September 6th, 2010
In this course, we explore and analyze the ways in which text and image function together as meaning-making and as rhetorical strategies. We do this by reading in those areas that inform new media — art, typography, cinema, technology — and asking about the forms of production and distribution that make them possible.
We then turn to our own production of text-and-image projects, in which we link our professional, academic, community, or creative goals to the design of an audience-based project.
At the end of the course, you will know how to:
Define terms in context for the design, distribution, and reception of multimodal texts
Identify rhetorical and aesthetic traditions in which text-and-image projects appear
Compose a multimodal project in the service of an argument or advocacy
Articulate the intended effects of your multomodal project and the steps you took to achieve those effects
Present and explain your multimodal composing processes for multiple audiences
A note on technology
We will be working with text-and-image design software in this course; no previous experience is assumed, and support is available for coursework and project work. You will be asked to develop a software learning plan during weeks five and six in support of your project proposal and prototype, and I am available before, during, and after class to provide assistance.
