Analysis of the Sustainability Report

Miske Ahmed

WRIT 2004 Writing in Digital Cultures

Rich Shivener

Mash-up analysis

Wednesday March 11, 2020

Analysis of the Sustainability Report 

The sustainability report its structured in a highly detailed manner. This report is meant to be read very closely and not to be overseen. The report uses the cannons of classical rhetoric. However, this report does not demonstrate delivery or memory. For apparent reason, this report is not an oratory speech. On the other hand, this report illustrates the other three canons of classical rhetoric because its in a written format. The report uses the techniques of invention, arrangement, and style to make the report more appropriate to the genre that will be presented to the readers. 

When it comes to the five canons of classical rhetoric. The most effective cannon in this report is arrangement. There must be a high level of arrangement when it comes to the sustainability report, so the audience may follow the report efficiently. The reason that its important to use arrangement as a technique for sustainability report is because its not a storyline where the narrative is already structured. Different genres put more focus on certain canons of classical rhetoric.  For instance, Jane Walpole said “unlike its modern namesake, the classical concept of arrangement focused on the seven parts of an oration: introduction, narration, exposition, proposition, confirmation, confutation, and conclusion. This sequence is clearly designed to help a listening audience follow an oral argument” (Eyman). Even though this quotation is explaining arrangement in the use of oration, it could also be applied in a written format. Theses classical concept that Jane Walpole is explaining was applied in this particular report. In most cases, reports require the same level of explanation that one would have in an oratory speech. The audience should be able to reference back to the report instantly because the organization and arrangement were well executed.  

The second most effective five canons of classical rhetoric in this report is style. Aristotle once said, “the whole business of rhetoric [is] concerned with appearance” (Eyman).  This quotation could not be truer because looking at the report, audiences will first glance at the work to see if it's worth reading. If the appearance of the writing is not assembled well then people would not force themselves to read it. Nevertheless, people see an organized report it would be easier for them to go through. It really connects with the arrangement because organizing the structure of the report interconnects with the style. This sustainability report contains these two cannons. Therefore, this report is well received by the audience.

In addition, the least ineffective cannons is invention. The sustainability report does have a level of persuasion. However, this report is designed to give information, but the only persuasion that it's in this report is the mission statement on Apple. For example, the sustainability report starts off with a letter from Lisa Jackson saying, “At Apple, we are committed to building ground-breaking products and services with the mission to leave our world better than we found it” (Apple). These words illustrate a sense of persuasion because the writer is reminding you of Apple's values to the environment. Nevertheless, this report was constructed to be detailed and not persuade the audience that Apple is the greatest environmental company. The only level of persuasion in this report is that the writer does not directly tell you why Apple is environmentally friendly, rather it shows you through these specific details about Apple approach to climate change. Although this technique is a persuasion tool the overwhelming details on Apple approach to climate change overshadowed the persuasion skills that were applied in the report. Therefore, the invention is the weakest cannons in this particular report.

Even though, the report is highly detailed, and it could be extremely dull reading through all those pages. I thought when it came to the adaptation version that it should be enjoyable and less detailed because it’s a short video. However, I also didn’t want to lose the focal point of the report. So, I decided to pick the main ideas out of the report and adapt it to the video. I left the too detailed part out because that would lose the focal point of making the video enjoyable. For instance, the main idea of the report was Apple approach to climate change. This was important to keep because it’s the basis of the report, but I also decided to illustrate Apple evolution and how they started becoming adaptive to the environment. So, the video could come in full circle or else it would have the same response as the sustainability report. As Kerry Dirk once said, “rhetorical action meant to bring about a specific response” (Dirk 254). In this particular video, I decided that I wanted my audience to enjoy the adaptation without changing the essence of the report. After all, the audience is key when adapting any material.

The technical process of adapting was fascinating because it went from textual to visual. I was creating an unpopular narrative. People have the ideology that technology drifts people apart from each other because they have been so consumed with technology. However, I decided to go with the narrative that when you are away from your loved ones it’s the Apple iPhone that connects you with them. This narrative was more complex portraying it through a video because most people do not support this ideology. So, finding pictures and connecting the storyline was the most challenging aspect of adapting this report. Also, knowing when to apply text into the video was challenging because pictures and other videos usually are not enough. So, I made sure that it was words that I used and not sentences because it fits into the criteria of videos. Overall, the intention of my adaptation video was for the video to not lose its original purpose and for it to relatable to the audience. Most of all, it was important that the audience enjoyed the video. The report and the video should be able to have two different responses.  

Video Adaptations: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OwCj8XOus6T-u2wuBWlRK8H2qo-jyLIq/view?usp=sharing

                                                       

                                                                            Works Cited      

Apple. "Apple Environmental Responsibility." Sustainability . 2019. PDF.

Eyman, Douglas. "Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice." Eyman, Douglas. Digital Rhetoric. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2015. 2. Book.

Dirk, Kelly. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol 1. 2010. P254. Web. Accessed 13 January 2020. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/writingspaces1/dirk--navigating-genres.pdf