Wysocki leans towards a more holistic view of writing than the theory of multimodality. While Wysocki does not explicitly state his definition of writing, he includes visual aspects of texts as elements that “perform persuasive work,” (Wysocki 2). Persuasive work is an integral part of writing because no matter what the reader will be convinced of something after encountering a text. They might be convinced that the author is right, that the author is crazy, or that the author is just downright boring. Either way, they have been persuaded of something. The effective writer can control what many of his readers are persuaded of. Wysocki believes creating visuals for all texts (academia, children’s books, websites) “direct[s] a reader/viewer/browser’s attentions,” and this is important because it relates layout to a piece’s persuasive power (3). While recollecting a particular website that some might perceive as daunting to navigate, Wysocki mentions a particular shade of green that the site designer chose as the background. This shade of green reminds him of doctor’s scrubs and sage, and has a calming effect on Wysocki. He assumes it may have this affect on others too (26). This interpretation is slightly subjective, as one may not have the same perception of this shade of green as Wysocki does, but it is safe to assume that some other people on the planet will have the same conclusion as Wysocki.
The core argument of this work is that visual design of all modes has an effect on the work as a whole. This is not drastically different than the theory of multimodality, but it focuses on a text’s composition and design of each mode. It results in a view that deals less with analysis and more with craftsmanship and considerations of audience response to design. Wysocki’s views and the theory of multimodality are complementary, and can be applied to create multimodal texts that engage readers effectively through conscious, deliberate design.
In The Multiple Media of Texts, Anne Francis Wysocki presents her argument on how the visual aspect of words and images correlated and differentiated in regards to their meaning based on culture. Throughout the passage, Wysocki presents different forms of media and points out how in ours (American) society, we have learned to see words as more “serious” and images as “less serious” because of our higher value on having it “in writing”. For example, in children’s’ books we expect the words to be little and the images to be big bright and colorful. This has been learned in our culture as Americans because typically parents read to their children and try to get their children to read little by little. Thus, Wysocki points out theis relationship between rhetoric and culture and how based on our ways of life is how we interpret the text or images that we see. For instance, if I pick up a magazine like Vogue I expect it to have fewer words and be filled mainly with pictures of models. We know as consumers of text and media what we want and have been conditioned to know what sources provide these materials. Wysocki’s argument I feel was different than Kress’ argument presented in Gains and Losses, but I feel her argument built on his. Kress discussed how we as readers look at images at different entry points and take variety paths to dissect their meaning whereas when reading a book let’s say, we read from left to right so there is only one entry point. Kress was making the point that when it comes to images we all notice something about the image and therefore we all interpret things differently based on what our mind wants to get out of the message. Wysocki built upon this addressing how cultures have formatted our minds to work in particular ways. In the Jewish religion, we read the Torah, our bible, from back to front. This was strange to me when going to Hebrew school because I was taught ready left to right or front to back. I definitely understand why Wysocki and Kress had differences in their arguments but I feel if both were combined they would have a much stronger cohesive one.
A text is not just made up of words on page that give an audience meaning through its implicit content. Rather, it’s the culmination of context, culture, and aesthetic elements that give rise to a text true understanding. In her essay Anne Wysocki was outlining the relationship between the visual art and the written word when it comes to analyzing our texts. She examined a lot about how written texts seem not live in isolation. The width of the pages, the texture of the paper, the spatial layout of the margins, the font, the style are all visual aspects that play a role in the linguistic counterpart. Interestingly enough Wysocki claims that all page and screen based texts are visual elements, and that some such as academic texts attempt to hide their visuality (2). This follows up into the role that context play within analyzing a text. A reader who wants information will know almost exactly what the book will look like before they even open up an academic or scientific journal. They expect clear cut facts, small words with long excerpts on each page. However, they wouldn’t have the same frame of mind if ask to read a children’s book. Fewer words per page, pictures, larger negative space, or bigger font would be expected. The situation of a text plays a role in how its visual elements align to fit the reader. I do feel like Wysocki’s argument was slightly different that of the previous Kress. So far multimodality has been presented in way to make me feel as if each element that visual, linguistic, gestural, and auditory were separate entities, that each of their effects could be isolated. However, I feel like in this essay, she outlines more of how the visual and the written text are interdependent. Either the text dictates the visual, like with journals or books, or vice-versa like with computer designed games, or digital websites who rely on spatial arrangement. Although each element is specialized they are complementary in function.
Following Kress’ theory of multimodality, Wysocki further broadens the scope of what elements are at work when creating meaning in a text, including not just the interaction between the five modes that Kress outlined, but taking into consideration as well the interplay of societal and cultural context. She begins “The Multiple Media of Texts” by detailing some of the basic concepts that underline her thought of media, a keystone to understanding her thought on what influences the reading of a text; while much of what she writes is borrowed from Kress’ wheelhouse, she does further add that “attitudes toward the visual aspects of texts change over time [...] The visual aspects of text are (therefore) to be understood not simply in terms of physiology but also in terms of social context” (2-3). This addition of consideration for the societal context of a text applies both to the production of a text (why certain images, colors, fonts, layouts, etc. are chosen) and to the contextual analysis of a text. She speaks to this second, analytical portion when she discusses the Blackletter typeface, stating that “If the humanists had not desired to re-create what had disappeared from European pages, our pages now might be printed in type like this – and you would (probably) have no trouble reading it” (3). I don’t find Wysocki’s view of writing to be in any way in opposition to Kress’, but rather she builds upon the base that Kress has provided her and places equal consideration on both the external influences and internal workings of a text.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts” Wyscoki goes through the different ways the visual presentation can affect a text and the way people may interpret it. One important point that she brought up was that people automatically associate particular visual arrangements with different genres of writing. (2) It can be confusing hen the visual arrangement of a text and its content are not consistent. For example, if a complicated software manual took on the visual arrangement of a children’s book with huge font and colorful pictures, it may not be taken seriously by a reader. Keeping some sort of consistency among all the visual elements of a text is one of the main ways to make sure the reader or viewer understands the message being presented. Wysocki also pointed out that our recognition of these elements as we read are not always intentional. Usually we don’t not actively realize that the writing on a page is centered, to the left, or broken up into many different paragraphs. Our minds tend to automatically register whether or not the arrangement is visually appealing ad whether or not we are interested in reading the text.
Wysocki looks at the writing content as a visual component rather than breaking things off into different modes. This differs from the multimodal view of writing because it looks at a text in different modes, rather than as a whole. Each part of the writing is analyzed as a visual component rather than being a separate spatial, visual, linguistic, aural or gestural mode. To Wysocki, written text is just a visual as photos or videos when it comes to page formatting, font choice, etc.
Anne Wysocki’s article “The Multimedia of Texts” is a very detailed piece that analyzes almost every aspect of multimodal texts. Wysocki picks every single detail of every single mode used in the text and then describes how each detail is chosen for a reason to communicate something. Likewise, she emphasizes the importance of knowing and understanding the audience specific to the text. In order to create texts that are effective, writers must know their audience and their expectations. She writes, “Learning to compose pages or screens that fit effectively into a reader/viewer’s expectations can be, then, a matter of learning to observe well.” This relates to Kress’s view by acknowledging that writing technologies have evolved and writers no longer rely on a pencil and paper to portray their message. I believe this is similar to Kress’s view that the reader now controls text designs. Writers must now research their readers when designing a text to ensure that they have an audience. Therefore, it is the readers who choose what writers write.
Wysocki’s view of multimodality is different from Kress’s view when comparing their perception of visual mode. Kress seems to think that society is gradually come to rely on just visual images in order to obtain information. As we discussed in class, Kress’s writing about multimodality diminishes the importance of sentences. Kress’s view is that the representation of modes has shifted to a more image-based society, less focus on books and more on screens. I don’t think Wysocki was implying that one mode is now more prevalent than another. I think she was emphasizing that different representations of modes are utilized to convey a different meaning. One mode might be best suited for one genre than another. Likewise, she says that one glance at a work can expose its genre. Meaning that modes, in themselves, explain a work. “That we associate particular visual arrangements with different genres of writing means that the visual arrangements do some of the work of the genre.” Basically, Wysocki emphasized multimodality as a way of communication by text.
Wysocki goes into a very in-depth explanation on how the look of a print text coincides with the purpose behind the publication of the text. The relations with the graphics, the size of the text, and the location of the text on the page, the typefaces, and the style of type are all talked about so much in, “The Multiple Media of Texts,” to the point where it may be overbearing. However, Wysocki does make some good points in the beginning of the article where he lists “Assumptions underlying the argument of this chapter.” For example, the visual presentation of a text is going to say a whole lot a about its genre. By comparing a text of academic standards with many words on the page and minimal to most likely no pictures to a children’s book that is largely made up of pictures and only a few words to back up what the illustrations are showing. Then Wysocki goes into many details with many questions he writes out for the reader on the relationship between pretty much the linguistic, spatial, and visual mode of a text. He touches slightly on aural. This is different than the multimodal view of writing more generally understood because Wysocki goes into detail in only a few modes and then he talks more about the relationship of each of them and how they are working together. Where as in the multimodal view of writing, a closer look is taken into account of how a text may have all, a few, or just one mode. Then wondering what those modes do for the purpose of the text in the first place. But when it all comes down to it, both the multimodal view and what Wysocki is trying to say both help the reader understand choices based on the desired message the audience should walk away with.
In "The Multiple Media of Texts," Anne Francis Wysocki, expanding upon the basis established by Gunther Kress in his article "Gains and Losses," explains exactly how specific types of media utilized by a text affect our experience with it. Although both Wysocki's and Kress' articles are intended to explain how multimodality affects texts, they do so in slightly different ways, largely because Wysocki approaches multimodality from the perspective of mode whereas Kress approaches it from the perspective of media.
Kress' article is largely centered around words and images and the difference between the two in terms of how they allow us to communicate. Wysocki provides a more in-depth look at the capabilities of text, pictures, video, and other media. She begins her article with the following assumption: "The visual presentation of a page or screen gives you an immediate sense of its genre," and she spends the rest of the article explaining possible ways in which it can do this. Firstly, she covers typefaces and what these can communicate about a printed work; depending on their style they can create a feeling of immateriality, drawing the reader's mind away from the physical text, or they can do the opposite, appealing visually to the reader and drawing the reader's attention towards the text as a physical thing. She covers the uses of shapes and colors and discusses in which situations drawings, paintings, or photographs are more appropriate - for instance, a rough sketch can be used to create a feeling of playfulness. The list of media she explores also includes animation, visual transition, and sound.
The main similarity between Wysocki and Kress is that they both are concerned with the difference between text and images - although Wysocki to a lesser extent than Kress. Kress focuses his entire piece on this topic, finally concluding that images are the superior method of communication. Wysocki raises the issue, although she devotes less attention to it. She notes how text appears more "serious" than images. However, she also explores others kinds of media which Kress does not, going on to note that black-and-white images appear more "serious" than color ones. Wysocki seems to think that these effects can sometimes be a disadvantage because a text that is in actuality serious can end up not being perceived as such.
Wysocki's article is not only different from Kress', but different from a general view of multimodality because of the fact that it explores media in more depth. It is less focused on modes such as linguistic, visual, and aural, but instead focuses solely on the capabilities of those modes without directly addressing the modes themselves. However, because media is a necessary part of multimodality, the article is still important for understanding of the latter.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts” by Anne Frances Wysocki, the author presents her idea that visual representation of texts and images is in a direct correlation to the audience in which it is intended. The passage focuses a lot on this idea most of the time and also adds on from Kress’ idea and goes beyond just the five modes that he has explained and puts cultural concepts into play as well. I think Wysocki’s idea on audience is something that has been around for longer than many have thought. Wysocki talks about the visual aspect of a text being appreciated much more back in the time of the middle ages. In this time, it would take months for just one page to be illustrated and completed as well as writing a page of text. The attitude of an audience back in the middle ages would be much more appreciative since not everyone could even afford books let alone be able to read them. In our present time however, I think our general audience now is not as appreciative of the visual aspects of a text as people were in the past. Now in our fast pace society in which we live in I think people are trying to look for the fastest way in which they’re going and don’t care to notice the visual aspects unless it is helping them navigate through a text faster. Wysocki tells us in this passage that people designing visual aspects of texts now are mainly from a technology/computer-based occupational background. She also suggests that these desktop publishing writers offer new “perspectives for considering and changing the approaches we have inherited to composing and interpreting pages” (3). So Wysocki is suggesting that possibly our whole future could look very differently in the world of modern technology and “desktop publishing” could change visual aspects for the future. Wysocki also mentions in this passage that the visual elements of a text perform persuasive work. With this in mind this whole idea that Wysocki is explaining means that more and more changes could be happening in the future, especially if the text is actually persuasive.
Wysocki's view of writing focuses more on visual and rhetorical angles. She is more concerned with the expectations that audiences have of texts and how authors can work with/against those predispositions. The relationships between modes are important. She argues that all texts are visual and design choices are being made whether the author notices or not. Wysocki's view is much more focused an analyzing and observing ourselves and our peers and being aware of the current trends in texts and using/working past them in our own.
Wysocki begins by stating assumptions of visual presentation on a paper. We value the presentation of a text and the audience is able to interpret and absorb it. There are multiple ways of composing visual text just as there are multiple ways of categorizing it depending on the type of media it is being shown on. Shapes, images, and sounds are just some of the many categorizes Wysocki states as an important part of the contextual analysis. Also, some of the elements that are important parts of composing a visual text are not always recognized. It may be something we are already used to seeing, maybe a layout or format; it makes it easier or quicker for the reader to interpret. Wysocki expands on what a multimodal view of writing should be. She includes examples of visual, spatial, and aural modes. She does not touch upon the gestural mode and linguistic mode can slightly appear in the sense of written word, sentence, or word structures. Wysocki’s view of writing is different than Kress’ in the matter of images. While Kress believes that images are a superior method of communication, Wysocki focuses on the fact that text itself is more important. The text is what is needed to communicate to the audience. Additionally, Wysocki and Kress have different views on visual modes. Wysocki states an importance in color and typeface of a text while Kress believes that the effect can be a disadvantage of one’s goal because this, along with the text itself, can take away or add negatively to its persuasive purposes.
Whereas Kress provides this comparison between primarily word-based and primarily image-based texts, Wysocki considers every specific aspect of text. She has an extremely inclusive definition of texts, which is illustrated through the way she considers everything from the feel of the “thick, white, semigloss paper” (Wysocki 16) to sound (12). After reading “The Multimedia of Texts” I feel that it is much easier to compare her definition and ideas to a more general view of multimodality. From the textbook, multimodality is described as a combination of five different modes that work together (visual, spatial, linguistic, gestural, and aural). Wysocki, in the opening where she described basic concepts, doesn’t fit her methods for analysis into these five categories. While she does include all five of these modes, she also emphasizes “the page or screen itself,” and “what helps readers make connections among the parts of a multi-pages or multi-screened text.” Wysocki also focuses (albeit shortly) on conventions of genre, which I think has a huge impact on audience reception. A more general definition of multimodality doesn’t include the audience in the five modes, whereas Wysocki emphasizes their importance. Overall, Wysocki focuses much more on audience reaction and writer choice, as well as in questioning the definitions of writer and reader than the earlier theories. Her emphasis on this topics can be seen in her questions for further research, all of which consider elements of genre, relationships between people and text, and rhetoric.
Wysocki’s theory of multi media builds on Kress’s theory of modality. While both involve the image and text, Wysocki’s theory is more in depth. Kress relied on the assumption that images were replacing the written word. Wysocki emphasized the audience’s interaction with a composition. Elements that are looked at in the multi media theory include: choice of color, kind of typeface, width of margin, use of photographs and drawings, alignment of elements, and placement of specific elements, expectation of how the reader will interact with the composition, and the strategies of each composition. Kress also differs from Wysocki in that he focuses on the senses rather that analyzing the elements of a writing. Since there is more of a focus on how text is set up rather than the image this theory is better suited to define what the study of writing actually is. With the emphasis on actual text rather than images this theory is able to specify what an audience is actually taking in while reading, not just looking at picture on a page or screen. This means that there is the assumption that the visual appearance on how a work is formatted effects how the work is perceived. There is the focus on use of design.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts”, Anne Frances Wysocki provides an approach for analyzing multi media texts. Wysocki mostly analyzes the visual presentations of pages and screens. She starts by discussing what is on a page or screen including type and other visual elements. These work together to help page and screen composers make their arguments. Wysocki lists questions to help see how the visual elements and contexts of a text contribute to our experience of the text. She then analyzes real life texts by their visual arrangements. Wysocki concludes that learning to observe well helps writers compose pages or screens that fit effectively into a reader/viewer’s expectations. In multimodal writing, there is a repetition of strategy in the composition. In different generic pages, there are similar colors, typefaces, width of margins and more. To build a composition, writers should analyze what is most appropriate for their ends and then copy what they observe, modifying it to fit a certain rhetorical situation (30).
Wysocki provides more detail about multimodal writing than Kress. Kress discussed the shift from print to image while Wysocki analyzes visuals presented in pages and screens. Both authors wrote that modes depend on the audience. Kress states that people prefer different things so a mode and medium needs to suit their purpose. Wysocki backed this up by saying writers should compose pages that fit a reader’s expectations. Kress and Wysocki did not include a complete view of multimodality. Both authors left out modes in their articles.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts,” Wysocki expands on Kress’ view of writing. Instead of incorporating Kress’ five modes she presents a rhetorical approach for analyzing texts made of multiple media, focusing on the visual presentations of pages and screens. Wysocki claims that different visual arrangements can be analyzed depending on the different genres they incorporate. She discusses which medium is most appropriate for a writer to present their argument, ranging from shapes to animations. For example, a photograph can be used to add a sense of immediacy and reality to a layout. It all depends on what choice makes the text stand out most (Wysocki 9). Instead of defining writing as visual, linguistic, spatial, aural, and gestural, she views writing as a visual element that performs persuasive work (Wysocki 2). According to Wysocki, the attitudes of visual aspects change over time. She describes that the visual aspects of text are not only understood physiologically but in terms of social context as well (Wysocki 3). In order to compose said text, the writer must choose an appropriate strategy that attracts their desired audience and brings a lot of attention to their text.
Wysocki carries on to say that the way people read text is now changing. Computer-based technologies of communication have allowed many new texts to arise, such as webpages, e-mail, and other interactive multimedia. She claims that these new technologies offer perspectives for “considering and changing the approaches we have inherited to composing and interpreting pages” (Wysocki 3). Furthermore, Wysocki raises the question of the seriousness of words and the non-seriousness of images as a way to compose texts that use various visual strategies and contextualize the analysis. She claims that text appears to be more serious than images and that she considers black and white images to be more serious than color, stating that websites that want to be taken more seriously "tend to use muted colors and a limited number" (Wysocki 8). Thus, Wysocki simply focuses the function of Kress’ five modes as a whole rather than focusing on each on individually.
Anne Frances Wysocki has an interesting take on multimodal media. Like Kress, she categorizes different modes and describes their purposes in the media. She writes “When you first look at a page or screen, you initially understand its functions and purposes because it follows the visual conventions of a genre” (1). She also explains how each form of media plays a role in appealing to specific audiences – again, like Kress. Wysocki, however, describes the various modes in a different light than Kress. She actually chooses to connect each mode to a particular kind of audience and provides an extensive list of examples. For one example, she explains how bright colors and pictures with few words are usually for children’s books and fashion magazines, as the people looking at the text need the pictures more than the words. She clarifies that the setup of each text in the media plays a role in persuading its audience to do or not to do something. She explains “The visual elements and arrangements of a text perform persuasive work” (2). She also says about webpages “Every element of this page, then, works with every other” (27). I think we can all agree that Kress would apply this statement to all texts and the modes that they incorporate.
Kress’ theory of writing was based on a two front revolution which meant writers had gained the ability to choose how they want to write based on audience, ie formally for a print book, casually for an online publication or opinion piece, etc. His theory was along the same general lines as but significantly less helpful than the textbook, and in my opinion a bit too cluttered and forgetful to be much practical use. Wysoki’s theory of writing is based on the layout of a text and the way it is presented to an audience, including elements such as font size, typeface, colors, shapes, and images included in the text. For Wysocki, it is the format of a piece and the juxtaposition of visual elements that makes a text significant in terms of its multimodality, and communicates the author’s intended message to the reader.
Because Wysocki did not explicitly define writing in her piece “The Multimedia of Texts,” I do not think that her view is necessarily different than Kress’s. I feel the case is more that each article has a different focus to express the multiple dimensions of writing and texts. While Kress emphasizes position and order for purpose, regardless of the medium, Wysocki focuses on the choice of medium based on the goal and purpose of the writing, itself, and the desired effect on the target audience. Much of Wysocki’s piece expressed how every visual decision we make in a composition affects our audience and how it is perceived. She also discusses how readers’ attitudes about can also play a role in how it changes over time. Additionally, Wysocki expresses a view that differs from multimodality in that it, in a way, explores only one mode: visual mode. Like visual mode is discussed in the textbook, Wysocki talks about position on a page or a screen, the use or absence of color to call attention to specific things, font and its affect on the reader and his or her attention, etc. She also went into how these decisions change whether it is for a page or screen. A commonality all of her points share, however, is that the purpose of all of these visual decisions is typically some for some kind of persuasion. In some views, persuasion is the focus of any and all writing because the reader will walk away convinced of whatever the author is trying to say. However, to say that all writing is for persuasive purpose, in my opinion, is inaccurate. I would agree with the idea that a reader is definitely supposed to walk away having learned something, whether it is a new point of view, way of thinking, something about themselves, or simply one’s own interpretation of a thing.
In Wysocki’s writing, Multiple Media of Text, she made numerous points that extended my perception of multimodality. In her writing Wysocki pointed out the fact that the modes of text are nearly inseparable. She emphasizes through example that even something so simple as the font interprets how one reads a text. She describes that the renaissance font, blackletter, was perfect for that time period because they liked to marinate in their readings, whereas today we like things to be clear and concise. This description of how the visual of a writing affects the linguistic design clearly shows how the modes intertwine. She then went on with the example of the format of writing which was taught in school and how it alters our perception of a text even when we unconsciously register it. Unlike with a comic book where we see how relevant the spatial mode is to our writings. I believe that Wysocki’s and Kress had very much in common in their writings. Wysocki seemed to elaborate more on the previous frame of multimodality that Kress instated. However, while Kress described the visual mode as a draw away from sentences and words, Wysocki viewed it as a mode to help emphasize the meaning and importance of the words.
Wysocki’s view of writing is different form Kress’s view because he addresses the different medias writing is on as opposed to the wheel of things that can make writing different. If we were staring at a video game, Wysocki would analyze how we are looking at a video game differently than other medias, whereas Kress would look at the video game and see what linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and gestural things it was doing. While Kress is noticing that you are looking at 12 point font verses 10 point font, Wysocki is noticing that you are looking on that font on a screen as opposed to a page. Kress also calls his 5 staples, all ways of writing; whereas Wysocki asks “Is it appropriate to speak of ‘writers’ and ‘readers’ when writers are doing more visual layout and readers are interpreting texts that require other kinds of actions than decoding letter- and word-shapes?” (pg. 3) Wysocki dives more into the visual aspect, showing what different visual elements there are like shapes, colors, photographs, drawings and paintings; and how each of those on a separate level can impact the “reader”. He goes as far to give three steps to approach analyzing the visual aspect of texts. “1 Name the visual elements in a text. 2 Name the designed relationships among those elements. 3 Consider how the elements and relations connect with different audiences, contexts, and arguments.” (pg 13) Wysocki goes on to talk about a lot of similar things to Kress. They both explain how one looks at and interprets a page of writing, and different forms of text. Altogether, the main difference is how extensively Wysocki discusses different medias and the visual aspects of them.
Wysocki and Kress converge on their belief that the multimodal design of a text, whether its a webpage or a textbook or a novel, creates a fundamentally different, more specific experience for the reader of said text. Wysocki examines every text and page with an analytical examination of what rhetorical modes are at work to create the final design. She examines psychological impacts, methods of efficiency and economy, the significance of forms and shapes and groupings as well as colors and sounds and images. To her, every detail of the design process is a rhetorical aspect that either succeeds or fails to serve an audience-specific purpose. Kress shares a similar conviction that design is increasingly more important in the way our society interacts with the online world, but he differs from Wysocki in that he takes agency (and authorship) and puts it in the hands of the user/reader more than the writer/designer, whereas Wysocki places far more emphasis on the increased importance of the job of the writer/designer.
Wysocki leans towards a more holistic view of writing than the theory of multimodality. While Wysocki does not explicitly state his definition of writing, he includes visual aspects of texts as elements that “perform persuasive work,” (Wysocki 2). Persuasive work is an integral part of writing because no matter what the reader will be convinced of something after encountering a text. They might be convinced that the author is right, that the author is crazy, or that the author is just downright boring. Either way, they have been persuaded of something. The effective writer can control what many of his readers are persuaded of. Wysocki believes creating visuals for all texts (academia, children’s books, websites) “direct[s] a reader/viewer/browser’s attentions,” and this is important because it relates layout to a piece’s persuasive power (3). While recollecting a particular website that some might perceive as daunting to navigate, Wysocki mentions a particular shade of green that the site designer chose as the background. This shade of green reminds him of doctor’s scrubs and sage, and has a calming effect on Wysocki. He assumes it may have this affect on others too (26). This interpretation is slightly subjective, as one may not have the same perception of this shade of green as Wysocki does, but it is safe to assume that some other people on the planet will have the same conclusion as Wysocki.
ReplyDeleteThe core argument of this work is that visual design of all modes has an effect on the work as a whole. This is not drastically different than the theory of multimodality, but it focuses on a text’s composition and design of each mode. It results in a view that deals less with analysis and more with craftsmanship and considerations of audience response to design. Wysocki’s views and the theory of multimodality are complementary, and can be applied to create multimodal texts that engage readers effectively through conscious, deliberate design.
In The Multiple Media of Texts, Anne Francis Wysocki presents her argument on how the visual aspect of words and images correlated and differentiated in regards to their meaning based on culture. Throughout the passage, Wysocki presents different forms of media and points out how in ours (American) society, we have learned to see words as more “serious” and images as “less serious” because of our higher value on having it “in writing”. For example, in children’s’ books we expect the words to be little and the images to be big bright and colorful. This has been learned in our culture as Americans because typically parents read to their children and try to get their children to read little by little. Thus, Wysocki points out theis relationship between rhetoric and culture and how based on our ways of life is how we interpret the text or images that we see. For instance, if I pick up a magazine like Vogue I expect it to have fewer words and be filled mainly with pictures of models. We know as consumers of text and media what we want and have been conditioned to know what sources provide these materials.
ReplyDeleteWysocki’s argument I feel was different than Kress’ argument presented in Gains and Losses, but I feel her argument built on his. Kress discussed how we as readers look at images at different entry points and take variety paths to dissect their meaning whereas when reading a book let’s say, we read from left to right so there is only one entry point. Kress was making the point that when it comes to images we all notice something about the image and therefore we all interpret things differently based on what our mind wants to get out of the message. Wysocki built upon this addressing how cultures have formatted our minds to work in particular ways. In the Jewish religion, we read the Torah, our bible, from back to front. This was strange to me when going to Hebrew school because I was taught ready left to right or front to back. I definitely understand why Wysocki and Kress had differences in their arguments but I feel if both were combined they would have a much stronger cohesive one.
A text is not just made up of words on page that give an audience meaning through its implicit content. Rather, it’s the culmination of context, culture, and aesthetic elements that give rise to a text true understanding. In her essay Anne Wysocki was outlining the relationship between the visual art and the written word when it comes to analyzing our texts. She examined a lot about how written texts seem not live in isolation. The width of the pages, the texture of the paper, the spatial layout of the margins, the font, the style are all visual aspects that play a role in the linguistic counterpart. Interestingly enough Wysocki claims that all page and screen based texts are visual elements, and that some such as academic texts attempt to hide their visuality (2). This follows up into the role that context play within analyzing a text. A reader who wants information will know almost exactly what the book will look like before they even open up an academic or scientific journal. They expect clear cut facts, small words with long excerpts on each page. However, they wouldn’t have the same frame of mind if ask to read a children’s book. Fewer words per page, pictures, larger negative space, or bigger font would be expected. The situation of a text plays a role in how its visual elements align to fit the reader.
ReplyDeleteI do feel like Wysocki’s argument was slightly different that of the previous Kress. So far multimodality has been presented in way to make me feel as if each element that visual, linguistic, gestural, and auditory were separate entities, that each of their effects could be isolated. However, I feel like in this essay, she outlines more of how the visual and the written text are interdependent. Either the text dictates the visual, like with journals or books, or vice-versa like with computer designed games, or digital websites who rely on spatial arrangement. Although each element is specialized they are complementary in function.
Following Kress’ theory of multimodality, Wysocki further broadens the scope of what elements are at work when creating meaning in a text, including not just the interaction between the five modes that Kress outlined, but taking into consideration as well the interplay of societal and cultural context. She begins “The Multiple Media of Texts” by detailing some of the basic concepts that underline her thought of media, a keystone to understanding her thought on what influences the reading of a text; while much of what she writes is borrowed from Kress’ wheelhouse, she does further add that “attitudes toward the visual aspects of texts change over time [...] The visual aspects of text are (therefore) to be understood not simply in terms of physiology but also in terms of social context” (2-3). This addition of consideration for the societal context of a text applies both to the production of a text (why certain images, colors, fonts, layouts, etc. are chosen) and to the contextual analysis of a text. She speaks to this second, analytical portion when she discusses the Blackletter typeface, stating that “If the humanists had not desired to re-create what had disappeared from European pages, our pages now might be printed in type like this – and you would (probably) have no trouble reading it” (3).
ReplyDeleteI don’t find Wysocki’s view of writing to be in any way in opposition to Kress’, but rather she builds upon the base that Kress has provided her and places equal consideration on both the external influences and internal workings of a text.
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ReplyDeleteIn “The Multiple Media of Texts” Wyscoki goes through the different ways the visual presentation can affect a text and the way people may interpret it. One important point that she brought up was that people automatically associate particular visual arrangements with different genres of writing. (2) It can be confusing hen the visual arrangement of a text and its content are not consistent. For example, if a complicated software manual took on the visual arrangement of a children’s book with huge font and colorful pictures, it may not be taken seriously by a reader. Keeping some sort of consistency among all the visual elements of a text is one of the main ways to make sure the reader or viewer understands the message being presented. Wysocki also pointed out that our recognition of these elements as we read are not always intentional. Usually we don’t not actively realize that the writing on a page is centered, to the left, or broken up into many different paragraphs. Our minds tend to automatically register whether or not the arrangement is visually appealing ad whether or not we are interested in reading the text.
ReplyDeleteWysocki looks at the writing content as a visual component rather than breaking things off into different modes. This differs from the multimodal view of writing because it looks at a text in different modes, rather than as a whole. Each part of the writing is analyzed as a visual component rather than being a separate spatial, visual, linguistic, aural or gestural mode. To Wysocki, written text is just a visual as photos or videos when it comes to page formatting, font choice, etc.
Anne Wysocki’s article “The Multimedia of Texts” is a very detailed piece that analyzes almost every aspect of multimodal texts. Wysocki picks every single detail of every single mode used in the text and then describes how each detail is chosen for a reason to communicate something. Likewise, she emphasizes the importance of knowing and understanding the audience specific to the text. In order to create texts that are effective, writers must know their audience and their expectations. She writes, “Learning to compose pages or screens that fit effectively into a reader/viewer’s expectations can be, then, a matter of learning to observe well.” This relates to Kress’s view by acknowledging that writing technologies have evolved and writers no longer rely on a pencil and paper to portray their message. I believe this is similar to Kress’s view that the reader now controls text designs. Writers must now research their readers when designing a text to ensure that they have an audience. Therefore, it is the readers who choose what writers write.
ReplyDeleteWysocki’s view of multimodality is different from Kress’s view when comparing their perception of visual mode. Kress seems to think that society is gradually come to rely on just visual images in order to obtain information. As we discussed in class, Kress’s writing about multimodality diminishes the importance of sentences. Kress’s view is that the representation of modes has shifted to a more image-based society, less focus on books and more on screens. I don’t think Wysocki was implying that one mode is now more prevalent than another. I think she was emphasizing that different representations of modes are utilized to convey a different meaning. One mode might be best suited for one genre than another. Likewise, she says that one glance at a work can expose its genre. Meaning that modes, in themselves, explain a work. “That we associate particular visual arrangements with different genres of writing means that the visual arrangements do some of the work of the genre.” Basically, Wysocki emphasized multimodality as a way of communication by text.
Wysocki goes into a very in-depth explanation on how the look of a print text coincides with the purpose behind the publication of the text. The relations with the graphics, the size of the text, and the location of the text on the page, the typefaces, and the style of type are all talked about so much in, “The Multiple Media of Texts,” to the point where it may be overbearing. However, Wysocki does make some good points in the beginning of the article where he lists “Assumptions underlying the argument of this chapter.” For example, the visual presentation of a text is going to say a whole lot a about its genre. By comparing a text of academic standards with many words on the page and minimal to most likely no pictures to a children’s book that is largely made up of pictures and only a few words to back up what the illustrations are showing. Then Wysocki goes into many details with many questions he writes out for the reader on the relationship between pretty much the linguistic, spatial, and visual mode of a text. He touches slightly on aural. This is different than the multimodal view of writing more generally understood because Wysocki goes into detail in only a few modes and then he talks more about the relationship of each of them and how they are working together. Where as in the multimodal view of writing, a closer look is taken into account of how a text may have all, a few, or just one mode. Then wondering what those modes do for the purpose of the text in the first place. But when it all comes down to it, both the multimodal view and what Wysocki is trying to say both help the reader understand choices based on the desired message the audience should walk away with.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Multiple Media of Texts," Anne Francis Wysocki, expanding upon the basis established by Gunther Kress in his article "Gains and Losses," explains exactly how specific types of media utilized by a text affect our experience with it. Although both Wysocki's and Kress' articles are intended to explain how multimodality affects texts, they do so in slightly different ways, largely because Wysocki approaches multimodality from the perspective of mode whereas Kress approaches it from the perspective of media.
ReplyDeleteKress' article is largely centered around words and images and the difference between the two in terms of how they allow us to communicate. Wysocki provides a more in-depth look at the capabilities of text, pictures, video, and other media. She begins her article with the following assumption: "The visual presentation of a page or screen gives you an immediate sense of its genre," and she spends the rest of the article explaining possible ways in which it can do this. Firstly, she covers typefaces and what these can communicate about a printed work; depending on their style they can create a feeling of immateriality, drawing the reader's mind away from the physical text, or they can do the opposite, appealing visually to the reader and drawing the reader's attention towards the text as a physical thing. She covers the uses of shapes and colors and discusses in which situations drawings, paintings, or photographs are more appropriate - for instance, a rough sketch can be used to create a feeling of playfulness. The list of media she explores also includes animation, visual transition, and sound.
The main similarity between Wysocki and Kress is that they both are concerned with the difference between text and images - although Wysocki to a lesser extent than Kress. Kress focuses his entire piece on this topic, finally concluding that images are the superior method of communication. Wysocki raises the issue, although she devotes less attention to it. She notes how text appears more "serious" than images. However, she also explores others kinds of media which Kress does not, going on to note that black-and-white images appear more "serious" than color ones. Wysocki seems to think that these effects can sometimes be a disadvantage because a text that is in actuality serious can end up not being perceived as such.
Wysocki's article is not only different from Kress', but different from a general view of multimodality because of the fact that it explores media in more depth. It is less focused on modes such as linguistic, visual, and aural, but instead focuses solely on the capabilities of those modes without directly addressing the modes themselves. However, because media is a necessary part of multimodality, the article is still important for understanding of the latter.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts” by Anne Frances Wysocki, the author presents her idea that visual representation of texts and images is in a direct correlation to the audience in which it is intended. The passage focuses a lot on this idea most of the time and also adds on from Kress’ idea and goes beyond just the five modes that he has explained and puts cultural concepts into play as well. I think Wysocki’s idea on audience is something that has been around for longer than many have thought. Wysocki talks about the visual aspect of a text being appreciated much more back in the time of the middle ages. In this time, it would take months for just one page to be illustrated and completed as well as writing a page of text. The attitude of an audience back in the middle ages would be much more appreciative since not everyone could even afford books let alone be able to read them. In our present time however, I think our general audience now is not as appreciative of the visual aspects of a text as people were in the past. Now in our fast pace society in which we live in I think people are trying to look for the fastest way in which they’re going and don’t care to notice the visual aspects unless it is helping them navigate through a text faster.
ReplyDeleteWysocki tells us in this passage that people designing visual aspects of texts now are mainly from a technology/computer-based occupational background. She also suggests that these desktop publishing writers offer new “perspectives for considering and changing the approaches we have inherited to composing and interpreting pages” (3). So Wysocki is suggesting that possibly our whole future could look very differently in the world of modern technology and “desktop publishing” could change visual aspects for the future. Wysocki also mentions in this passage that the visual elements of a text perform persuasive work. With this in mind this whole idea that Wysocki is explaining means that more and more changes could be happening in the future, especially if the text is actually persuasive.
Wysocki's view of writing focuses more on visual and rhetorical angles. She is more concerned with the expectations that audiences have of texts and how authors can work with/against those predispositions. The relationships between modes are important. She argues that all texts are visual and design choices are being made whether the author notices or not. Wysocki's view is much more focused an analyzing and observing ourselves and our peers and being aware of the current trends in texts and using/working past them in our own.
ReplyDeleteWysocki begins by stating assumptions of visual presentation on a paper. We value the presentation of a text and the audience is able to interpret and absorb it. There are multiple ways of composing visual text just as there are multiple ways of categorizing it depending on the type of media it is being shown on. Shapes, images, and sounds are just some of the many categorizes Wysocki states as an important part of the contextual analysis. Also, some of the elements that are important parts of composing a visual text are not always recognized. It may be something we are already used to seeing, maybe a layout or format; it makes it easier or quicker for the reader to interpret.
ReplyDeleteWysocki expands on what a multimodal view of writing should be. She includes examples of visual, spatial, and aural modes. She does not touch upon the gestural mode and linguistic mode can slightly appear in the sense of written word, sentence, or word structures.
Wysocki’s view of writing is different than Kress’ in the matter of images. While Kress believes that images are a superior method of communication, Wysocki focuses on the fact that text itself is more important. The text is what is needed to communicate to the audience. Additionally, Wysocki and Kress have different views on visual modes. Wysocki states an importance in color and typeface of a text while Kress believes that the effect can be a disadvantage of one’s goal because this, along with the text itself, can take away or add negatively to its persuasive purposes.
Whereas Kress provides this comparison between primarily word-based and primarily image-based texts, Wysocki considers every specific aspect of text. She has an extremely inclusive definition of texts, which is illustrated through the way she considers everything from the feel of the “thick, white, semigloss paper” (Wysocki 16) to sound (12). After reading “The Multimedia of Texts” I feel that it is much easier to compare her definition and ideas to a more general view of multimodality. From the textbook, multimodality is described as a combination of five different modes that work together (visual, spatial, linguistic, gestural, and aural). Wysocki, in the opening where she described basic concepts, doesn’t fit her methods for analysis into these five categories. While she does include all five of these modes, she also emphasizes “the page or screen itself,” and “what helps readers make connections among the parts of a multi-pages or multi-screened text.” Wysocki also focuses (albeit shortly) on conventions of genre, which I think has a huge impact on audience reception. A more general definition of multimodality doesn’t include the audience in the five modes, whereas Wysocki emphasizes their importance. Overall, Wysocki focuses much more on audience reaction and writer choice, as well as in questioning the definitions of writer and reader than the earlier theories. Her emphasis on this topics can be seen in her questions for further research, all of which consider elements of genre, relationships between people and text, and rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteWysocki’s theory of multi media builds on Kress’s theory of modality. While both involve the image and text, Wysocki’s theory is more in depth. Kress relied on the assumption that images were replacing the written word. Wysocki emphasized the audience’s interaction with a composition. Elements that are looked at in the multi media theory include: choice of color, kind of typeface, width of margin, use of photographs and drawings, alignment of elements, and placement of specific elements, expectation of how the reader will interact with the composition, and the strategies of each composition. Kress also differs from Wysocki in that he focuses on the senses rather that analyzing the elements of a writing.
ReplyDeleteSince there is more of a focus on how text is set up rather than the image this theory is better suited to define what the study of writing actually is. With the emphasis on actual text rather than images this theory is able to specify what an audience is actually taking in while reading, not just looking at picture on a page or screen. This means that there is the assumption that the visual appearance on how a work is formatted effects how the work is perceived. There is the focus on use of design.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts”, Anne Frances Wysocki provides an approach for analyzing multi media texts. Wysocki mostly analyzes the visual presentations of pages and screens. She starts by discussing what is on a page or screen including type and other visual elements. These work together to help page and screen composers make their arguments. Wysocki lists questions to help see how the visual elements and contexts of a text contribute to our experience of the text. She then analyzes real life texts by their visual arrangements. Wysocki concludes that learning to observe well helps writers compose pages or screens that fit effectively into a reader/viewer’s expectations. In multimodal writing, there is a repetition of strategy in the composition. In different generic pages, there are similar colors, typefaces, width of margins and more. To build a composition, writers should analyze what is most appropriate for their ends and then copy what they observe, modifying it to fit a certain rhetorical situation (30).
ReplyDeleteWysocki provides more detail about multimodal writing than Kress. Kress discussed the shift from print to image while Wysocki analyzes visuals presented in pages and screens. Both authors wrote that modes depend on the audience. Kress states that people prefer different things so a mode and medium needs to suit their purpose. Wysocki backed this up by saying writers should compose pages that fit a reader’s expectations. Kress and Wysocki did not include a complete view of multimodality. Both authors left out modes in their articles.
In “The Multiple Media of Texts,” Wysocki expands on Kress’ view of writing. Instead of incorporating Kress’ five modes she presents a rhetorical approach for analyzing texts made of multiple media, focusing on the visual presentations of pages and screens. Wysocki claims that different visual arrangements can be analyzed depending on the different genres they incorporate. She discusses which medium is most appropriate for a writer to present their argument, ranging from shapes to animations. For example, a photograph can be used to add a sense of immediacy and reality to a layout. It all depends on what choice makes the text stand out most (Wysocki 9). Instead of defining writing as visual, linguistic, spatial, aural, and gestural, she views writing as a visual element that performs persuasive work (Wysocki 2). According to Wysocki, the attitudes of visual aspects change over time. She describes that the visual aspects of text are not only understood physiologically but in terms of social context as well (Wysocki 3). In order to compose said text, the writer must choose an appropriate strategy that attracts their desired audience and brings a lot of attention to their text.
ReplyDeleteWysocki carries on to say that the way people read text is now changing. Computer-based technologies of communication have allowed many new texts to arise, such as webpages, e-mail, and other interactive multimedia. She claims that these new technologies offer perspectives for “considering and changing the approaches we have inherited to composing and interpreting pages” (Wysocki 3). Furthermore, Wysocki raises the question of the seriousness of words and the non-seriousness of images as a way to compose texts that use various visual strategies and contextualize the analysis. She claims that text appears to be more serious than images and that she considers black and white images to be more serious than color, stating that websites that want to be taken more seriously "tend to use muted colors and a limited number" (Wysocki 8). Thus, Wysocki simply focuses the function of Kress’ five modes as a whole rather than focusing on each on individually.
Anne Frances Wysocki has an interesting take on multimodal media. Like Kress, she categorizes different modes and describes their purposes in the media. She writes “When you first look at a page or screen, you initially understand its functions and purposes because it follows the visual conventions of a genre” (1). She also explains how each form of media plays a role in appealing to specific audiences – again, like Kress. Wysocki, however, describes the various modes in a different light than Kress. She actually chooses to connect each mode to a particular kind of audience and provides an extensive list of examples. For one example, she explains how bright colors and pictures with few words are usually for children’s books and fashion magazines, as the people looking at the text need the pictures more than the words. She clarifies that the setup of each text in the media plays a role in persuading its audience to do or not to do something. She explains “The visual elements and arrangements of a text perform persuasive work” (2). She also says about webpages “Every element of this page, then, works with every other” (27). I think we can all agree that Kress would apply this statement to all texts and the modes that they incorporate.
ReplyDeleteKress’ theory of writing was based on a two front revolution which meant writers had gained the ability to choose how they want to write based on audience, ie formally for a print book, casually for an online publication or opinion piece, etc. His theory was along the same general lines as but significantly less helpful than the textbook, and in my opinion a bit too cluttered and forgetful to be much practical use.
ReplyDeleteWysoki’s theory of writing is based on the layout of a text and the way it is presented to an audience, including elements such as font size, typeface, colors, shapes, and images included in the text. For Wysocki, it is the format of a piece and the juxtaposition of visual elements that makes a text significant in terms of its multimodality, and communicates the author’s intended message to the reader.
Because Wysocki did not explicitly define writing in her piece “The Multimedia of Texts,” I do not think that her view is necessarily different than Kress’s. I feel the case is more that each article has a different focus to express the multiple dimensions of writing and texts. While Kress emphasizes position and order for purpose, regardless of the medium, Wysocki focuses on the choice of medium based on the goal and purpose of the writing, itself, and the desired effect on the target audience. Much of Wysocki’s piece expressed how every visual decision we make in a composition affects our audience and how it is perceived. She also discusses how readers’ attitudes about can also play a role in how it changes over time.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, Wysocki expresses a view that differs from multimodality in that it, in a way, explores only one mode: visual mode. Like visual mode is discussed in the textbook, Wysocki talks about position on a page or a screen, the use or absence of color to call attention to specific things, font and its affect on the reader and his or her attention, etc. She also went into how these decisions change whether it is for a page or screen.
A commonality all of her points share, however, is that the purpose of all of these visual decisions is typically some for some kind of persuasion. In some views, persuasion is the focus of any and all writing because the reader will walk away convinced of whatever the author is trying to say. However, to say that all writing is for persuasive purpose, in my opinion, is inaccurate. I would agree with the idea that a reader is definitely supposed to walk away having learned something, whether it is a new point of view, way of thinking, something about themselves, or simply one’s own interpretation of a thing.
In Wysocki’s writing, Multiple Media of Text, she made numerous points that extended my perception of multimodality. In her writing Wysocki pointed out the fact that the modes of text are nearly inseparable. She emphasizes through example that even something so simple as the font interprets how one reads a text. She describes that the renaissance font, blackletter, was perfect for that time period because they liked to marinate in their readings, whereas today we like things to be clear and concise. This description of how the visual of a writing affects the linguistic design clearly shows how the modes intertwine. She then went on with the example of the format of writing which was taught in school and how it alters our perception of a text even when we unconsciously register it. Unlike with a comic book where we see how relevant the spatial mode is to our writings.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Wysocki’s and Kress had very much in common in their writings. Wysocki seemed to elaborate more on the previous frame of multimodality that Kress instated. However, while Kress described the visual mode as a draw away from sentences and words, Wysocki viewed it as a mode to help emphasize the meaning and importance of the words.
Wysocki’s view of writing is different form Kress’s view because he addresses the different medias writing is on as opposed to the wheel of things that can make writing different. If we were staring at a video game, Wysocki would analyze how we are looking at a video game differently than other medias, whereas Kress would look at the video game and see what linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and gestural things it was doing. While Kress is noticing that you are looking at 12 point font verses 10 point font, Wysocki is noticing that you are looking on that font on a screen as opposed to a page.
ReplyDeleteKress also calls his 5 staples, all ways of writing; whereas Wysocki asks “Is it appropriate to speak of ‘writers’ and ‘readers’ when
writers are doing more visual layout and readers are interpreting texts that
require other kinds of actions than decoding letter- and word-shapes?” (pg. 3) Wysocki dives more into the visual aspect, showing what different visual elements there are like shapes, colors, photographs, drawings and paintings; and how each of those on a separate level can impact the “reader”. He goes as far to give three steps to approach analyzing the visual aspect of texts.
“1 Name the visual elements in a text.
2 Name the designed relationships among those elements.
3 Consider how the elements and relations connect with different
audiences, contexts, and arguments.” (pg 13)
Wysocki goes on to talk about a lot of similar things to Kress. They both explain how one looks at and interprets a page of writing, and different forms of text. Altogether, the main difference is how extensively Wysocki discusses different medias and the visual aspects of them.
From Spencer:
ReplyDeleteWysocki and Kress converge on their belief that the multimodal design of a text, whether its a webpage or a textbook or a novel, creates a fundamentally different, more specific experience for the reader of said text. Wysocki examines every text and page with an analytical examination of what rhetorical modes are at work to create the final design. She examines psychological impacts, methods of efficiency and economy, the significance of forms and shapes and groupings as well as colors and sounds and images. To her, every detail of the design process is a rhetorical aspect that either succeeds or fails to serve an audience-specific purpose.
Kress shares a similar conviction that design is increasingly more important in the way our society interacts with the online world, but he differs from Wysocki in that he takes agency (and authorship) and puts it in the hands of the user/reader more than the writer/designer, whereas Wysocki places far more emphasis on the increased importance of the job of the writer/designer.