Hyperrhiz 30
Textual Temptations
Paul Muhlhauser
Kendall Goscinski
Katie Lookingbill
Sydney Perry
Citation: Muhlhauser, Paul, et. al. “Textual Temptations.” Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, no. 30, 2026. doi:10.20415/hyp/030.e02
Abstract: Rhetorical equity invites us to reconsider not just what we communicate, but how and for whom. Equity, in this context, is not a retrofit—it’s a reframe. The goal isn’t uniformity, but a networked approach to justice across writing, rhetoric, and literacy. Our work explores how interfaces can either constrain or invite meaning-making. When interfaces privilege authorial control, they risk silencing audience agency. When they open space for interpretation, they foster rhetorical justice but limit author agency. We theorize “interfacial” equity and experiment with it. Through playful analogies and cringy Taylor Swift references, we interrogate how access, design, and power intersect. Our aim is to move beyond accessibility as a checkbox and toward equity as a dynamic, participatory practice where author and audience come to understand one another’s choices and experiences. In short: equity is the ask. Justice is the experiment. And interfaces are the proving ground.
Keywords: rhetorical equity, interface, design, Taylor Swift, fun, rhetorical justice.
About the Project
Oh, boy. Oh, girl. Oh, (too trad.) identity! I’ve never written a contextual essay before. I hope it doesn’t go “All Too Well” in the 10-minute Jake Gyllenhaal sense of things. We want it to be “Enchanted” (Taylor’s Version). Go ahead, take 5ive to cringe at those first few sentences. Ok, game on.
Went to Wikipedia to make sure I got this right: Executive Order 14151. That’s the order that was one of the major inspirations for the webtext. It’s “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” It made us pretty upset in how it basically shames programs that educate people about justice, that encourages peoples to understand how equity is NOT the same thing as equality—that equity is better than equality. And I’m a FULL professor of English specializing in digital rhetoric and composition, a discipline whose ultimate purpose is to make the world a better more equitable place through textual experiences. To mix metaphors, mixaphor: It’s like how evolution gives biology a “true north.” Equity is digital rhetoric and compositions. Just gonna leave that there.
Then Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, which Google Maps continues to honor. And it got us thinking about equity in ridiculous or “ridiculous” ways, ways that open up new avenues for audiences and authors might think about each other and the presentation of text. Initially we thought: What would happen if everyone had their own maps with their own names? Like would that be ultimate interface equity? Ultimate interface agency? What would happen to geographical identification if geography disidentified with A and B? Hope ya liked that reference to Burke 😊.
And then we started thinkin’ about rhetorical equity—it’s this idea I’ve been pushing about how to create content and interfaces that include technological accessibility and forms that meets readers where they are and how they’d prefer to experience a text. So, like in previous webtexts, there would be a bunch of versions for people of various expertise and needs. There’d be an academicky traditional text, an infographic getting at the heart of the text, and, one time, a really funny and witty rap communicating the gist of text.
Thing is, I’d never really thought much beyond how even though it takes a lot of time for an author, it’s the right thing to do for an audience. I’d never really thought about the interface design in how the text is presented, like what an audience is allowed and not allowed to do, like what an author may want to control. Yeah. Seems obvious to think about☹. Maybe the right thing to do is for the author to give some authorship to the audience? Would that be more audience equitable?
Yay! I moved past the 5ive-paragraph essay here 😊. So me and my co-authors started thinking about interfaces and all the ways they might be more authory, like authors are more in control of the textual experience, and audiency, like audiences are more in control of the textual experience. We looked at all sorts of web designs, relying heavily on all the cool stuff at Codrops. Our main question to answer was this: How can interfaces be equitable in honoring author and audience agencies?
The answer we came up with is rhetorical justice. It’s like a perspective and guide for bringing together Author and Baudience—went Burke again 😊—in an interfacial sense.
I really hope that went well. I am listening to Sabrina Carpenter now. So, here’s a new cringe. Hope this context gave you an out of context House Tour of Textual Temptations 😊