Writers, Speakers, Knowledge Workers . . . are authors. They are symbol analysts: they use symbols (e.g., alphabets, sign language, computer codes) “to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute” (UNESCO 2006). They use language, media, rhetorical analysis, and rhetorical reasoning to communicate.
Related Concepts: Agency; Composing; Information, Data; Literacy; Rhetoric; Rhetorical Context; Semiotics
Writers, Speakers, Knowledge Workers . . . manipulate symbols (e.g., language, images, quantitative data) in order to communicate.
Depending on context, symbol analysts go by a variety of names, including:
| Artist | Computer Programmer | Investigator |
| Knowledge Worker | Researcher | Rhetor |
| Speaker | Sender | Writer |
| A Plug for the the Terms Rhetor, Rhetors Rhetors are rhetoricians. They conduct rhetorical reasoning as they contemplate the best way to respond to a rhetorical situation. In ancient Greece, the term rhetor referred to a rhetorician–i.e. someone who taught rhetoric. Since then, the term rhetor or rhetorician or technorhetorician (someone with expertise in both rhetoric and technology) has fallen a bit out of favor, a bit archaic in terms of diction. The advantage to using the term Rhetor to writers, speakers, artists, and so on, is that it’s a broader term that encompasses these roles. Plus, the term privileges rhetoric, especially rhetorical analysis and rhetorical reasoning. |
Writers, Speakers, Knowledge Workers . . . draw on their explicit knowledge of composing processes to innovate, think through, and solve problems. They have tacit and declarative knowledge of Collaboration | Design | Editing | Evidence | Genre | Information Literacy | Invention | Organization | Mindset | Research | Revision | Rhetoric | Style | and Writing Studies.
