Style and Stance #7: Pinning Down My Categories

I came a long way in my last post ... Let me quote myself:

• "For written texts, style has always been the main way to convey stance because we do not have the other options of voice inflection, dress, gestures, etc that are considered when we look for style in spoken language." 
• "Academic writing wants to show a certain stance so adopts a certain style in presenting a given content."   
  
• "My task now is to categorize this stance and define this style to see if journals are intentionally disaligning from this stance by making different style choices."
• "Rather than stance being the primitive that drives style, stance is the created by style." 

But I am left with somewhat the same question I had before: how does content fit in?  What is the role of all of the stuff we want to jam into our writing?

Design Mind

I have finished reading Robin Williams's design book, and while the prior four posts probably suffice for "enough said" about design, I want to wrap up by saying that Williams has shown me that I seem to have a natural flair for design.  There were a few moments in the prior posts when I had seemed to read her mind.  That continued to the end ...

• I discovered in my contrast post that repetition was my favorite design principle and that I had founded my class site on it.  Well ... "While the same four basic principles I've mentioned over and over in this book (contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity) also apply to web design, repetition is one of the most important for a web site. The other three principles helps pages look good and make sense, but repetition lets your visitors know whether they're still in the same web site" (139). 
• I also mentioned that I chose my theme because I wanted a horizontal navigation bar that was visible without scrolling.  well ... "Don't make visitors scroll to see the navigation links!" (140).

 Thanks for taking this design journey with me.

References
Book image source
Williams, Robin. The  Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice. Third ed. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2008. Print.

Design Principle #4: Contrast

"Contrast is created when two elements are different" (65).

"[C]reate some contrast ... their eyes will be attracted to certain parts ... as they skim ..." (72).

I am playing a bit of a contrast joke with my color choice for this principle. I chose blue as an accent color last semester on my first Google Sites page. Dr. Rodrigo kindly pointed out that this was not the best choice as most hyperlinks are in blue, so I was risking tricking my readers into thinking my blue words were hyperlinks. Blue therefore is a terrible example of contrast because "[i]f two items are not exactly the same, then make them different. Really different" (65).

Design Principle #3: Repetition

Repetition:

 "Repeat some aspect of the design 

throughout the entire piece" (51).

Repetition is my favorite aspect of design. The ways you can do this overtly or subtly are very fun for me to play with. Repetition is definitely a design aspect with room for pushing the boundaries.

Design Principle #2: Alignment

Alignment

Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. 

Every item should have visual connection with something else on the page (33).
 
I am a center-alignment user.  I admit it, and well, I can't deny it anyway because all you have to do is look at the post right below this one to see my center-alignment in action.  But that is about to change!

Design Principle #1: Proximity

Proximity

"Items relating to each other should be grouped close together ...

This helps organize information, reduces clutter, and gives the reader a clear structure" (13).

My Class Homepage

Designing for Collaborative Creation

Today, I focused on making my class site a place where my students are co-creators of our learning and exploration.  This was possible on our ning at a basic level (students creating their own discussions and controlling their personal pages), but there was not much they could do.  I have to admit I did not focus well on maximizing what they could do either.  My new site is going to different because I am designing it that way.  That is a key aspect of true digital design -- looking at what can be done because it is digital versus relying on standard print design principles.  I am not finished with my thinking about this kind of design, but I am pretty pleased with what I accomplished today.

Designing for "Wunder"

"English Studies ... still privilege[s] the Word as its preferred mode of 
performance, and linear argument as its preferred form. For this to change, 
more scholars must move beyond critical verbal analysis of visual texts and 
become active architects of intellectually engaged (and engaging) multimediated 
visual rhetoric. Until we and our students see ourselves as producers rather 
than just consumers of visual rhetoric, we are ceding the authority to speak 
and intervene in an increasingly mediated world" (Delagrange 11).

Before I embark on my big creation (a Wordpress site for my AP English class), I wanted to practice being a thoughtful producer of digital design who would make Susan Delagrange proud.

Summer Reading ... by the English teacher

DMAC Day 8

I have spent some time thinking about how I can build on what I am learning here at DMAC to craft my independent study for the rest of the summer.  One of my goals for this independent study is to read some of the many texts I have heard about -- with the idea that the summer might be a time when I can choose my academic reading and have the time to actually read.  I may be in delusion about this, but hey, it is good to have goals.  So here is my draft reading list for the summer ...

Knowing What I Do Not Know

Not knowing is good. 

I start my AP English class every year by telling them that "confusion represents an advanced stage of understanding," wisdom from my first NCTE conference.  I wish I could remember the presenter's name to give him credit -- his words have liberated so many of my AP students from their worries that they need to know it all.  Those who know they are confused as they look forward know a great deal about where they are and what they already know.

I am taking my own advice as I head to DMAC: embracing the chance to wander paths, knowing I do not know where I will be going (well, I am going to Columbus, OH, but where will I intellectually go?) and knowing that what I do not know is much more important than what I do know.  Here is what I do not know about digital media and composition, what makes me confused.

Canonical Texts Wikipage Review

The two wikipages I reviewed are Manovich's The Language of New Media and Baudrillard's Simulcra... and  The Illusion ...

CSS Exploration #1

Explorer Nobles reporting in from week one. Not lost. Repeat not lost. In fact, feeling rather smug that this first foray into the unknown terrain of coding went so well. Must remember though that tougher terrain lays ahead ...

Reading, Thinking, and Reflecting #4

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, chapters 16-22:

"Because without the Mercerism experience we just have your word that you feel this empathy business, this shared, group thing" (209-210).

After our 1/23 class when Dr. Rodrigo shared that one reason we are reading this book is to think about empathy as we study new media, I have found myself pondering this idea even more. When I first wrote about empathy, I was thinking about whether digital networks can ever replicate the empathy drawn from physical proximity that underlies non-digital social networks. Dick wrote (see above quote) that empathy will always be the divider between human and android -- which makes me think about whether humans can ever find full empathy through digital connections. Does the inherent lack of empathy in something digital create a barrier to the conveyance of human empathy across digital channels? Dick's empathy box does generate human empathy across its technology -- is this something possible outside of science fiction?