| Aspect | Amber Keen | Steve Holmes | |--------|------------|--------------| | Primary focus | Feminist recovery, women’s non-traditional rhetoric | History of computing, materiality of digital texts | | Methodological innovation | Digital social network analysis for collaboration mapping | Procedural rhetoric applied to archival databases | | Core publication | “Scrapbooks as Algorithmic Rhetoric” (2020) | “The Codex of the Code” (2018) | | Shared concern | How access and interface shape historical argument | How access and interface shape historical argument |
Steve Holmes, an associate professor at George Mason University, is best known for his work on the materiality of digital texts and the often-overlooked history of early computing in writing pedagogy. His 2018 article, "The Textual Practice of Literate Programming," and his contributions to the Rhetoric Society Quarterly explore how code functions as a rhetorical gesture. Holmes argues that digital archives are not neutral repositories; they are rhetorical constructs that shape which histories become visible. His emphasis on "procedural rhetoric" in archival contexts challenges scholars to read the interface, database structure, and search algorithms as historiographic agents.
Amber Keen and Steve Holmes represent a vital current in 21st-century rhetoric: scholars who embrace digital tools while fiercely critiquing them. Together, they remind the field that an archive is never just a pile of old documents—it is a living rhetorical construction. For graduate students and researchers looking to build ethical digital archives or recover silenced voices, engaging with Keen and Holmes’s work is not optional; it is foundational.
| Aspect | Amber Keen | Steve Holmes | |--------|------------|--------------| | Primary focus | Feminist recovery, women’s non-traditional rhetoric | History of computing, materiality of digital texts | | Methodological innovation | Digital social network analysis for collaboration mapping | Procedural rhetoric applied to archival databases | | Core publication | “Scrapbooks as Algorithmic Rhetoric” (2020) | “The Codex of the Code” (2018) | | Shared concern | How access and interface shape historical argument | How access and interface shape historical argument |
Steve Holmes, an associate professor at George Mason University, is best known for his work on the materiality of digital texts and the often-overlooked history of early computing in writing pedagogy. His 2018 article, "The Textual Practice of Literate Programming," and his contributions to the Rhetoric Society Quarterly explore how code functions as a rhetorical gesture. Holmes argues that digital archives are not neutral repositories; they are rhetorical constructs that shape which histories become visible. His emphasis on "procedural rhetoric" in archival contexts challenges scholars to read the interface, database structure, and search algorithms as historiographic agents. Amber Keen- Steve Holmes
Amber Keen and Steve Holmes represent a vital current in 21st-century rhetoric: scholars who embrace digital tools while fiercely critiquing them. Together, they remind the field that an archive is never just a pile of old documents—it is a living rhetorical construction. For graduate students and researchers looking to build ethical digital archives or recover silenced voices, engaging with Keen and Holmes’s work is not optional; it is foundational. | Aspect | Amber Keen | Steve Holmes