The convergence of smartphones, GPS, the Internet, and social networks has given rise to a playful, educational, and social media known as location-based and hybrid reality games. The essays in this book investigate this new phenomenon and provide a broad overview of the emerging field of location-aware mobile games, highlighting critical, social scientific, and design approaches to these types of games, and drawing attention to the social and cultural implications of mobile technologies in contemporary society. With a comprehensive approach that includes theory, design, and education, this edited volume is one of the first scholarly works to engage the emerging area of multi-user location-based mobile games and hybrid reality games. It is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses covering mobile phone or gaming culture, media history and educational technology, as well as researchers and the general public.

The articles in this volume were originally presented in spring 2009 at an international conference hosted by the Institute of Germanic and Romance Languages and Cultures at Tallinn University in Estonia. The theme of "crossing boundaries" is reflected in the rich mix of genres, cultures, applications, and critical theories considered here. Indeed, these articles demonstrate that crossing boundaries can be a companionable journey as well an intellectually enriching experience.

The interrelationship between journalism and public relations (PR) is one of the most contentious in the field of media studies. Numerous studies have shown that 50-80 per cent of the content of mass media is significantly shaped by PR. But many editors, journalists, and PR practitioners engage in a 'discourse of denial', maintaining what critics call the dirty secret of journalism - and PR. Media practitioners also engage in an accusatory 'discourse of spin' and a 'discourse of victimhood'. On the other hand, PR practitioners say they help provide a voice for organizations, including those ignored by the media. Meanwhile, the growth of social media is providing new opportunities for governments, corporations, and organizations to create content and even their own media, increasing the channels and reach of PR. This book reviews 100 years of research into the interrelationship between journalism and PR and, based on in-depth interviews with senior editors, journalists, and PR practitioners in several countries, presents new insights into the methods and extent of PR influence, its implications, and the need for transparency and change, making it a must-read for researchers and students in media studies, journalism, public relations, politics, sociology, and cultural studies.

The second edition of Rhetoric Online: The Politics of New Media has been extensively revised and expanded in order to systematically examine how rhetorical theory can be applied to political activity across a wide range of new media technologies. Warnick and Heineman study the web as a public sphere, touching on how websites, social media, smartphone applications, blogs, viral video, and web-based anti-institutional practices such as hacktivism impact everything from electoral politics to activism. Furthermore, they provide critical insight into how rhetoricians might consider existing theories of persuasion, identity, narrative, intertextuality, social movements, and more in the context of evolving new media technology. This edition contains completely new chapters on viral video, social identity and social media, and anti-institutional politics online.

The convergence of smartphones, GPS, the Internet, and social networks has given rise to a playful, educational, and social media known as location-based and hybrid reality games. The essays in this book investigate this new phenomenon and provide a broad overview of the emerging field of location-aware mobile games, highlighting critical, social scientific, and design approaches to these types of games, and drawing attention to the social and cultural implications of mobile technologies in contemporary society. With a comprehensive approach that includes theory, design, and education, this edited volume is one of the first scholarly works to engage the emerging area of multi-user location-based mobile games and hybrid reality games. It is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses covering mobile phone or gaming culture, media history and educational technology, as well as researchers and the general public.

"Stories from the Heart" is for, by, and about prospective and practicing teachers understanding themselves as curious and literate beings, making connections with colleagues, and researching their own literacy and the literacy lives of their students. It demonstrates the power and importance of story in our own lives as literate individuals. Readers are encouraged to: tell, write, or re-create the stories of their literacy lives in order to understand how they learn and teach; begin the journey into writing the stories of others' literacy lives; find support in their researching endeavors; and examine the idea of framing stories by using the work of other teachers and researchers.

This study explores the field of ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom learning within a formal learning institution. Influenced by the sociocultural theory in SLA (Second Language Acquisition), the book sheds light on the question that has been boggling the minds of language practitioners and researchers: Why is ESL classroom talk the way it is? Based on a case study of a school in an ESL community, it argues persuasively that classroom talk may be linked in important ways to an operative sociocultural structure of ESL pedagogy over and above the classroom at the institutional level. The book examines issues which have here-to-fore been avoided by writers and researchers in current SLA writings and classroom studies. It confronts complex and complicated contextual and research methodological issues to make visible what has up to now been that elusive « structure behind the oral practices in language classrooms. Research methods are drawn from language education and several disciplines within linguistics and the social sciences. Emerging from a multidisciplinary methodological framework are a number of surprising revelations about the meanings and functions of ESL classroom talk.

Although teachers are used to speaking to classes and groups of young people, they are often called upon to give presentations to adult groups. Such presentations - at a parent's meeting, PTA meeting, prize day or governor's board meeting - require an entirely different approach, preparation and delivery.;Covering all aspects of the presentation event, this book examines areas such as: overcoming fears of speaking in public; researching the audience and subject; planning, structuring and timing the presentation; choosing and preparing visual aids; and the importance of rehearsal.;Using checklists, case studies and activities taken directly from the educational environment, this book should be useful for any teacher setting out to give a presentation as a representative of their school.

From "supersizing it" to hoarding, we are living in an age of excess. Whether it is cars or housing, American culture is being driven by the old adage that "bigger is better". Yet, although we often overlook it, nowhere is this rhetoric of excess more on display than within our food discourses. While many would argue that the gourmand vanished from society at the end of the 19th century, this book contends that both the gourmand and its counterpart, the glutton, have moved beyond their historic roots to become cultural personae found throughout contemporary media and popular culture. Utilizing texts ranging from the Slow Food Movement to "food porn" as a cornucopia of visual fantasies, this book maintains that today the gourmand and the glutton have come to epitomize a rhetoric of excess far beyond the realm of food.

The theory and practice of public speaking is simplified and made available to all in this introductory text designed for those with little or no experience in public speaking. It presents basic communication theory; delineates the importance of credibility in persuasive speech and outlines the role of nonverbal communication and paralanguage. A whole chapter is devoted to stage fright and suggestions are offered to reduce this anxiety. A wide assortment of exercises are provided to test critical skills. Originally published by Macmillan in 1982.

Through life-changing stories, respected thinkers and authentic presentations, Keynote promotes a deeper understanding of the world and gives students the courage and means to express themselves in English. Communication, collaboration and creative thinking drive students towards real 21st century outcomes and encourage them to respond to ideas and find their own voice. Both students and teachers will emerge with new confidence, new ideas and a new determination to communicate in this increasingly information-rich world of Global English.

In an increasingly global society, the ability to identify a culture's visual aesthetics helps us localize messages for better understanding and resonance with targeted audiences. But how do we identify the visual cues that specific cultures respond to? Based on Web design "best practices" and data collected from close to 2000 websites in more than 30 countries over a period of eight years, this book defines a methodology for identifying patterns - a "pattern language" - by which one can analyze the cultural aesthetics of a website to: (1) learn more about the visual communication patterns of a particular culture, (2) apply what is learned to the creation of new Web communication, and (3) identify trends in visual communication on the Web as influenced by emerging technologies.

Few concepts in Discourse Studies are so versatile and intricate and have been so frequently contested as interpersonality. This construct offers ample terrain for new research, since it can be viewed using a range of diverse theoretical frameworks, employing a variety of analytical tools and social perspectives. Studies on the relationship between writer/reader and speaker/audience in the legal field are still scarce, dispersed, and limited to a narrow range of genres and a restricted notion of interpersonality, since they are most often confined to modality and the Gricean cooperative principles. This volume is meant to help bridge this gap. Its chapters show the realisation and distribution of interpersonal features in specific legal genres. The aim is to achieve an expansion of the concept of interpersonality, which besides modality, Grice's maxims and other traditionally interpersonal features, might comprise or relate to ideational and textual issues like narrative disclosure, typography, rhetorical variation, or Plain English, among others.

Literacy in Lifeskills is designed for adult learners who have not acquired basic literacy skills in their primary language.

Drawing on the pedagogy, rhetorical theory, and student editor insights of The Argument Handbook, The Argument Toolbox is a very concise resource designed to help first year composition students, rhetoric and writing students, and first year seminar students build persuasive arguments in various genres. Like the more comprehensive text, The Argument Toolbox is organized and designed so that students can zero in on the content they need to respond to an assignment when faced with a blank screen, a hard deadline, and a skeptical audience.

Surveys have found that speaking in public is one of the worst human fears, even higher than fear of spiders, heights and even death! Making presentations and public speaking is an increasing part of working life. Whether it be speaking at a meeting or making a formal presentation to a potential funder, much can rest on the outcome of our efforts when we are on our feet. The book includes sections on timing, the audience, content, delivery techniques, using visual aids, dealing with nerves, question and answer sessions and tongue twisters. This book is for anyone from the novice who needs to cover all of the basics to the experienced speaker who needs a quick refresher in getting up and delivering a message.

In light of current and projected demographic changes in the U.S., this book examines the attention paid to Latina/o youth from mainstream media conglomerates and the subsequent impact of this attention. In-depth interviews conducted within a family setting provide a rare glimpse into respondents' media consumption patterns and process of reception, and explain the ways in which the media are woven into their daily lives. The book critiques the tendency of mainstream media to reify and contain a Latina/o identity that is then sold back to youth in ways that limit Latino/a agency. Throughout the interviews, young people articulate a hybrid identity highlighting their bicultural experiences. Listening to Latina/o Youth ultimately recommends opening up the possibilities of representation to encourage the acceptance of new voices that challenge the current modes of media production.

In an increasingly global society, the ability to identify a culture's visual aesthetics helps us localize messages for better understanding and resonance with targeted audiences. But how do we identify the visual cues that specific cultures respond to? Based on Web design "best practices" and data collected from close to 2000 websites in more than 30 countries over a period of eight years, this book defines a methodology for identifying patterns - a "pattern language" - by which one can analyze the cultural aesthetics of a website to: (1) learn more about the visual communication patterns of a particular culture, (2) apply what is learned to the creation of new Web communication, and (3) identify trends in visual communication on the Web as influenced by emerging technologies.

The study of health information seeking has become increasingly important in recent years due to the growing emphasis on the consumer/client relationship in the health arena. This trend implies a shift away from the development of health campaigns with one unitary message to a recognition that alternatives must be provided and options discussed. Indeed, health agencies are adopting the role of information-seeking facilitators through the creation of telephone services and sophisticated databases. A greater understanding of the public's needs, especially why people seek information, may help us to accomplish the many behavioral changes that will lead toward decreases in morbidity and mortality and a more balanced approach to wellness and prevention. This is especially important in the context of the revolution in access to information brought about by the many recent advances in databases and telecommunication systems, perhaps best represented by the advent of the Internet. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of these issues appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, practitioners, and researchers.

Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor is an edited anthology that explores the persona and speech-making of the country's first African American first lady. The result of these thought-provoking essays is an interdisciplinary text that explores the First Lady from a rhetorical and cultural point of view. Authors analyze her Democratic National Convention speeches, her brand as First Lady, her communication from her latest trip to Africa, her agenda rhetoric in Let's Move! and Reach Higher, and her coming out as a Black feminist intellectual when she spoke at Maya Angelou's memorial service. Readers will recognize Michelle Obama as a rhetor of our times-a woman who influences America at the intersections of gender, race, and class and who is representative of what women are today.

Languages are inseparable from their contexts of use. They are not only congruent with, but also involved in the configuration of the worldviews and value systems manifested in cultures and embodied in texts. The spread of English worldwide foregrounds the issue of textual dynamics in intercultural settings. The production/reception of texts in English facilitates international contacts and exchanges, yet it also triggers hegemonic practices. The volume aims to investigate the representations and negotiations of sociocognitive identities in intercultural settings relevant for 'good practice'. Contributions explore 'languaging' strategies (verbal, visual, multimodal; English monolingual, bilingual, multilingual) through a range of methodological perspectives wherein the respect for sociocultural differences is a constitutive value.

"A well-organized book with a wealth of good practice material. Drawings are excellent. I have worn out a copy, and am glad it is still in print for my course."--John A. Applegate, Northeast Missouri State University

The main focus of this volume is on urbanity as a discursive way of human life in the city. Discourse is specified here in terms of semiotic codes and processes that link city dwellers as communicating selves into interpersonal and intersubjective collectivities when they create and interpret similar meanings embodied in material bearers. Accordingly, the unfolding of the semiotic web is understood, firstly, as detecting and evaluating the growth and manifestation of the sphere of meaning-bearers or a sequence of meaning-bearing events, and secondly, as identifying and explaining the constituents and aspects of discourse in the light of signs and/or sign-processes that aggregate individual participants of communication into discursive linkages on a lower level and discursive communities – on a higher level of social grouping. Some contributions deal with the discursive properties of human individuals in urban environments, and some others are devoted either to the meta-discourses on the city or discourses in the city.