Blog Ten -- Group Update

Our group has only had one opportunity to meet, though that only involved two of us. However, we have a meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening. At this time we hope to finalize a script and assign specific tasks to each member of the group. In the coming days, it would be great to start the actual filming process.

We have an overall theme (plot line) for our film, which I think is engaging and inventive. Our plan is to create the feeling of a late night talk show. This includes a monologue by the host, games, interviews, and a segment like Jay Leno's "Jaywalking." Our goal is to entertain our audience, while simultaneously educating them. Hopefully it will translate as such!

Blog Nine -- Rough Movie Script

Scene:

Television studio with interviewer and "experts." (Hopefully, we can use CUE 203.)

Outside impromptu interviews with "non-experts."


Characters:

Interviewer / Host

Experts (i.e. Lanham, Foss, and Horn)

Non-Experts


Rough Outline:

Host's monologue, introducing LG Dare.

Phone trick / game. (i.e. popping popcorn)

Expert interviews. (i.e. review of rhetorical devices, Q & As)

Non-expert interviews.

Conclusion.

Blog Eight -- Williams

Having taken Kristin Arola's English 336 class last semester, this was my second exposure to Robin Williams's 'CRAP Principles.' And, while I understand their merit, I find Alex W. White's 'Seven Design Components' to be far more worthwhile in design. These include: unity, gestalt, dominance, space, hierarchy, balance, and color. When referring to and actually creating designs, these seven attributes are some of the most important. To me, the 'CRAP Principles' seem somewhat restrictive. For example, the feeling of gestalt that a design creates is vital. Without this, the audience is left with an incomplete feeling. Their eyes make no connection between one thing and another. It seems that Williams is neglecting to discuss a very significant element of design.

Likely, however, the two must work in tandem. A truly successful design should encompass both Williams's and White's principles.


Contrast:

This is, some might argue, the most important element of design. Without some kind of differentiation between ideas, a reader will find no interest on the page. Therefore, they will not look at it. Color, size, shape, and line thickness can all help to create contrast.


Repetition:

While contrast is important to draw in an audience, too much contrast is distracting. Repetition allows similar ideas to be visually grouped together. For example, a hierarchy of ideas might be created through font size and the consistent use of an outline (meaning, the same format throughout the whole page). Unity is created through repetition.


Alignment:

Text and images should not be haphazardly placed on a page; just because there was open space in that particular spot does not mean it should be used. Without conscious organization, the ideas within the design can become confused. Alignment helps to highlight the relationship between one thing and another. In this case, even if they are separated.


Proximity:

Much in the same way that repetition creates a sense of unity amongst items, proximity works in a similar way. Grouping things close to one another gives the visual cue that they are related. A lack of proximity makes the design look cluttered, therefore deterring the audience from reading the text.

Blog Seven -- McCloud

What I found especially interesting about the McCloud comic piece was that his argument and literal text contradicted themselves. While McCloud views images and text as potentially equal forms of communication, the images he includes in his comic are highly ambiguous without the accompanying words. Society has become increasingly technological and thus, more accepting of images. In fact, one might be hard pressed to find a website or digital interface that is not supplemented by or reliant on visual images. Unfortunately for McCloud, this particular comic-format only rebutted his argument. Without the text, the images seem relatively meaningless.

For the most part, I agree with McCloud's theory; words and images are equally poignant forms of communication. However, images must be used much more consciously and carefully to establish clear rhetoric. Visuals require more personal interpretation than text. Thus, ambiguity arises. When an image is very expressive and explicit in its meaning, then it can standalone. The comic worked well to solidify this, I believe.

Blog Six -- Birdsell, Groarke, and Blair

"Visual images can, of course, be vague and ambiguous. But this alone does not distinguish them from words and sentences, which can also be vague and ambiguous. The point that visual images are frequently vague and indeterminate cannot, in view of the demonstrable indeterminacy of verbal expressions, show that images are intrinsically less precise than spoken or written words..." (Birdsell and Groarke 310).

Symbolism goes hand-in-hand with rhetoric (also known as communication). Thus, communication relies on symbols to create arguments. Symbols can incorporate letters and words as well as actual images. It stands to reason that an individual can decipher arguments through any sort of symbolism, though the real meaning may be somewhat vague. A certain degree of ambiguity exists with any form of communication; interpretation is highly dependent on the reader's personal understanding and experience. However, one might argue that visual arguments are more prone to misunderstanding than written ones.

"The meaning of a visual claim or argument obviously depends on a complex set of relationships between a particular image/text and a given set of interpreters" (Birdsell and Groarke 313).

Blog Five -- Arnheim

Qualities as a Sign:

"An image serves merely as a sign to the extent to which it stands for a particular content without reflecting its characteristics visually...[T]hey operate as mere references to the things for which they stand" (Arnheim 138).

A prime example of how this company logo functions as a picture is through the text. Letters are nothing more than abstract representations. The letters themselves do not reflect an actual object, but symbolically represent a greater meaning. Text is human constructed and interpretive. Letters are not arbitrary, but consistently and deliberately used symbols; they carry a synonymous meaning amongst viewers. The audience, pending their knowledge of the English language, easily understands the name of the company through letters.


Qualities as a Symbol:

"An image is symbol to the extent to which it portrays things which are at a higher level of abstractness than is the symbol itself" (Arnheim 139).

The faucets and hardware images are directly related to the store's focus. After all, it is called "Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Association." However, they are meant to be more symbolic of the decorative, uniqueness of this company's products. They are works of art, as opposed to everyday objects. The faucets are morphed into uncommon shapes and the hardware has a particularly interesting geometric shape. By using these images, the company's intention was to display their benefit over competition. Their abstract message is that their products are more individualized and design-focused than others'.


Qualities as a Picture:

"Images are pictures to the extent that they portray things located at a lower level of abstractness than they are themselves. They do their work by grasping and rendering some relevant qualities--shape, color, movement--of the objects of activities they depict" (Arnheim 138).

Abstractness is important to an image's function as a picture. While the company is a plumbing and hardware specialty store, the faucets and accessories are direct representations of this. However, the four images also create a more "whole" picture by depicting the initials of the store: "DPHA." The imagination helps to create a complete portrayal of the "DPHA" letters, though the objects alone do not represent this. To create a complete picture of the store name, all objects are needed.

Blog Four -- Bernhardt and Horn

Synecdoche is defined as: "[A] part used to represent a whole, or vice versa...Only some elements of the total scene are needed to communicate the idea" (Horn 372).

My Verizon cellphone, the LG Dare, features a large touch screen. The main screen includes a full-bleed image, small date and time, and an image-based touch menu. The small menu has five links, each represented with a unique symbol.

What makes this menu an example of the rhetorical device synecdoche are its symbolic representations. For example, the image of an envelope representats a text message inbox. Additionally, a link featuring four circles is symbolic of the larger cellphone menu. These ideas are inferred, rather than explicitly stated. Instead of showing a link with the words "menu" or an actual image of the menu, only a small representation is needed.

Blog Three -- Foss, Foss, and Trapp

In previous courses I have been taught that humans are symbol using and misusing creatures. Additionally, I have learned that rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Thus, it stands to reason that rhetoric would be persuasion through the use of any sort of symbolism. And visuals, particularly multimedia images, would be great representations of such symbolic rhetoric.

Foss, Foss, and Trapp briefly describe such interaction: "How we perceive, what we know, what we experience, and how we act are the results of our own symbol use and that of those around us; rhetoric is the term that captures all of these processes. For us, rhetoric is the human use of symbols to communicate" (1).

Images, just as words, have the ability to influence the audience's perspective. Visuals are incredibly important to clear and concise communication. They are, many times, more straightforward than text. "[R]hetoric is symbol, by which we mean somthing that stands for or represents something else by virtue of relationship, association, or convention" (2). Images allow for a certain degree of personal interpretation that does not necessarily come with text. Viewers are free to associate the image with their own inferences. And as much as rhetoric is the persuasive abilities of the author, it also involves the interpreation of the audience.

Blog Two -- Lanham, Bolter, and Gromala

"For every application there is an appropriate rhythm between transparency and reflectivity between looking through the interface to the information task and looking back at one's relationship to the interface. The interplay of transparency and reflectivity should be the major aesthetic and practical consideration in digital design" (Bolter and Gromala 5).

"Electronic media are essentially dynamic rather than static" (Lanham 278).

Traditional mediums of text focused on a text's transparency, rather than its reflectivity. Authors ignored the design element of a text. It was, simply put, the vehicle for information distribution. Today, however, a text's interface has become of equal importance. Digital authoring has allowed a renewed sense of critical thinking, thus allowing the audience to consider multiple elements of the text. For example, how design influences a text's rhetoric.

When considering a digital medium that I use on a daily basis, I immediately considered my Yahoo! Mail browser. Looking "through" this text is inherently unconscious. I simply click links to read my new mail, compose an email, and delete old messages. The design elements of the text are transparent; I do not consider them.

However, looking "at" this interface, I am much more conscious of its components. Through digitalization, I become both a creator and critic (Lanham 268). I have the ability to alter the text in front of me. In my Yahoo! Mail, I can organize my inbox and create folders for important messages. I can also adjust the color scheme, fonts, and zoom. Essentially, I personalize the interface for my own aesthetic pleasure. The need to look "at" this text, and customize it, stems from its ineffectiveness (Bolter and Gromala 7).

Blog One -- Stroupe and Kress

We live in a society in which technology, globalization, and viral communication are necessities. Text and media work hand-in-hand with one another. Digital authoring is an everyday phenomenon, in both leisure and professional settings. Thus, universities are forced to make a choice. Traditionally slow to change, universities initially strayed from the cultural progress of mixing digital images and formats with standard texts. However, many argue that multimedia education is crucial for modern students' professional success. Therein lies the problem.

In our reading, Stroupe poignantly states: "The discipline [English studies] needs to decide not only whether to embrace the teaching of visual and information design in addition to verbal product, which some of the more marginalized elements of English Studies have already done, but, more fundamentally, whether to confront its customary cultural attitudes toward visual discourses and their insinuation into verbal texts..." (14).

It seems as if part of universities' problem in accepting multimedia authoring is its accessibility. I know how oxymoronic that might sound: writers not wanting their work to be read. But, there is something prestigious about academic texts that are published solely for fellow professors and students. There is luxury in limitedness. Additionally, the degrees of professionalism in digital texts can vary extraordinarily. This is far less true in paper formats. Anyone can post on the internet, while not everyone is qualified to publish a book. It is this level of unknown accessbility that, I feel, holds universities back from accepting multimedia authoring as a professional study.

I believe that Washington State University is progressive in its efforts to meld digital technology with English studies. They have created programs that encourage cooperation between traditional elements of English academia and contemporary authoring. Stroupe discusses the importance of "layering" studies in this way. Other universities, it appears, are following suit.