The Rhetorical Situation

Evaluate this claim: Some might say that the rhetorical situation, an expression coined by Lloyd Bitzer, is the most important concept in writing. Why or why not?

Journal 5: 1/27/15 by Kayla Anderson

The Multiple Media of Texts - Wysocki

• focused on visual choices based on purpose and goal
• Steps for approaching visual text/ analyzing a text
• Page 4
• Looking at the page
• Before looking at content. Layout tells you how to read the page. Ex: Immediately know text is a poem because of stanzas, etc.
• Looking at what is on the page
• Looking at what contains the page
• Page 13
• Name the visual elements
• Name relationships
• Consider connections to audience
• Genre (a category of texts)
• Determines how visual the text is and what kind of visuals 
• Every genre has a set of expectations. We adjust expectations to genre.
• Picking a genre is understanding your audience, purpose and goal for writing.
• A set of visual conventions has to come along with genres. Ex: diagrams in science books
• Lists
• Animations
• Charts/Graphs
• Pictures/Illustrations
• Transitions
• Written (Font/Shape/Size)
• Different typefaces do different work
• Decorative vs. extended reading
• style, size and shape of type
• Class believed Wysocki was "suffocatingly thorough" but everything made sense

Relationship between Kress and Wysocki

• Wysocki's terms are much more specific than Kress
• ex: Kress might say visual, Wysocki says typeface
• Wysocki is mostly visual and gives firmer sense of terms
• She thinks broadly about roles and roles depend on the text
• Wysocki thinks text and image are dependent on each other
• Similarities
• Choice
• Kress- default is no longer there. We have a choice of what we want to use
• Wysocki- elaborates on choice, gives us long list of choices
• Porter- says choice is created by new technologies
• Audience 

Group Activity

• Groups chose a text, picked a page and then described what modes were operating
• Mode/Layout
• visual, lingusitic, spatial, gestural (visual of)
• first 3 deal with layout
• We then received prompts that were an adaptation of Wysocki
• Looking at the page
• Looking at what is on the page
• Looking at what contains the page
• Audience - text is used for specific purposes for specific reasons. Genre conventions like quotes, colored initial letters, bolded quotes, images. Fragmented approach v. linear approach based on who wants to read it and why

- Wysocki is keyed much more to audience, purpose, genre
- She wants us to make unconventional text.
- Everyday we're faced with writing situations. We do this through genres.
- Wysocki wants to make the case that we need to ascend to genres but there are also ways to break the genre.

Journal 4: January 22, 2015 by Torie Gray

Group Activity: Account/interpret all modes utilized in the slide about President Obama’s State of the Union Address

- Five modes= linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and oral

o   Linguistic=

·      The words on the chart/graph (title, stat numbers, markers on chart, and hashtag on bottom of chart)

o   Meanings: hashtag encourages participation; the labels on the chart clarifies the visual data

·      Obama’s words/ choice of words/speech itself

o   Their meaning conveys interpretation of the visual data on the chart; almost quoting

Visual=

·      Graph, which shows two contrasting lines with different colors

·      Who the cameraman selects composes the visual of the shot

Gestural=

·      Peoples’ body language and facial expressions; clapping or not clapping; standing or not standing; Biden and Boehner’s facial expressions

·      Republicans are communicating through gesture because they don’t have “the right to the podium at the moment”;

Aural=

·      Obama’s style or tone of delivery (slow and tempered but optimistic); exclamations; clapping

Spatial=

·      Split screen, audience on left side and the graph on the right

o   This is an important arrangement because people read from left to right, so we can infer that what is shown on the right supports the left side of the slide

o   Biden on Obama’s left; Boehner on his right

Modal Ensembles

o   All modes happen for a reason

o   Attend to the meaning behind the modes

o   What are the relationship between the modes used?

Representation of Modes:

-       Terms for multimodal composing are good terms for modal ensemble

The class related these terms to the modes used in the image of the State of the Union Address and found the following:

o   Redundant- Repeating words in the address

o   Complementary- Two modes operating together can enhance the meaning behind the writing

o   Supplementary- the graph/data supplements Obama’s speech

o   Juxtapositional- opinions; clapping/scoffing; hope/disheartening; audience happy/audience unhappy

o   Stage-setting- Obama meeting with leaders

Big meaning(s) from the multimodal image=

o   If you were unknown to background knowledge, the image is communicating that the data on the right is bad because of their facial expressions and gestures

o   Looked like a high school assembly because not interested, looking down

o   Republicans aren’t happy; uninterested

o   Clear that people are unhappy, but because we don’t know the background from the image itself (in other words, the modes aren’t in full), it is unclear what they are happy about

**Putting modes together can create more complicated meanings

Kress “Gains and Losses”

-       Identifying a revolution

-       Page 6- modes of representation have shifted to a more image based society; instead of books, people are more interested in screens

Is there a revolution? Or is he overstating?

-       Shift in medium (book to screen) challenges the power of authority

o   Kress suggests that because of the “new” revolution there is a shift in agency; readers decide all

Examples

o   Book from 1929 was the common communication; Now, writers have to choose what modes to use based on who is reading

·      Writer communicated to the reader

·      Writer was most important

·      Author decides the agenda

·      Given order designed by the author and therefore decides where the reader starts and where the reader stops

·      “Writer knows best”

·       Writer dominates organization of words, context and content

o   2004

·      Writer and reader play equal role

·      Professor Craig gives example of Wikipedia as a current multimodal writing

·      Open order

·      The reader picks what to learn and where his/her knowledge starts and stops

·       21^st century theory is that everyone is different and reading for different readings

·      The reader designs their own reading path

*Kress notes that in  a lot of ways people prefer written word and some people prefer image; there is no longer a default and we now pick the mode and medium apt for message/audience

In order to understand Kress’s affordance theory, the class looked at an image and then compared it to a written visual

-       Image of monk: Overwhelming, eyes first go to the person on fire (in the middle); Scary, painful, disturbing

-       How fast to register image?

o   Image gives perspective to see everything at once; immediately present; we navigate where to go from there

o   Kress uses kids drawing and science books for logic of the image

§  The logic of image

•   Image evokes more emotion

- Written description of monk: How is this different from image?

·      Gain: provides background info

·      Gain/loss: Can choose how much you see and don’t see

·      Loss: Less likely to believe it

·      Everything is a sequence in writing; gives author power

*Gains and losses= each mode has a strength and weakness 

*Kress has a problem with being overly focused with two modes; not a complete view of multimodality

Class discussion:

Which do we like better or find more useful, Writer/Designer or Kress’s theory?

-       Textbook seemed easier to understand and easier to apply; Kress was way too dense; Kress overcomplicates what he was trying to say and at the same time he oversimplifies by only addressing two modes out of five

Why is Kress’s theory not new?

-       Adaption to writing technologies have always occurred

-       There has always been a difference in people wanting information fast without sequence and those who read/proceed in order

Class Tips:

- Use modal ensembles for project 1

- Office hours from 2-4 pm for any questions about case studies/project 1

Multiple Media of Texts

This is our second theory of writing that emphasizes choice based on the goals of communication and the desired audience of the message.

How is Wysocki's view of writing different than Kress'? Or different than a multimodal view of writing more generally understood?

Journal 3: 1/20/15, Ian Swaby and Alex Paucar

Our last class opened with a lecture on case studies. Professor Craig explained to us the details about how we would go about writing our own case study. He noted that the type we would be writing would be an illustrative study, with the goal of finding a new way to understand a print text, viewing it from the perspective shown in one of our class readings, "making the unfamiliar familiar or possibly making the familiar unfamiliar."

Next, we went over the Five Components of a Case Study. First (1) is a study’s question (the question that you are going to try to answer). Second (2), a study’s proposition, or your theory for said question. Third (3) is a study’s unit of analysis, which is fancy for saying the text you choose to do the study on. The fourth (4) component is “the logic linking of the data to the propositions”, which means making sense of how the example best relates to your theory. And finally, there’s number five (5): the criteria for interpreting the findings, or rather, deciding what data is necessary in order to support or demolish your theory.

After the Five Components, we briefly discussed composing case studies. Professor Craig told the class that case study’s are much more flexible, and can be narrative and stylistic in voice. He also mentioned that they are likely to be extensively descriptive, for this reason, the saying “show, don’t tell” should be taken into consideration.

Afterwards, we were given a short period of time to write down information about our case studies - what text they would be about and why, and the perspective from which they would go about analyzing that text.

Then, we launched into a discussion about Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer. We began with an example of multimodality in the form of a case study (page 15). We focused on Figure 1.19, a map of WPA street projects in 1936. We broke the map down into three different modes:

1.     Linguistic Mode: Words on the map described what we were looking at.

2.     Visual Mode: Color-coding showed us what areas received the most assistance.

3.     Spatial Mode: Information is, of course, organized in map form.

After the map, we focused on the next figure, which was a table of data from the same projects. After comparing the two, we came to the conclusion that the linguistic mode is more detailed, but slows readers down, and visual mode often cannot be as detailed.

Before getting into the class discussion about multimodality, we briefly talked about Wysocki and her focus on layouts and typefaces. Professor Craig pointed out that when looking at different layouts, it is easy to notice different modes. Wysocki considers the following to be visual elements: shapes, colors, photos, charts/graphs, videos, drawings/paintings, and sounds. This bleeds into multimodality but is still more focused on layout.

Next we discussed multimodality. It was defined as a theory of writing that states writing is really the use of different modes. These modes include: linguistic, visual, spatial, aural, and gestural. Next, Professor Craig asked the class the question: Is multimodal transformative?

First, someone said that multimodality is interesting, but not transformative, it is more like a theory that explains what we already knew. More than one student expressed the sentiment that non-textual modes of communication do not count as a text, saying a picture, for instance, should be defined as a picture and text as text. However, many people in the class expressed the contrary view. We discussed whether or not texts possessed intrinsic auditory or visual elements. It was suggested that the movements and gestures of characters described in a work of fiction could count as the gestural mode, or the voice the reader of a book hears in their head could count as the auditory mode. It was also suggested that multimodality is more a theory of communication rather than writing.  

We discussed whether or not multimodality makes the well-written sentence less important. Does all the focus we place on visual and other modes of expression reduce our concern about writing well? The class was split on this topic as well.

Afterwards, we studied examples of multimodal communication. First, we were shown a brief political advertisement from Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential campaign, and we analyzed its different modes of communication, such as visual (video and photos), aural (music and voiceovers), and gestural (hugging woman, shaking hands with JFK, hand gestures).

Second, for an example of poor multimodal communication, we were shown a web advertisement for a church. We agreed that this webpage showed multiple instances of poor design, like having distracting bright colors, too many different fonts, and poor arrangement of its text with all the words centered in the middle of the page.  

And finally we watched the Kenny Powers video. Obviously created to be purposefully terrible, this video did an excellent job of what not to do. It used awful transitions and special effects, word art, horrible quality video and audio, redundancies, and many other multimodal no-nos.

Multimodality: New ways of communicating, new ways of making knowledge

Kress outlines the way that (mostly digital) multimodal texts have created new ways of communicating and making knowledge. Give an example of one of those "new" ways.

Is what Kress outlining actually new? If so, why? If not, why not?

Journal 2, 01/15- Angie Torres and Alyssa Marsellos

JOURNAL #2

January 15

Porter:

-believes technology has helped.

            Our class believes: 1. Written word does not have to be trustworthy

                                                2. Technology does not define the writer (skills,ideas)

                                                              3. Different ways of writting allowed him to evolve as a writer.

-Learning how to write is affected by our surroundings.

-Context is important.

            -Context of technologies and their use is key for understanding effects of a          technology.

            -Technology does not shape the writer but it affects the writing

                        (twitter=140 characters. Limited)

Networking is→        Not just for the solo writer

                                    Environments of people

                                    Changes distribution and production

                                    Networked collaboration (ex: Wikipedia)

            -networking changes the pace

Humanist View	Post Humanist View
Binary approach	An effort to see the body as multiple things
Human > machine	Human/technology boundary
Machines threaten our identity.	Codependency between technology and humans

-We are always changing and are made up of multiple things

-Understanding relationships between people.

-View of writing that impacts the audience. Possibility of multiple effects on society.

KEY TERMS:

1.  Interconnectivity (388)- we need a theory of writing that includes the social, people, writers, audiences, and society

2.  Revolution (+1)(384)- technological revolutions; difference in technologies make a difference because of the social- particularly in and for publishing

3.  Networking (382)- “real rhetorical revolution started with networking”

4.  Communities of practice (381)

5.  Developmental dance (385)- not as a static set of devices but as a system that includes human/nonhuman technologies

6.  Cyborg (cyberwriter) [posthuman] (387)- a hybrid metaphor that challenges the human/machine distinction

7.  Utopian (387)- machines can help us be better as humans (maybe?)

Video - we learn new technologies in social context 

What is multimodality?

1. What is multimodality? 
2. Does it contribute to your view of writing? If so, how? If not, why not?

Journal 1: Memes to Help Your Memory

Journal 1: Class Notes 1-13-15

*Reactions to A Better Pencil  - Dennis Baron  

-Is writing a technology?

·      Most people agree in the class “writing is technology”

-Why does writing count as a technology? What did you like about Baron’s piece?

·      Media changes

o   Adoption / Panic

§  Describes why we panic about new things

·      Ex. Text messages diminish people writing

·      Ex. eBooks diminish people’s ability to read

             

o   Plato thought writing diminished spoken word

§  We wouldn’t have good memories because everything will just be written down

·      He wanted everything to be in person

·      He thought people could only learn in dialogue with others

o   Can’t learn from writing but read something someone else figure out

·      Writing is one-sided

o   Page can only tell you what the page knows and cannot change

·      Writing is ambiguous

o   If you misunderstand what is true than you didn’t learn anything

o   Only the person who wrote the words knows the truth

§  Baron says this is what we want writing to do. We just want the information

·      Writing is a part of every day life

o   Ex. Baron mentions grocery lists and receipts

§  Baron says we trust these “written records” because we trust what is “in writing”

§  Laws also help create trust

o   We are willing to buy into beliefs if there’s a book (something in writing)

-Activity:

·      Jot down Uses of Writing

·      Pick three favorite and list technology you use for those

·      Pick two from list of three and figure out if it’s a new thing or an old thing made different by new technology

New Things	Old Things Better/Different
	Expression - accessible, reproduced Better for distribution
	Communication – mobile phones, internet Different because it is simpler and more efficient, not Better because less formal (something lost)
	Document – Word, Google Docs Better because of automation and organization
	Advertising – More Ads and Advertisements
	Emotional Release – Venting and perform
	Teach – all digital Not Better because digital may not always be better – less formal and something may get lost Access - feeds Distracted Audience – Facebook Economically cheaper “Green”
	Storytelling – more media, web, comics Different not Better because there’s more texts and now writers compete for people’s attention not sharing information Gestures vs. Oral
	Directs – Navigation Maps, satellite, instructions  Better
	Authenticates – Seals, etc. Effective Different
	Games – Better

-Video: Little Robot Person, The Beautiful Boy

·      Is “The Beautiful Boy” a writer?

o   Yes

§  Writing is a physical act and the robot writes; its an action

§  Writing doesn’t require awareness

o   No

§  Writing involves interpretation

§  Writing requires a user

·      Writer equals the person creating the thoughts, planning, and thinking

o   Difference between writer and author

§  Use of literary secretaries

§  The purpose

·      Boy – writes for family

·      Secretary – writes for boss

·      Robot – to demonstrate what the robot can do

o   “Writer-less Writing”

o   This robot is definitely a technology

§  There is something more to writing than just technology however

§  There are social purposes to writing

·      What do you do after you receive the information?

·      Is what “Beautiful Boy” doing writing?

o   Yes

§  What your writing down is not original if you’re using outside sources

                                               

-Key point of lecture/discussion

·      Understanding writing, as a technology is important, however humans have souls and achieving the goals of those souls can be helped or hurt by these technologies.