Project Report, Week Five

As for what’s going well, believe it or not, I’m actually enjoying the reading. Kress was a bit tricky, and I’m not sure how much I’m really retaining, but that will be a decent book to keep on the shelf and revisit later. Design Writing Research is nice and practical – I’m looking forward to connecting it to the projects.

Not so well is just my place in the project in general. Thusfar, I’ve tried to stay out of areas where I have a bit of knowledge and experience (that’s why I chose St. Joseph’s instead of the City Farm project, and why I’m not working very heavily with St. Joe’s video team) and instead focus on areas where I have little or no experience but want to learn more. In short, I’m good with audio/video, business, and ‘people’ related stuff, but I really lack artistic background. Now I feel like I’ve jumped in too deep and taken on an area where I can’t add anything constructive just yet.

My goal for next week is to really solidify where I fit in with the whole group.Right now, as I mentioned, I feel a little bit lost and overwhelmed with my place in the group. I botched the beginning of logo design, and I’m starting to think maybe it would be best just to stick to areas where I have expertise. But that’s not really going to give me any new knowledge. Getting that straight – while keeping my head above water with my group – is my goal.

From the class/team/instructor, I’m just hoping to get some guidance into the project areas I’m interested in. (visual art/design) I haven’t pulled the trigger on the Lynda.com tutorials yet for a couple reasons. Mainly, money. The tutorials wouldn’t quite break the bank, but I don’t have the proper Adobe software on my own computer, and even with the student discount it’s pricey. Secondly, I tend to prefer learning in a classroom-style setting. That’s why I chose a Masters program that applies art and design to communication theory as opposed to strictly just learning some software.

Multimodality – Part 2

This one’s a thinker.

Reading Response: Kress, Multimodality 1-102

I had briefly touched on the concepts of semiotics and multimodality in a prior course, reviewed in this previous post.

In basic terms, Kress wants us to see signs as making meaning through three parts: writing, image, and color.

Just looking around my room and work area, I can see a multitude of examples that demonstrate the same concept of the car park. My computer or phone’s on/off switch gives me visual cues via images and lights. My chair has a somewhat complex adjustment system that’s explained with only a couple words, but mostly pictures and bright color on the most basic of tasks.

Another interesting concept that Kress brings up is calling classical grammar “an obstacle to necessary action”. (7) Semiotic demands replace ‘grammar’ as a true way to make meaning from communication.

Though this may be a bit of a tangent, it brings to mind a conversation I’ve had quite a few times. I am not multi-lingual. I took a few years of Spanish in high school and college, and can speak and understand bits and pieces of very basic phrases. I was always disappointed at the amount of time that was spent on verb conjugation. At the time when I was in class, I did halfway decently. I doubt I could still conjugate irregular Spanish verbs, but I do remember some of the language: vocabulary that has visual or auditory cues. Putting a foreign language into practice, I was better able to use vocabulary and other semiotic cues to communicate than I was by using only flawlessly executed language. As Kress says, “No degree of power can act against the socially transformative force of interaction.” (8)

But signs have often relied on culturally available resources. Again using the example above, translating language is often not the only step in understanding communication. Kress brings up the issue of translation across cultures, not languages, as the key hurdle in true universal communication. Though the specific culture escapes me at this moment, the first thought that comes to mind is an example I read of a soccer match overseas. Even the simplest communication such as clapping can mean different things to different cultures, as was the case with this particular soccer club. It had gained some bandwagon supporters after some surprising upsets, but was appalled to hear fans clapping at them when they ran onto the pitch. Clapping, to them, was a negative cue. The real rhetorical question is: do we, as creators of communication, seek out globally recognized cues and avoid all others, or do we as a global community decide on set standards?

Kress goes on to explain the concept of prompts in communication. That specifically, it’s only a prompt when it’s received and acknowledged. If you, as a communicator, ‘prompt’ me to do or understand something, but I do not necessarily receive the intended message, Kress believes it’s not truly a prompt. But going back to the soccer team analogy, is clapping not a prompt when it’s improperly received? On the surface, I would think Kress would agree; however, in true multimodal communication, other cues could likely be used to make meaning.