Wysocki further discusses changes and variations in composition and argues, "We can experiment with building arguments that use photographs or drawings instead of words, for example, (as both Cynthia Selfe and I describe on our various chapters), and we can experiment with alphabetic texts whose visibility is more foregrounded in typographic and layout choices" (16).
My mind automatically rushes to my layout and design work with yearbook, and formerly newspaper, as a teacher and writer/designer, but it is the words that always captivate me as I read. I neglect most images, and even font choices unless the font causes the piece to be difficult to decipher, in most of the readings I have done. In most cases, I consider the image work to be superfluous, especially in textbooks, and many of the images online tend to slant to the commercial aspect of web traffic.
I know font and design can captivate the attention and grasp that attention, but I wonder if it is just that -- grasping for attention in a image and sound saturated civilization? I know that I am leaning toward the side of the cynic, yet I still worry for the inherent meaning in the compositions of writers and the depth of that meaning.
Do you agree that images argue? That might be a fruitful starting point for discussing this later. A related consideration is that if, indeed, images do argue, students ought to be more fully cognizant of how such arguments work, whether they are deployed by corporations or more critically, as with parodies.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we are making mistakes in academia by our insistence that so many works of 'writing' stand alone. I think that we need to remember that many of these writings, especially when using image, may best couple with sound, whether recorded or spoken. In most job fields which use argument, don't they couple text with image along with speech and/or sound?
ReplyDeleteKent,
ReplyDeleteI had difficulty with this subject as well when I first approached it. As you know there is definitely some value in layout etc. When thinking about this type of instruction and focus, I had to ask myself how much can those aspects and modalities truly affect the text that surround them or even help to enhance or negate a message? When I thought about it in that way, I began to think that they really can affect the message, enhance or even interrupt it. I think everything needs a balance, just like the instruction that Wysocki discusses. I think there is real value in this type of instruction, but it is only part of writing education, not the entirety of it. It was helpful for me while approaching such topics was to think of them as a portion of the curriculum--as I think they're intended to be displayed.