The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with Lawrence Prelli, Professor at the University of New Hampshire, features: *Why the necessity of developing mastery of particular sciences is crucial *Disciplinarity vs. program-centered research *What happens to rhetoric when invention is decentered *How rhetorical choices have consequences, and why that is particularly important in technical fields *The self-understanding of scientists vis-à-vis certainty and discovery *The potential visual, place, and performance turns in rhetoric of science *How scientific discourses become closed and how jokes open up new universes of discourses *Why the distinctive dimension of rhetorical analysis is invention *Developing relationships with people doing science where you are

ARST's Oral History Project Podcast

Episode 7--An Interview with Lawrence Prelli

The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with Judy Segal, Professor at the University of British Columbia, features: *Why the terms of debate constrain arguments about public health policy *How public values get taken up in private bodies *Being troubled by early experience with technical writing *The usefulness of pedagogical collaboration in early ARST meetings *How the development of the rhetoric of medicine hit an exponential growth rate *The methodological turn in rhetoric of medicine *Why the rhetoric of medicine is particularly conducive to public engagement *Navigating humanities, medicine studies, and medical humanities *How rhetoric of medicine can make a contribution beyond logography *Why the internet has become a locus for illness narratives and how it has changed research methods *How analyzing rhetorical situations young academics find themselves in can help generate good advice

Episode 6--An Interview with Judy Segal

The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with David Berube, Professor from North Carolina State University, features: *The necessity of propaedeutic translation, especially for fringe and emergent sciences *The risks of mindless metaphors *Why the rhetoric of technology has less visibility *Concern about the "woe is us" attitude *On making strategic decisions about audience *Why staying on top of the science means you might never read fiction again *The inevitable frustrations that accompany trying to influence policymakers *Why avoiding the "r" word helps gain credibility in policy and industry circles *How being a rhetorician of science makes one a good rhetorician in front of scientific audiences *Contemplating the rhetoric of science as a lens to analyze search algorithms *The importance of culturally sensitive analysis of social media *What does it mean to sample Twitter meaningfully for sentiment analysis? *The importance of the screw-on lid *Re-branding rhetoric of science and technology *The importance of being relevant

Episode 5--An Interview with David Berube

The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with Randy Harris, Professor at the University of Waterloo, features discussion of: *how cognitive structuring patterns shape how we argue, think, and believe *on being drawn into rhetoric of science through coincidence *why anything involving John Campbell tends toward the memorable *how Gaonkar got it all wrong, but why the Gaonkar affair was good for business *on rhetoric vs. communication of science, and why Thomas Kuhn was horrified about the "r" word *why doing good work under the rubric of rhetoric will bring the philosophers, historians, and sociologists around *how the relationships of theorists, rather than theories, create the perception of incommensurability *on science as a symbol system, and how rhetoric ought to be the fundamental discipline to investigate it *what rhetoric adds to studies of science and what science adds to rhetoric *on rhetoric of science, emergent technologies, cognitive styles, and orality *why picking up cognitive directions in rhetoric of science would be useful

Episode 4--An Interview with Randy Allen Harris

The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with Leah Ceccarelli, Associate Professor from the University of Washington, features discussion of: *The virtues of studying the orations of scientists *Crashing the first ARST meeting as a graduate student *The prevalence of "let's beat up on Dilip" panels in the wake of "The Idea of Rhetoric in the Rhetoric of Science" *The disquiet that accompanied the intelligent design pre-conference *That science has a rhetoric is a battle that has been won *How the backlash from the Sokal hoax continues to ripple *Rhetoric as a unique set of tools, perspectives, and concepts *"The ideology of human agency" makes rhetorician's work valuable *Why polysemy is a useful contribution to the rhetoric of science *How scientific controversies are played out in the blogosphere *The importance of looking at the public-science interface, visual rhetorics of science, and internationalizing ROSTM *Why rhetoric of science can survive even as the humanities are under siege

Episode 3--An Interview with Leah Ceccarelli

The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with Celeste Condit, Professor from the University of Georgia, features discussion of: *reproductive rights issues, WHO, and the superflu *weathering the smallness issue *the early struggles of feminist perspectives in the rhetoric of science *the importance of having a scientific background to enter the field of rhetoric of science *dealing with scientists' power and public disinterest in science *the hope that robotification will produce a "digital Athens" *making interdisciplinary collaborations sing (or at least hum) *the virtues of diachronic analysis of scientific rhetorics *how the toolbox of rhetoric produces a unique sensibility *why developing public expertise requires sensitivity to social symbols *leveraging the internet to open up new avenues for rhetoric of science *the importance of rhetoric of science making a visual turn

Episode 2--An Interview with Celeste Condit

The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) celebrated 20 years in 2012. The ARST Oral History Project was conceived to document the institutional history of the organization and the larger intellectual history of the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine. This interview, with Dr. John Angus Campbell, Professor Emeritus at the University of Memphis, features: *how to fall into rhetoric of science projects *why you should always be prepared when you go into your dissertation advisor's office *the crucial nature of camaraderie in early ARST meetings *the devil-may-care attitude is a good one for intellectual freedom *the radical nature of the very idea of rhetoric of science *a civic take on the rhetoric of science *why style and argument are both substantive in science *the delight of witnessing Darwin's inventional play *"how serious serious play is, and how playful one needs to be in order to be serious" *the internet and the possibilities of redefinition *citizen science and intelligent inquiry via the internet *"you can form your own path"

Episode 1--An Interview with John Campbell

These oral history interview were recorded at the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology in November 2012. Interviewed by Damien Smith Pfister with Jennifer Malkowski and Kenny Walker. Project concept by Lisa Keranen.