Talking about selfies was never something I expected to do in a college course. Looking at selfies as a picture that someone took to portray something about themselves is a lot different than what I’m used to just scrolling past them on Instagram. I never thought of looking at a picture that someone took of themselves as something that had a deeper meaning and conveyed a lot of things about the photographer. I never thought that anyone took selfies to bring people in and show them part of their lives. I never thought of selfies like the one described in the book that showed the photographer’s power, wealth and love of life. Even as a class when we looked at each other’s’ selfies I was surprised as to how much people could take away from each other’s selfies. From our selfies we saw that others were lazy, adventurous, outdoorsy and even loved pizza. On top of just learning about others from a single picture of themselves, we were also able to further our ability to analyze rhetorically. We were able to identify the three key elements in the author, audience and argument. The exercise in class of looking at everyone else’s selfies was very good practice at analyzing something rhetorically and a fun way of doing it. It was great to be able to learn more about some of my classmates while also progressing important skills for the course.
The review of pathos, ethos, logos, and kairos was also very helpful. While it isn’t very easy to find these in selfies, it is possible. Like “Sarabeth’s” selfie described in the book, she is able to convey her love of life from just taking a picture of herself. I did not go back and change my selfie because I’m wasn’t exactly sure how to convey these different things. But since looking at others in class I have a better understanding. Overall the exercise of using selfies to further our ability to rhetorically analyze was both fun and furthered our education in the course.
The review of pathos, ethos, logos, and kairos was also very helpful. While it isn’t very easy to find these in selfies, it is possible. Like “Sarabeth’s” selfie described in the book, she is able to convey her love of life from just taking a picture of herself. I did not go back and change my selfie because I’m wasn’t exactly sure how to convey these different things. But since looking at others in class I have a better understanding. Overall the exercise of using selfies to further our ability to rhetorically analyze was both fun and furthered our education in the course.