Craft Obsession

Denied access to traditional advertising platforms by lack of resources, craft breweries have proliferated despite these challenges by embracing social media platforms, and by creating an obsessed culture of fans. In Craft Obsession, Jeff Rice uses craft beer as a case study to demonstrate how social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter function to shape stories about craft. Rice weaves together theories of writing, narrative, new media, and rhetoric with a personal story of his passion for craft beer. Both an objective scholarly study and an engaging personal narrative about craft beer, Craft Obsession provides valuable insights into digital writing, storytelling, and social media.

"Combining micronarratives of his own history with craft beer and the intersections of his relationships with beer, family, and friends across multiple social media platforms, as well as the relationship of craft brewers with social media, Rice gives key insights into the operation of narrative in creating sense across many real and imagined fragmented global villages. Not a 'traditional' academic text, this book will resonate with anyone interested in the digital landscape (or craft beer, for that matter)."--John M. Sloop, author, Disciplining Gender: Rhetorics of Sex Identity in Contemporary U.S. Culture "In a fascinating exploration of the role and function of social media, Jeff Rice uses his own obsession with craft beer to show readers how networks function as sites for invention and expression, information exchange and aggregation, and identity formation. This book is critical reading for anyone who is interested in social media platforms, sociotechnical networks, and the rhetorical elements that structure working and living today."--Stuart Selber, author, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age "Craft Obsession taps into two powerful trends in contemporary American life that might seem to be at odds: social media and craft. One is optimized for speed and fragments attention. The other seems to represent a craving to go slow and invest attention. But in this extended essay of demonstration, Rice brings focus to the parallels between craft and social media: how each breeds obsession, invites assumptions and interruptions, thrives on participation, repetition, and sharing. The result is a book that performs the network dynamics it seeks to index. Best to enjoy it with a beer. Pairs well with a Belgian pale, a little wild, a touch spicy, and a clean dry finish."--William Hart-Davidson, coeditor, Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities

Jeff Rice is the chair and a professor of writing, rhetoric, and digital studies at the University of Kentucky. He is the author, the editor, or a coeditor of six previous books.