Writing Department associate professor, Rich Shivener, has published a new book looking at the ways creators are living digital media, experiencing emotions like love and frustration, as they shape their creations. Living Digital Media: Rhetorical-affective practices in circulation looks at the ways in which rhetorical practices like collaboration, revision and delivery are loaded with feelings, drawing from interviews with writing studies scholars and game developers to explore the emotional side of content creation. The book also looks at how the working practices of game developers could inspire and create change within scholarly practices.
“The book is free and contains video and audio. I wanted to mix media to help readers connect emotionally with creators,” said Shivener.
Rich Shivener’s recent research has investigated digital media composing practices and emotions, and he teaches courses in the Writing Department’s digital authoring stream. From 2016-2024, Rich was also a section editor for the digital journal Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. Years prior to academia, he reported for local newspapers and national magazines, and he wrote technical support documents with software developers.
Living Digital Media: Rhetorical-affective practices in circulation is available through Computers and Composition Digital Press, an imprint of Utah State University Press.