Gustav Verhulsdonck
I received my Ph.D. from New Mexico State University in Rhetoric and Professional Communication. I have worked as a technical writer for International Business Machines (IBM), and was a visiting researcher for the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technology (USC-ICT) working for clients such as National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the US Army.
My current research involves how people and technologies shape interactive processes of rhetoric and communication. As such, my interests lie in investigating how humans and technologies structure and restructure each other in ongoing ever-present conversations. Ever since Plato’s objections to writing as a medium, Aristotle’s system of technical rhetoric, and before the invention of computers by Ada Lovelace, rhetoric has interrogated technology and vice versa. As humans are nowadays increasingly interconnected with pervasive devices through global networks, I see a lot of promise in studying such technological processes and their implications for rhetorical inquiry.
Broadly, my research speaks to three factors that are central to my work, namely: humans, computers, and interaction as interconnected processes. Because humans interact with and through computers to connect with other human beings, my work focuses on interactive moments when these occur through an interface and surface through writing and communication. As such, my research is situated in various research areas that I see as interconnecting and speaking to such moments, and involves digital rhetoric, digital humanities, technical communication, information science, human-computer interaction, computer-mediated communication, interaction design, information architecture, computer coding, intercultural research, game theory, theories of globalization, and social networks.
My research interests have led me on a trajectory of researching how virtual worlds shape negotiation strategies between people; issues of virtual embodiment through avatars; the shape and direction of digital rhetoric when humans, code, and computational processes are imbricated; and how mobile devices and cross-cultural, global contexts impact composition.
I have co-edited a collection (together with Dr. Marohang Limbu at Michigan State University) on the implications of the “digital turn” in rhetoric, titled Digital Rhetoric and Global Literacies: Communication Modes and Digital Practices in the Networked World (IGI Global/Information Science Reference, 2013). In addition, I have published papers at industry conferences organized by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). My latest work involves mobile design in a global ecology is featured in a special edition of Computers and Composition (2015). I am currently studying the implications of social networks and globalization on composition and rhetoric.
Contact Information
Email: gaverhulsdonck@utep.edu
Phone: 915-747-6243
Hudspeth Hall 117
Personal Information
Ph.D., New Mexico State University
Visiting Assistant Professor
