Capstone Proposal

Posted on March 29, 2016 by mjohnson215

After reading Joshua Reeves’ “Temptation and Its Discontents: Digital Rhetoric, Flow, and the Possible,” I have become more and more intrigued with the idea of controlled flow online and an audiences perceived agency in online interactions. While audiences tend to feel in control of their clicking choices, I want to delve deeper into the construction and/or limitations within those choices as decided by the composer of the website, and what implications those choices have.

After researching user interaction based on data mining, navigational patterns, and eye-tracking studies, I will complete a small study having users interact with one of two websites. One of the sites will be a “closed” site where any provided links will keep the user on the site, creating loops within the site. This is perceived agency for the audience and high control for the composer (with few link options that keep them on the page). The second website will be an “open” site with hyperlinks taking the users from the page. This website will be provide more agency for the audience and less control for the composer (with more available links taking them away from the page, will they come back?).

Through the use of an analytic program, I plan to gain knowledge as to how much time users will spend on one site compared to the other, as well as to how varying hyperlinks affect the way a user interacts with a site by tracking navigational patterns. Following the users interaction, I will have them complete a survey in order to gain perspective on user emotion towards the varying sites, likes and dislikes, ease of use, and time spent on each.

The data collected, along with my research, will explore user interaction with websites, and draw conclusions as to how an audience’s agency (actual vs perceived) and the amount of control the composer has over the audience’s navigational path has on the amount of time a user spends on a site and how the user feels about that site. The research and data will then be presented on a website in the form and style deemed most effective by the analysis. The primary target audience for theory presentation is academic, but with a conversational tone and online publication it will be accessible to the general public. Hopefully, this study can contribute to the idea of media flow and provide insight into user interaction with multimodal compositions online.

Project timeline – Gantt Chart:

Annotated Bibliography of Research/Texts Accessed for Project

Theoretical and Scholarly Works

Carnegie, Teena A.M. “Interface as Exordium: The Rhetoric of Interactivity.” Computers and Composition 26.A Thousand Pictures: Interfaces and Composition (2009): 164-173 ScienceDirect. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

This article explores online texts and audiences’ interactions with the interfaces presented to them. There are differing levels of interaction that signify varying levels of control for the user as created by the composer. Carnegie takes care in defining terms for clarity and understanding (such as interface and interactivity). This led me to think carefully about the terms critical to my study and will encourage me to define the terms I choose to use in the final presentation of my project. She also focuses on how these defined terms contribute to or effect persuasion online, which is a critical element in a composer’s choices, and will play a large role in my project. There is a discussion on immersion and flow, which relate to the Reeves article. I do not totally agree with some of the definitions and arguments put forth in this article, but it makes me consider what it is I do think about aspects of interactivity and the role of rhetoric online.

Guerbas, Abdelghani, Omar Addam, Omar Zaarour, Mohamad Nagi, Ahmad Elhajj, Mick Ridley, and Reda Alhajj. “Effective web log mining and online navigational pattern prediction.” Knowledge-Based Systems 49 (2013): 50-62. ScienceDirect. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

Mining techniques are taking the data of users interaction with a site and using that data to the advantage of the creators of that site. This article focuses on data mining: how to do it, problems with sorting the data, getting reliable data, and suggestions on what can be done with the data. Because I plan to run analytics on two websites, this article is informative for me concerning the process, and it provides ideas for analyzing and using the data I retrieve, such as predicting potential future user navigational behaviors and altering future content/presentation.

Katsanos, Christos, Nikolaos Tselios and Nikolaos Avouris. “Evaluating Website Navigability: Validation of a Tool-Based Approach Through Two Eye-Tracking User Studies.” New Review of Hypermedia & Multimedia 16.1/2 (2010): 195-214. Education Source. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

Concerning the ease of navigability, this text explores user interaction with hyperlinks in texts. The easier it is to understand the link choices presented in a text, the more confident the user. This is referred to as the “information scent,” and is studied through a variety of wordings and placements of links within a website. The study completed exit surveys of the participants, judging their confidence in their choices and the emotional state of their interactions, which gave me the idea to do a similar survey with my experiment. I will utilize this study, not only for scholastic information, but also as a model for the exit survey.

Morgan, Wendy. “Heterotropes: Learning The Rhetoric Of Hyperlinks.” Education, Communication & Information 2.2/3 (2002): 215. Professional Development Collection. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

This article concerns the nature and function of hyperlinks. Hyperlinks can either contribute to meaning or distract the audience from the text; they can create a gap within the information or create a bridge of understanding. Morgan explores varying ways in which links work and how links affect the text as a whole. The text discusses how an author can use links to their advantage, which is specific to the project I embark upon. There are ways in which links are used in “disjointed” ways that add complexity and meaning to the text that I had not considered before, but find interesting, and will now consider as I begin to create and further research the voice and authority through linking.

Velásquez, Juan D. “Combining Eye-Tracking Technologies with Web Usage Mining for Identifying Website Keyobjects.” Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence 26 (2013): 1469-1478. ScienceDirect. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

This text combines data mining and eye-tracking studies to determine keywords and “keyobjects” on websites. While there is useful information about various mining techniques and the different information you glean from each technique, I was hoping to also gain data about the viewing path of the audience. Nevertheless, being new to analytics and data mining, this article provided valuable information about different ways in which to gain the kind of data I am seeking.

Examples and models of effective websites

Amunwa, Jason. “14 Beautiful Content-Heavy Websites for Inspiration.” Digital Telepathy, 14 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

This website is a model for a site that is easy to navigate while having lots of content. Even better though, is that this site provides examples of other well-designed sites to peruse, learn from, and model. The example sites contain lots of multimodal elements and links, but with varying formats and design choices. The main site contains a list following each example of what works and why it is well designed. There are also tips to apply to creating a well-designed site of your own. I assume my final website submission will be content heavy, so I chose this site in order to analyze presentations I like and may want to try out, as well as presentations I do not like and will not be trying.

“Design Inspiration: Featuring the Best of Web Design.” The Best Designs. The Best Designs, 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

This website is amazing. It is called “The Best Designs,” and it contains some of the best website designs I have ever seen. Most of the sites are self-contained, or “closed” with few external links (which is what I think my final website will be). The sites are interesting, engaging, and beautiful. They inspire. I can only hope my site is half as good as these examples.

Notes:

While I thought to include Reeves article in the Annotated Bibliography, I sought to find new research to contribute to my project. I will however be using “Temptation and Its Discontents: Digital Rhetoric, Flow, and the Possible,” as part of my project.

Also, I want to base the final presentation off of my research and data collection, much as Humphrey and Sousanis did with comics. In my search for models I was unable to find something suitable to emulate. I will continue looking. In the meantime, I tried to find examples of well developed and designed websites (specifically with high content and minimal outside links) in which I could study and learn from.

Annotations 3/29

Posted on March 27, 2016 by mjohnson215

“Hey Harry Hey Matilda”

Image by Wim Mulder, “Writing to Reach You,” via Flickr and Creative Commons.

“Letters” by Mariya Chorna via Flickr and Creative Commons.

“Collage,” by Andrew Gustar via Flickr and Creative Commons.

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Nick Sousanis, on the “Power of Visuals (& Comics) on Learning & Creativity,” on BlogTalkRadio

“Boundaries” by Jon Wiley, by way of Flickr and Creative Commons.

“Bridge” by Astrid Westvang via Flickr and Creative Commons.

17.8.12 by mariasphotography via Flickr and Creative Commons.

CTW 3

Posted on March 22, 2016 by mjohnson215

Comics have entered the classroom, and educators have taken notice.

Traditionally viewed in academia as less than, comics had been relegated to the realm of entertainment. Now, however, academics have begun to understand that comics enable a presentation of information in different ways than traditional academic texts allow. Comics are bridging the gap between the public and the academic, and deconstructing complex ideas for general consumption.

The rise of comics within the classroom and the academic realm has inspired discussions on the construction of comics as multimodal texts, the validity of comic arguments, and the challenges this imposes on the traditional academic power structure.

In creative presentations of dissertations, two academics have explored the concepts of the rise and the power within and behind a comic book. Aaron Scott Humphrey wrote the comic/dissertation, Multimodal Authoring and Authority in Educational Comics: Introducing Derrida and Foucault for Beginners, in which he explores the collaborative nature of comic construction, and the struggle for voice and authority that arises within a multiple person creation. Nick Sousanis presented his dissertation in the comic, Unflattening, which he discussed in an interview with Steve Dahlberg and Mary Alice Long on BlogTalkRadio, “Artist Nick Sousanis on the Power of Visuals (& Comics) on Learning & Creativity.” Sousanis’ work explores the challenge comics provide the academic structure, opening content to a broader audience by breaking down complex arguments with visual aids.

Multimodal compositions have grown in number with the rise of technology. But utilizing multiple modes in creating a text of sorts is not confined to a computer. By looking at comics, we can examine multimodal compositions that have been constructed with layers of meaning, enabling visuals and handwriting to express ideas that are closed to a traditionally typed academic paper. It is a way of integrating thoughts and presenting them with a “focus on readability,” using “metaphorical language and visuals to engage people” (Sousanis).

At the heart of Humphrey’s dissertation is authorial voice. Within a written text the voice is apparent through word choice, sentence structure, and organization. However, what happens to that voice when a second of third person becomes involved? How do an author and an artist and/or a designer, when working together, impact the voice and the authority within the text? How do the words and the pictures work together or against each other? And what does that do for, or take away from, the text, and the readers’ experience with the text? This is the basic struggle within all collaboration as people attempt to balance their parts with others, or try to usurp control of the final product altogether. Humphrey provides examples of comics where collaboration works well and examples where there is an obvious power struggle. He exposes that an authorial power struggle exists, but that some are better at balancing it than others. This exhibition shows that when its working it strengthens the text through a cohesive presentation of the argument, and when the conflict is apparent it weakens the argument because it distracts and leaves the reader in unease, unsure as to which elements hold the key to understanding the presented concepts.

What it not addressed is how this struggle in creation ultimately affects the reader’s experience and understanding of the text? Rather than contribute to the spread of ideas, could a comic full of struggles conflate the argument and confuse the reader? Or worse, could it turn a new comic reader off, losing the chance to engage the reader in multifaceted ideas?

In Unflattening, Nick Sousanis explores the potential of a comic to help spread compound ideas to more viewers outside of academia. By presenting complex ideas in a nontraditional way, comics enable a broader audience to participate with the material, expanding educational possibilities. With the aid of visuals and conscious choice of language, comics create potential. Comics enable the deconstruction of a complex idea that is “not dumbing down an argument but letting the audience come up to the argument” (Sousanis). By breaking with the traditional mode of presentation—the typed paper—comics challenge the academic power structure, open doors, and expand possibility.

While I agree that the potential is there and comics could be extremely powerful in regards to information distribution, I wonder how they can be better circulated and dispersed within society in order to achieve their full potential? There is a stigma attached to comics, an assumption that they are frivolous or nerdy. While the embracement of academia will contribute to the breaking of this stigma, I wonder how much it will help and what could be done to improve comics’ reputation within the general population, so that they can be used as effective information disseminators?

Regardless of the main ideas in both Humphrey’s and Sousanis’ dissertations, they both challenged the traditional educational presentation of a wordy, academic term-specific presentation of a thorough research project. Both were able to control the authorial voice through handwriting, and expand the layers of meaning in their texts by using visuals and layout. Humphrey in particular has a very noticeable voice as he drew himself on the bottom of several pages with personal comments. Sousanis sought to create meaning with what was presented as well as what wasn’t presented, using white space for emphasis.

Effective and incredibly interesting, the works of Humphrey and Sousanis contribute to the discussion of multimodal texts and the contribution of presentation to arguments. As Humphrey says on page 20 of Multimodal Authoring and Authority in Educational Comics: Introducing Derrida and Foucault for Beginners, “Comics can show us new ways of thinking about language and power.” I think the real understanding of this has just begun, and as comics are utilized more and more within academia, we will understand more and more how they challenge and change what we known thus far.

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Educational Comic from Comic Relief on Pinterest.

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Sources:

“Artist Nick Sousanis on the Power of Visuals (& Comics) on Learning & Creativity.” Interview by Steve Dahlberg and Mary Alice Long. BlogTalkRadio. BlogTalkRadio, June 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Humphrey, Aaron Scott. “Multimodal Authoring and Authority in Educational Comics: Introducing Derrida and Foucault for Beginners.” DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly. Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations, 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Visual Annotations for March 22, 2016

Posted on March 22, 2016 by mjohnson215

Visual Annotations for:

Multimodal Authoring and Authority in Educational Comics: Introducing Derrida and Foucault for Beginners

by Aaron Scott Humphrey

Image from TED Radio Hour

Image from Official Blog of Australian Institute of Business

Linguistic annotations through Hypothes.is can be found on text.

Annotation: Mary Hocks’ “Understanding Visual Rhetoric in Digital Writing Environments”

Posted on March 17, 2016 by mjohnson215

Image saved by behemoth on Wookmark from inspiration hut.net.

Image saved by mrg on Wookmark from fr.pinterest.com.

Free Choice image from 2geeks-at.

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These (linguistic) annotations were completed prior to the explanation of visual annotations needed for class…

Recently, using Hypothes.is has become a bit challenging. Certain documents, such as Mary Hocks’ “Understanding Visual Rhetoric in Digital Writing Environments,” are protected behind the GSU library server and do not wish to load for the annotation server. Therefore, I have typed my annotations for this paper and will post them below:

“Visual rhetoric, or visual strategies used for meaning and persuasion, is hardly new, but its importance has been amplified by the visual and interactive nature of native hypertext and multimedia writing” (629).

Technology has shifted the visual into a spotlight, not just with the use of images, but layout and format in general. Whereas before the thought behind the presentation was transparent, just disregarded; however, now at times, the thought is out in the open and the format is an element of the composition in a way it had not been before. Transparency.

“…new media requires a complex relationship between verbal and visual technologies” (630).

Images and words work together, replace on another, or distract. It is a fine balance to say what you want to say and show what you want to show in a clear manner. Another level of consideration for the composer.

“internetworked writing” (631)

the process viewed as writing and not just the product

“…looking at the computers around us and analyzing them as intensely visual artifacts. The screen itself is a tablet that combines words, interfaces, icons, and pictures that invoke other modalities like touch and sound” (631).

Typically the only times we notice or think about computers themselves is when they are either outdated or brand new. But to think about the computer as a tablet, an artifact, a physical thing you are working with surprises me. I think I typically consider what is on the computer instead of the computer itself.

“…the Web inherits book page design, it embeds the cultural assumptions about order on a page that come from our history with print texts” (634).

“…what order is reinforced by a design, and what designs give us chances to re-order?” (635).

It is called a web”page” after all.

If “cultural assumptions about order” are passed from print to Internet, what other societal practices and power structures are within the Internet as well? What forms of “tradition” or “oppression” exist within the web? And why is it “inherited”?

“Audience stance describes hot the work visually gives readers a sense of agency and possibilities for interactive involvement” (635).

“…reinforce the audience’s sense of agency and interaction” (636).

A topic that keeps coming up this semester and in particular interests me. How much agency does the audience really get? Is it true choice or the illusion of choice?

“Transparency refers to how the writer designs a document in ways familiar and clear to readers” (636).

In print this is typically overlooked. On web pages designed like book pages, again it is typically overlooked. Is this because we are used to it? It certainly doesn’t catch our attention. I was thinking that this was only challenged in the digital realm, but then I read the two articles in this section about comics. I think the comics highlighted in the articles challenge the typically print design and allow the design to become part of the purpose. Perhaps in traditional documents the design is part of the purpose too, but it just seems to play a much larger role in the comics and online.

“…creates an experience of open-ended possibility with these proliferating texts and interpretations” (640).

In A Sin of Color one of the main characters is an author and talks about how once you write something it lives beyond you and takes on a life of its own. This seemed like the same idea to me. It then exists outside of the author.

“At every turn, then, readers are offered multiple choices, allowing them to construct very different readings of the text” (641).

I wonder what an experiment in this would reveal: Would there be a myriad of ways people interacted with it or are we as authors only thinking that people would branch out and try differing paths? Is it likely that since people are creatures of habit they would tend to interact with the site in a narrow number of possibilities?

“…‘critical technological literacy’ in its recognition of the political implications of technological literacies and its commitment to diversity” (644).

Access is not equal. Economics and politics affect the ability of people throughout the United States and throughout the world to be online.

“Design shapes the future” (644)

As we move away from traditional print standards. Interactivity creates possibilities.

Interesting and powerful.

“…‘double-consciousness’ that Knadler saw in his student’s portfolios and that teachers often find in students working to assimilate personal voices with disitanced and objective academic discourse” (648).

Mainly due to the lie that academic discourse is objective.

I find myself with this problem. How do you own your writing but not sound cocky? And how do increase your confidence enough (as student and writer and thinker) to not rely too heavily upon the research that you have no voice? It seems like a catch-22 to me. I suppose it’s rather a fine (and difficult) balance.

Monica Johnson

Student, Adventurer, Life-liver