ABSTRACT
In this introductory chapter, editors Jessica Reyman and Erika M. Sparby outline a historical overview of rhetoric’s commitment to ethics and point to the need for attention to the contribution digital rhetoric can make in approaches to aggression. They outline a proactive model for addressing digital aggression that engages platform designers and developers, social media managers and entrepreneurs, digital community leaders, moderators, and community members. This model acknowledges that the multidimensional nature of digital communication requires an ecological response to digital aggression. Reyman and Sparby argue that an ethic of responsibility in contexts rife with digital aggression requires platform-based tools that protect vulnerable groups alongside collective and collaborative management of digital aggression by users and communities.
