Journal #3 Response: "Gains and Losses: New Forms of Texts, Knowledge, and Learning"

Kress states that "each of the modes available for representation in a culture provides 'specific potentials and limitations for communication'" and asserts that text is being "replaced" by image
While he says that the modes of communication that we choose are motivated by "the social" and that the effects of representation and communication are outcomes of economics and politics, there are many instances in which the state of the political atmosphere and economy may motivate the social usage of text versus image as a mode of communication, or vice versa. For example, Kress himself mentions that the mediums for different modes of communication are a typically books for text and a screen for image; the limitations of the book and the advent of "distinct cultural technologies." It's not just society that has caused image to be preferable to text; the demands of the economy and the need to communicate efficiently and quickly demanded by political events. Economic interests drive society to need to convey and receive messages quickly, clearly, and in ways that are accessible to many people. 

Fig 1. Flow of cause and effect for motivation of what mode of communication/representation to use. 

I think it's ironic that Kress is discussing how people are moving away from the written word, and yet the author writes with a style that may alienate many readers. For example, on page 291, he has three sentences spanning 4 lines. Many of his sentences are of such a complex structure that they would be difficult for an ESL reader to understand. This being said, how can we even make our audiences aware of these issues or open to our ideas about the usability of text, without communicating it in a way that they can participate in the discussion and engage in the ideas?

I have taken two classes on the juxtaposition, disposition, and comparative usage of text, static image, and video: Document Design from Dixie State University's English department, and Comic Books and Graphic Novels from Coursera. The issues surrounding text and images as modes of communication, whether discussed in the context of supplementing and enhancing one another, or--in the context of the Ullman and Kress's articles--competing with one another, is one that evokes a lot of emotional bias in almost any discussion of the two, and even crops up in prescriptive discussions such as when professionals and academics discuss the usability and best practices in using the two.

Kress, Gunther. "Gains and Losses: New Forms of Texts, Knowledge, and Learning." Multimodal Composition: A Critical Sourcebook, edited by Claire Lutkewitte, Bedford/St. Martins, 2014, pp. 283-301 

Journal #2 Response: "The Museum of Me"

Ullman' describes a billboard that she saw which read "Now the world really does revolve around you," which she identifies as "the ultimate baby-world narcissism we are all supposed to abandon when we grow up." When she discovers that the advertisement is for a company in the computer industry, she decides, "Who else but someone in the computer industry to make such a shameless appeal to individualism?"

Throughout the entire article, Ullman makes some great introspective points and gives some social commentary that I think that anyone who was born between 1980 and 2000 could generally identify with and agree on. However, I do not think that she emphasizes enough the fact that she herself states: that "the web did not cause [asociality and disconnection with reality], but it is what we call an 'enabling technology.'"

This week my phone began to shut off at random times, and sometimes would not power back on. After fighting with it and coming to accept that I would have to get by without it, I began to realize how much I relied on it as a short-term memory storage device. I don't have to memorize birthdays, phone numbers, passwords, or other information when I have my device. I don't have to clutter my desk with post-it notes or papers, nor do I even have to save important or sensitive information in hard copy when I have a smartphone and a personal computer. In this sense, I do live in a debilitatingly virtual world.

What do you think?

Ullman, Ellen. "The Museum of Me." Ed. Catherine Lattrell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. 

     pp. 639-645. Print.