Trackback Composition

        For my trackback compositions I'm leaning heavily towards discussing and tracking back symbols and meaning through the use of visuals. What I mean by that is, I want to trace back some ideas from different rhetors on what visuals can do or mean. Further, it is interesting to me how meaning from visuals get made in the mind of the person perceiving them. We use symbols and images every day when driving or on warning labels. Since there is an organization (International Standards Organization) that has standardized, to some extent, the images we use in these labels and they somewhat commute across different cultures, is there a common perception we are missing? For this assignment I want to include the use of sequential art as well to trace some more contemporary and less heady theory about visuals and the way they can clarify or disrupt meaning.

For this trackback I plan on using Richards, Baudrillard, McCloud, Arnheim and either Burke or Aristotle. I think I might use Aristotle to connect rhetoric to visual rhetoric and use it as a bridge to the application of visuals to persuasion. So far, Arnheim and Baudrillard have some of the most interesting and very forward arguments about visuals and their meanings/uses. Hopefully, this trackback will help set me forward on gathering ideas for my dissertation in the future.

Contemporary Dialogue project

Hi all,

I've made a short video dialogue for my project that I'll post here. Enjoy!

http://www.powtoon.com/show/fylrEEbOP9W/5361-dialogue/

Abundant Style

        I've noticed in talking about the abundant style a marked shift in the current readings from that era. I'm a bit late on posting this, mainly because I wanted to see if this abundance of style had any impact on what we read by Locke and Hume. Where I see Lock and Hume being very concerned with the scientific part of the process of writing and rhetoric, the abundant style still has a place, although it is very subdued. As a writer, I know that in order to keep my writing interesting and engaging multiple tactics have to be employed from a rhetorical standpoint. In the abundant style, I use a variety of subject matter and variety of sentence structures to keep my reader interested and actively engaged in texts.

       I think one of the biggest problems I have with modern/contemporary articles is the dryness and the staleness that comes with academic prose. Often I am drawn to the rhetoric that falls outside of the canons and that embrace multimodality or a difference in voice. I have figured out through the years the reason I'm drawn to these types of rhetoric is not only because they represent a rich culture that I am not actively part of usually, but also because they take the canon and mold it in a way that is interesting and refreshing. My contemporary dialogue will try and mold and shape a new way to interpret a socratic/platonic dialogue in that I plan on using a graphic novel type of setup to convey the ideas and notions that I think are readily available in using the visual and textual in conjunction with one another. While I'm no artist, there are programs that are used for pedagogical purposes that will help me fulfill my need and fill in my artistic gap. Hopefully, it turns out well.

Finally, looking ahead I am also planning on revising my teaching statement to include more about my visual and digital melding ideas that I've been developing for the past few weeks. I'm still burgeoning in this area, but it is the first time I've felt that pull towards a research that I can actually do as well as enjoy.