Modal Ethos

Traditionally, the artistic proofs center on the individual rhetor as the locusof ethos. However, as communication becomes internetworked, rhetorical phenomena increasingly circulate independent of traditional rhetors. This absence transfers ethos onto textual assemblages that often function as agents in their own right. This transfer of ethos is particularly apparent in memes, where fragmented images constructed across divergent networked media come together to form a single agentic text. Therefore, this chapter argues that a theory of modal ethos is important to understand this artistic proof's role in a networked media ecology. Through a modal analysis of the meme Scumbag Steve, this chapter argues that the modal construction of the meme gives it a unique point of view, complete with narrative history, affective representation, and social expertise—in short, its very own ethos. This allows networked participants to evoke the meme in controversies ranging from NSA wiretapping to the Ukraine Crisis, demanding new forms of political judgment.

The Rise of the Modern Sports Article

The evolution of online media has brought forth a new age of fandom online for sport enthusiasts with access to hundreds of new sports articles daily. This chapter touches on the perceived credibility of the modern sports article and provides evidence from scholarly studies, including the author's own sports credibility study. The study examines how article source, medium, fan identification, and user comment tone can all impact the credibility of a sports article. Study participants were randomly assigned to read a sports article in 1 of 12 stimuli groups. The article source was indicated to have appeared on a mainstream sports website, a sports blog, a social networking site, or a wire service as well as with positive comments, negative comments, or without comments. Analysis revealed that fan identification level was an important factor in credibility ratings as highly identified fans found the article to be significantly more credible than low identification fans as a whole. The study implications and factors influencing the credibility of an online sports article are explored.

Surf's Up

As human interaction increasingly shifts to on-line environments, the age-old challenge of determining communicators' credibility becomes all the more important and challenging. The absence of nonverbal behaviors adds to this challenge, though “rich media” attempt to compensate for this traditional lacuna within mediated interpersonal communication. The present study seeks to empirically understand how the ability and necessity of trust and credibility are built, maintained, and depreciated in online environments, using the on-line “Couchsurfing” travel environment as a worthy sample. In this environment, both hosts and guests must determine whether the other is a viable candidate for free housing, even though they have typically never met face-to-face, or even spoken via phone. Results show participants relying on information found in members' request messages and references, both when accepting and rejecting requests, with a lack of reliance placed on photos and other textual profile information.

Credibility and Crisis in Pseudonymous Communities

Information credibility is difficult to ascertain online, especially when identity is obscured. Yet increasingly, individuals ascertain credibility of emerging information in such contexts, including in the midst of crises. The authors, using data from reddit, examine the influence of potentially credibility cues in a pseudonymous context, investigating not both general effects and whether cues affecting credibility perceptions maintain their effects during crises. Findings include a positive relationship between commenter reputation and perceived credibility in non-crises; a positive relationship between perceived credibility and the use of persuasive appeals relating to one's character or experiences during crisis; and a positive relationship between perceived credibility and the use of a link during crisis. The authors explore how reddit's structure impacts credibility perception, describe how persuasion is operationalized, and elaborate a typology of highly credible comments. Through this study, the authors contribute to both credibility research and crisis informatics.

Credible to Whom?

This chapter adopts a case study approach to examine the echo chamber effect online. Individuals cobble together personalized newsfeeds by active choice and those choices are often accompanied by subtle manipulations in social media and online search engine algorithms that may shape and constrain the parameters of information on a given topic. In this chapter, the author studied vaccine-hesitant discourse in an online forum over a five-year period. Those conversations exhibited characteristics of what would be considered an echo chamber, as defined by Jamieson and Cappella (2008). The implications of this case study suggest that the echo chamber within the realm of vaccination can lead individuals toward content and information of dubious veracity, with significant implications for public health.

Adopting a Parasocial Connection to Overcome Professional Kakoethos in Online Health Information

This chapter approaches online ethos rhetorically to argue that professional medical sources (e.g., practitioners, organizations) must overcome a rhetorically constituted kakoethos in order to influence online health information seekers. Professional medical source kakoethos is established through a lack of identified, authentic personal experience with specific medical conditions, and health information message content that focuses exclusively on the science behind the condition. Conversely, lay health information sources fashion ethos through identifying personal experience with specific medical conditions, and employing emotionally supportive messages. The result is an online health rhetoric appearing credible and authentic. Rhetorically crafting a parasocial connection to online health information seekers may offer a means for professional medical sources to overcome the kakoethos established through lack of personal experience.

Revenge of Cecil the Lion

Digital media has seen a proliferation of Third-Party Review Sites (TPRS) that encourage the public to comment and reflect on their interactions and experiences with a retailer, brand, or company. Sites like Yelp build massive audiences based on their credibility as authentic, accurate, external reviewers. This study looks at how the co-opting of TPRS pages by advocates and protesters influences public perceptions of credibility on these sites. Specifically, it explores the public's reaction to Yelp as a digital space of protest after the death of Cecil the Lion at the hands of a Minnesota dentist. Through focus groups, this study identifies that TPRS audiences look for consistency in reviews to determine credibility; the public sees advocacy as harming the credibility of the overall site; current events play a role in the interpretation of TPRS; and the intentions of users is key to building a reputation as credible in digital media.

“Don't Tell Us You're Handsome......Post Your Great Photo and Let It Stand”

This chapter explores the issue of credibility in online dating. 200 posts to a website called eDateReview.com were inductively analyzed. Examination of these posts revealed that online daters negotiate the potential for selective self-presentation by developing strategies for evaluating the credibility of online dating profiles which builds on established theories of self-presentation in online spaces, including the warranting principle developed by Walther and Parks (2002). These strategies include determining the credibility of the dating sites themselves, assessing the credibility of online profiles, and the demonization of dishonesty to establish norms. Implications and future research are discussed.

Ethos Construction, Identification, and Authenticity in the Discourses of AWSA

The chapter explores the complex emergent feminist ethos in two virtual spaces created by the San Francisco chapter of AWSA—the Arab Women's Solidarity Association International, an Arab women's activist group. First, the chapter discusses ethos and identity construction in cyberspace. Second, the chapter analyzes AWSA's cyber discourses to uncover the characteristics of its feminist ethos and the opportunities allowed or lost for authenticity and the role of anonymity in constructing its feminist ethos. Third, the chapter questions whether anonymity allows for the critical examination of the discourses and ideologies of the powerful in addition to the creation of a sustainable counter-hegemonic discourse or whether it heightens the threat of homogeneity and streamlining in cyberspace. The chapter, in its conclusion, calls for a critical investigation of the potential of the digital domain to challenge the concentration of power in virtual spaces and uncover frameworks through which revolutionary discourses can be sustained and disseminated.

No Shortcuts to Credibility Evaluation

This chapter argues that as the online informational landscape continues to expand, shortcuts to source credibility evaluation, in particular the revered checklist approach, falls short of its intended goal, and this method cannot replace the acquisition of a more formally acquired and comprehensive information literacy skill set. By examining the current standard of checklist criteria, the authors identify problems with this approach. Such shortcuts are not necessarily effective for online source credibility assessment, and the authors contend that in cases of high-stakes informational needs, they cannot adequately replace the expertise of information professionals, nor displace the need for proper and continuous information literacy education.