clients and the company.Another alternative is to provide links to client sites or

to the individual home pages of people who use the orga-nization's product or service. For example. Gateway 2000,a computer manufacturer in South Dakota, includes an"interesting people" list at its Web site, a list that includes astone carver who uses a Gateway 2000 computer to designhis works (see Figure 4), and a link to his Web site displayof carvings. Serving as a gathering place where Gatewayusers can go to meet others, the list serves as the virtualequivalent of the picnic that the Saturn Corporation holdsfor all its car owners in Tennessee: it builds camaraderie. Inaddition, it serves a marketing function in which the listshows interesting ways that the product is being used.

ReciprocityWeb technology provides a means of cultivating a valuethat is integral to the maintenance of all communities, theneed for "gift-giving" (Hagstrom 1965), the sharing of in-formation or knowledge as a form of extending aid andsolidifying bonds with others. For example, in the sciences,gift-giving takes the form of contributing journal articles forthe sake of contributing to the growth of the community's

Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 • TechnicalCOMUILNCATION 5 2 5


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Figure 5. Ellen Spertus's women and computer science page (courtesy of Ellen Spertus).

knowledge base and with the expectation of receivingrecognition from the community in the form of citationsand professional respect. Likewise, this gift-giving was apart of the original Internet culture, in which information,opinions, and knowledge was exchanged in electronicforums, such as e-mail discussion lists and news groups,with the expectation of receiving recognition in return(Agre 1994).

This spirit of reciprocal gift-giving is central to theconstruction of "special interest" sites. Many individualscreating "special interest" sites spend much time designing,writing, and constructing lists of links to information of useto a specific community of users for what would appear tobe little compensation. Yet, as Phil Agre (1994) has pointedout, creating information sources on the Net is a means ofcultivating a professional identity as well as credibility. Forexample, Ellen Spertus, a graduate student at MIT's Artifi-cial Intelligence Laboratory, has compiled a list of informa-tion devoted to "Women and computer science," shown inFigure 5. Whereas Spertus is providing a service to all thoseinterested in these resources, she is also reciprocated byenhancing her online status as a professional and an aspir-ing scholar, a status that has led to testifying before Con-

gress, being interviewed in the New York times, and pen-ning magazine articles.

For technical communicators constructing Web sites,this reciprocity entails providing useful information that isnot necessarily directly related to the product or servicethat the organization provides. One of the qualities of theWeb that, as John December (1995) points out. Web de-signers might want to exploit is that a site can be "porous,"allowing Web navigators the means to enter a site at mul-tiple points. Providing this information is one way of cre-ating alternative entry points to the site. For example.Gateway 2000 has included at its site information on howto download zipped files, shown in Figure 6. A user search-ing for information about zipped files would find a link tothat page within the Gateway site. The ensuing transactionis reciprocal, as the Web navigator receives the "gift" ofuseful information, while the manufacturer is reciprocatedby exposing a potential client to the site. If done well (if theinformation is useful, accurate, and so forth), then thisreciprocal gift giving enhances the online credibility of theorganization by establishing its worth among Web naviga-tors who, in the Gateway example, constitute a subcom-munity of personal computer users.

5 2 6 TechnicalCOMMlNCATION • Volume if). Number 4, November 200.S


Netscape: Downloading Files and Osing PkunzipTrie Edit view Go Rookinarfcs OpUnns Directory Window Help

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Downloading FUesand Using Pkunzip'

by deryl SafgesAs most of you know, the Internet is filled with wondeiful applications and toys to download and try atyour leisure. But how do you go about doing If? This article explores the proper way to configure yourbrowser to handle downloading .zip ffles and what to do with ttiem once you have them. The authorrealizes that other compression utilities are available, and there may be more than one way to configurethem; however, this article focuses on one quick and easy way to use Pkunzip.

Now: nease lealize thttt Pkmzip is ei shwewture product of Pkwat >. It is not free. If yon plw to continueusing this product;. pltaseregjsteritwitKPkware atwwTc.pkware-com.

First, you need to physically /m>e Pkunzip. Luckily, it's an ejjecutable file (.exe), so we don't have aCatch-22 on our hands. Dovmload the file — it's called pkz204g.exe — into your temp directory. If youneed to configure your browser to do this, continue reading; otherwise, skip down to Using Pkunzip.exe.

Configuring your Browser for .exe files

The majority of people browsing flieWeb are using Netscape,"" so that's the browser I'll focus on fornow. When you click on the filename you wish to save, a box may pop up Biat says" Unknown File Type".Don't panic. Just click on the button labeled" Save File". This brings you to an Explorei/Rle Manager-typescreen where you can just move to your temp directory. Before you click on "Save", make sure thefilename still has the extension ,exe on it If it doesn't, append it to the filename. Now click on the" Save"button and watch it go!

Figure 6. Gateway 2000's articles page (courtesy of Gateway 2000).

CONCLUSIONSJust as the Internet was originally designed by scientistsand engineers, the World Wide Web was created by scien-tists who envisioned it as an efficient means of transferringdocuments they use in collaborative work (Berners-Leeand others 1994). What the original developers envi-sioned—a rhetorically neutral document database—ismuch different from what the Web has evolved into: atangle of rhetorically constructed virtual spaces.

This article has suggested a method for technical com-municators to use to begin to describe and evaluate thesespaces as artifacts having specific persuasive appeals—ap-peals based on the Web's technical capacity to allow connec-tions among information producers sharing common inter-ests. Technical and marketing communicators can use theidea of online ethos as a starting point for evaluating existingWeb sites and for designing new virtual sites that convey theethos of the organizations they work for.

This rhetorical approach is by no means definitive, andthe designers must evaluate the specific needs and valuesof the Web navigators to whom they wish their sites toappeal. A rhetorical approach can be integrated with otherWeb development methodologies, such as that suggested

by December and Randall (1994). There is certainly roomfor other methods, and it should be the technical commu-nicator's role to redefine existing hypertext and hyperme-dia conventions, and propose new structures for makingthe virtual spaces of the Web of value to wider and morediverse audiences. TC

REFERENCESAgre, Phil. 1994. "Net presence." Computer-mediated

communication magazine 1, no. 4:6.

Aristotle. 1991. On rhetoric. Trans. George A. Kennedy. NewYork, NY: Oxford University Press.

Berners-Lee, Tim, and others. 1994. "The World-Wide Web."Communications of the ACM 37, no. 8:76-82.

Bolter, Jay David. 1991. Writing space: The computer,hypertext, and the history of writing. Hillsdale, NJ:Lawrence Ehribaum Associates.

December, John. 1994. "Challenges for a webbed society."Computer-mediated communication magazine 1, no. 11:7.

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APPUED THEORYEstablishing a Presence on the Web Hunt

December, John, and Neil Randall. 1994. The Worid WideWeb unleashed. Indianapolis, IN: Sams.net Publishing.

December, John, and Mark Ginsburg. 1995. HTML and CGIunleashed. Indianapolis, IN: Sams.net Publishing.

Freidson, Eliot. 1986. Professional powers: A study of theinstitutionalization of formai knowledge. Chicago, IL:University of Chicago Press.

Gurak, Laura J. 1991. "Evaluating the use of metaphor insoftware interface design: A rhetorical approach." InProceedings of the International ProfessionalCommunication Conference. New York, NY: Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers, pp. 267-271.

Gurak, Laura J. 1994. The rhetorical dynamics of acommunity protest in cyberspace: The case of LotusMarketplace. PhD dissertation, Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute.

Hagstrom, Warren O. 1965. The scientific community.Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Halloran, S. Michael. 1982. "Aristotle's concept of ethos, or ifnot his, somebody else's." Rhetoric review 1:58-63.

Hahn, Harley. 1993. A student's guide to UNIX. New York,NY: McGraw-Hill.

Jacobson, Robert. 1993. "Sailing through cyberspace:Counting the stars in passing." In Global networks, ed.Linda Harasim. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 327-341.

Landow, George. 1992. "Hypertext, metatext, and theelectronic canon." In Literacy on-line: The promise (andperil) of reading and writing with computers, ed. MyronTuman. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Lanham, Richard. 1993. The eiectronic word: Democracy,technology, and the arts. Chicago, IL: University ofChicago Press.

Miller, Steve. 1996. Civiiizing cyberspace. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley.

Powell, James. 1994. "Adventures with the World-Wide Web:Creating a hypertext library information system." Database59-66.

Rheingold, Howard. 1993. The virtuai community:Homesteading on the electronic frontier. Reading, MA:Addison Wesley.

POSTSCRIPTIt's an understatement to say that the complexion of theWeb has changed dramatically in the seven years since thisarticle appeared. Back in 1996, much of the content on theWeb—text-heavy pages authored predominantly by indi-viduals and noncommercial entities in the U.S.—still re-flected the Internet's roots in academic and research com-munities, though its use in the corporate world and byprimary and secondary schools had been solidly estab-lished and was growing exponentially by day.

While the vestiges of the Web's early research andacademic use remain today, the sheer size of the Webunderscores two differences between then and now: Todayit is a mainstream communications medium, and it is muchmore global in content and reach.

While the Web has changed since the article waswritten, however, I think the premise I presented forthinking about how to use the Web to communicateremains valid: We are all members of multiple and over-lapping communities, large and small, and we use theWeb to seek out information and connections to help usunderstand and interact within our communities. In-deed, I would argue that some of the survivors of theso-called dot-com bust—eBay and Amazon come tomind—have succeeded not merely because they havecreated efficient marketplaces, but because they havestructured useful gathering places for people to ex-change ideas and information.

In the end, our modes of communication change, butour reasons for communicating remain the same.

KEVIN HUNT teaches business writing and communicationcourses at Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, DE. He iscompleting a doctoral dissertation, from Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute, which examines how the Web was used as a forumfor debating Nike's overseas labor practices between 1996 and2000. Contact information: [email protected]

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