This is really initial brainstorming. I don't know what I want to write about. However, I can talk about which things I especially connected to.
Like Susan I really liked Cynthia Selfe's article The Movement of Air, The Breath of Meaning however I am not really interested in classroom application so much as I'm interested in ... I don't know "real world application" ... but not work or school. In one of the instructor comments on my audio project reflection another Selfe article was suggested. I went and looked at Self's pages at the Ohio State University website. She's very interesting and has done a lot of research on digital composition.
In the rhetoric class I'm taking my research paper will use The Political Brain by Drew Westen as its center. The message of this book is about creating rhetorical narratives that resonate with voters emotionally. It's not specifically about multimodal but he often describes all the modes of persuasion used in political ads.
This train of thought leads to current events: candidate Barak Obama's use of text messages, the Internet and other digital means to create an army of supporters who created the largest campaign funds chest ever and helped to get him elected. This seems like a rich area of multimedia that when combined with a good understanding of political rhetoric that resonates could be the basis of a research paper.
Hmmmm .... so what would my theme or my question be? How did Obama use multimedia to win an election? I started the video games reading and I think the readings that have to do with storytelling may connect here. Storytelling, political narrative and how the use of multimedia influences viewers, listeners, reader, etc.
Okay, so this was only supposed to be one paragraph and brainstorming. I think I've got a good start.
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1 comment:
Jessica-
I think several of the topics you mentioned are interesting - the power of audio, issues of storytelling, multimodality and elections - but the idea of exploring ways candidates use new media to reach voters seems the most clearly defined focus. I think a focus on Obama could be intersting - and there are certainly sources out there. This happened on such a large scale that it might be really interesting to look at. It might also be possible to consider ways lesser known candidates, maybe local candidates and officials, are using multimodality or not.
Do you have in mind what you might argue about this topic? Is this reaction to society's increasing dependence on new media or visual literacy?
What does this say about democracy and our notions that all voices are heard and are worth hearing?
I suggest you do a bit more research and try refining your thesis a bit over the weekend.
Jen
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