Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

I noticed two particular features of digital rhetoric during my plane trip home from Italy. First, it was interesting to think about global business English and the ways it is now being mediated through PowerPoint. For example, I saw non-English speakers using the Auto-Content wizard and employing standard electronic slideshow truisms like "Lessons Learned." (Check out how my colleague Ellen Strenski has covered the debate about PowerPoint.) Second, before we landed, we watched a short film about immigration procedures in which the entire Philadelphia airport -- and its heavily regulated and surveiled spaces -- was represented using entirely computer generated imagery.