Eyman reiterates the definition for digital rhetoric as, “the application of rhetorical theory (as analytic method or heuristic for production) to digital text and performances” (Eyman 44). Because of how Eyman decides to define digital rhetoric, he believes it can be used in any rhetoric fields or methods being traditional or contemporary.

One focus of this chapter is the complex idea of literacy, and how it should not be limited to writing with letters. This goes against the rhetoric literacy tradition. Due to this, other terms such as “literacies of technology” are also used for referring to literature, but Eyman states he prefers “digital literacy”. Eyman chooses to use that term because, “the literacy practices referred to are enacted in digital spaces” (Eyman 47). Other terms for digital literacy are either to board, narrow or does not properly describe what it should encompass. Understanding digital literacy is essential to digital rhetoric. It follows the tradition but goes beyond the text aspect of literacy.

Eyman also talks about how visual and digital rhetoric are similar in various ways, and it can be used as a part of digital rhetoric. Although visual rhetoric does not cover all topics such as new media. New media is discussed further, such as what is new and when does it stop being new. Overall it is assumed that new media is digital because it is computer-accessible, which challenges traditional classification.

Although, some argue that new media is the digital rhetorical process that occurs when the interface and human-computer interaction (HCI) cross. The connection between HCI and digital rhetoric is empowerment for the two users, which is how digital rhetoric follows tradition of rhetoric. HCI focuses on the programming of interfaces and hit many aspects of the cognitive science because it is targeting the user’s wants and needs. Ultimately it falls under computer science and the purpose of using of technology to accomplish a task. Whereas digital rhetoric main purpose is self-empowerment but uses the tools of HCI to perform the self-empowerment. Chapter one ends with stating that digital rhetoric can benefit many fields in one way or another, but due to rhetoric no longer having a distinct definition, many theories and methods opportunities are lost.