Jennifer Almjeld, Ph.D., assistant professor of English at New Mexico State University will present “A Rhetorician’s Guide to Love: Online Dating Profiles as Remediated Commonplace Books” from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the Old Main, Ritz Auditorium, at The University of Findlay.
 
Online daters use templates, images and text to create an online personality. Almjeld will present an inside look at the online dating service, Match.com, with an analysis of her own online dating profile. The presentation will focus on the use of design templates, pull-down menus and linguistic and visual cues all used to perform an identity.

In a rhetorical analysis, Amjeld compares Match.com profiles to generations-old practices for writing identity known as commonplace books.

Almjeld will describe the remediated commonplace books with their Victorian era predecessors as well as present the public nature of privately crafted identity performance. Almjeld teaches rhetoric and professional communication courses at New Mexico State University.

Almjeld’s presentation is part of the Wilkin Chair series of events this year. Ron Tulley, Ph,D., associate professor of English, is the 2012-13 Richard E. Wilkin Chair for the College of Liberal Arts.

 Tulley is devoting one year of study to the interdisciplinary exploration of a single topic, The Power of Portrayal — The Social Nature of (Re-)Presenting a “Self:” Role Playing, Social Networking and Identity Formation in the Digital Age.

According to Tulley, his theme is designed to create a discourse community at The University of Findlay that investigates, discusses and debates what it means to construct a self-image in the digital age.

For more information, contact Tulley at rtulley@findlay.edu or 419-434-4608, or visit his blog.