Department of English

As a research scholar and teacher, Dr. Justin Hodgson focuses on the points of connection (and spaces of contention among) digital media and rhetorical studies, with a particular tint toward multimedia production, aesthetics, media studies, game/play theories, and rhetorical invention. His current book project, New Aesthetics, New Rhetorics attempts to bring the digital (i.e., its affordances, modes, and/or structures) to bear on current rhetorical practices. More specifically, it attempts to map the contours of New Aestheticism (Bridle) and use those as a way for opening key considerations for digital rhetoric practices, performances, and proclivities.

Hodgson’s published research to this point has taken shape in both print and multimedia formats. Those digital and nondigital artifacts have been included in edited collections as well as in the journals Enculturation, Kairos, Pre/Text, Composition Studies, and Education Quarterly. Additionally, Hodgson is the founding editor of The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects ( TheJUMP), a journal dedicated to (1) showcasing undergraduate multimedia scholarship and (2) serving as pedagogical resource for instructors of multimedia composition.

Hodgson’s courses at IU cover a wide area of interest, and have (to this point) ranged from multimedia composition to digital publication, from rhetoric and games to rhetoric and sports. (Two course blogsites are below as examples)

Spring 14 – Professional Writing Course - https://w231courseblog.wordpress.com/

Fall 14 – Rhetoric, Play, and Games - https://w350rhetoricplaygames.wordpress.com/

Hodgson, along with colleague Scot Barnett, also maintains the Digital Rhetorics & Digital Humanities blog (https://iuenglish.wordpress.com/). While still in its infancy, this site is primarily designed to represent the digitally-oriented comings and goings (i.e., visiting scholars) at Indiana University.

In addition to completing his Ph.D. in the Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design (RCID) program at Clemson University (under the direction of Victor J. Vitanza), Hodgson has also completed doctoral-level course work in the Media and Communication concentration of the European Graduate School (Saas Fee, Switzerland).