Visual annotations for Aaron Scott Humphrey’s “Multimodal Authoring and Authority in Digital Writing Environments: Introducing Derrida and Foucault For Beginners” (from Digital Humanities Quarterly).

 

(source: Cartoon Stock)

 

Academic writing has often been very stiff and usually only involves few mediums (pen, paper, black text on a white background). Not until the last twenty years has academic writing been digital, but what’s to say that academic writing has to be boring? Why can’t it be multimodal and involve images, videos, audio, etc.?

(source: Digital Humanities)

Humphrey’s use of images and “beginner” easy-to read text makes learning about digital writing and the works of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault fun and educational.

In his article, Humphrey examines the relationship between the designer, the writer, and the artist and how spacial, visual, and logistical elements work together (and sometimes against each other).

(source: Conde Nast Store)

For decades, political cartoons have long been used as rhetorical devices.

(source:Board Game Geek)

Overall, the use of visuals and spacial elements can come together to convey an overall meaning and persuade the reader. Sometimes, according to Humphrey, the two can work against one another, and not in unison as a team.

(source: Teach)