Dr. Dan Lawrence is a professor, digital media theorist, rhetorician, and writer.
New Book: Disinformed: The History of Humanity’s Search for Truth (2024)
Available now on Amazon
Digital Writing from Broadview Press (2022)
Available Now on Amazon, Google Play, and directly from Broadview Press
Digital Writing
“Digital Writing will open a lot of eyes to the subtle arts of persuasion employed at every turn of the average person’s daily digital life, arming them with the resource to be more intentional in their participation and more sophisticated in their response.”
― Andrew McLuhan, The McLuhan Institute
Digital Writing: A Guide to Writing for Social Media and the Web
Available as an ebook and in print from:
Sign up for updates
Sign up to receive occasional and non-intrusive updates about Professor Lawrence’s books, articles, videos, research, and appearances. We’ll only send one or two e-mails per month, at most.
Dr. Dan Lawrence is an American digital media theorist, rhetorician, and writer. He is Associate Professor of Writing and faculty member of the Department of Writing, Language, and Literature at the University of Wisconsin - Superior.
His work appears in Teaching Reading and Writing in the Era of Fake News, Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication, Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion, among other places.
His books include Digital Writing: A Guide to Writing for Social Media and the Web (Broadview Press, 2022), Disinformed: The History of Humanity’s Search for Truth (2023), and an upcoming book on artificial intelligence, language, and the philosophy of technology.
PhD, Rhetoric & Technical Communication with Specialization in Digital Media Theory, Michigan Technological University
Rhetoric and Truth
For thousands of years, humans have struggled with the relationship between truth, lies, reality, and language. These issues are exacerbated by global, technological communication. Rhetoric empowers us to make sense of the endless stream of messages in our lives.
Philosophy of Technology
Through the work of thinkers like Heidegger, Manovich, Haraway, and Feenberg, we can seek to understand humanity’s relationship to technology to chart a more democratic and meaningful path forward. Language, too, is a technology.
Digital & Non-Discursive Rhetoric
All consciously crafted messages are rhetorical (and perhaps ideological), whether textual, visual, digital, musical, bodily, or otherwise. We cast our meanings outward from our subjective positions toward particular people for particular purposes.
New book, Digital Writing from Broadview Press (2022) is a rhetorical and ethical perspective on writing for digital media, social media, and the web.
Dr. Lawrence is teaching courses such as Technical Writing, Digital Writing, Introduction to Rhetoric, and Advanced Rhetoric: Theory and Practice at the University of Wisconsin - Superior.
Currently, “Dr. Dan” enjoys life as a husband, father of two (soon three), professor, tenor banjoist/songwriter, and woodsman in northern Wisconsin. He was born in Marquette, MI in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Disinformed: The History of Humanity’s Search for Truth
Coming in 2023 from Urano Publishing: Disinformed: The History of Humanity’s Search for Truth by Dr. Dan Lawrence
“My new book project is about the story of humanity’s struggle with truth and reality. Philosophers 2,400 years ago were concerned by many of the same problems of language and ‘disinformation’ that still haunt us today. How is it that we seemed to have learned nothing along the way to fortify ourselves against the all-too common phenomena of lies, deception, and propaganda? What can ancient wisdom about truth, rhetoric, and language teach us about the increasingly concerning (and potentially species-threatening) problems we face with disinformation, misinformation, and fake news?”
“The truth is like a lion…”
— St. Augustine of Hippo
Thanks for visiting my website. Here are some ways to find me:
Faculty E-mail: dlawren1@uwsuper.edu
Personal E-mail: dr.dan.lawrence@gmail.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/danlawrence
Press/Interviews/Speaking Engagements:
Please contact me directly at dr.dan.lawrence@gmail.com, or see “Press” page on this website.