a knit of identity     —Whitman

I'm putting together an imaginary (maybe-to-become-real) anthology of student work. As an English instructor interested in how college students are coping with visual culture, media onslaught, and the culture industry, I'm going to collect essays in which one semester's class identify themselves in "the torrent." The final product, I hope, will be a kind of snapshot or group portrait of use to anyone concerned about the way our world is evolving, and/or any scholar of new media and new writing.

Instructions

Write a verbal-visual essay in which you locate yourself in the culture industry or the Age of New Media. Take the essay you wrote the week of Sept. 6th, and develop the piece to make it richer, clearer, and more polished. At the same time, integrate a visual component into the essay. That is, make this a verbal-visual piece which shows off your ability to write in innovative new genres. Ultimately, you will create a document which itself is an example of verbal-visual culture.

This is a very open assignment; use your imagination.

When working on the design component, see if you can make design a reflection of, or reinforcement for, your thesis. I.e., let your design grow out of your thesis.

Your project should be accompanied by a brief reflective letter to me, explaining any trouble you had with technology, how experienced you were with the technology you used, anything that didn't get done in your project due to time or skill constraints, etc. This will help me level the playing field and score everyone's work fairly.

Important Considerations

What Medium?

This anthology of student writing will be electronic, which means that you are free to use any digital medium you like: Microsoft Word, Power Point, Adobe Reader, Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, etc. Anything goes as long as you wind up with a file which will fit easily with other files in an overall package.

How to Get Images into an Essay?

Images and written text can co-exist and interact in a number of really interesting ways, all of which are charted by Scott McCloud in our Understanding Comics textbook. For this project you will need to read his Chapter 6, "Show and Tell" very carefully and draw on the excellent possibilities he outlines. Even though your visual essay may not be in the form of a comic strip, McCloud's ideas are easily extracted for use in other genres. You'll want to be very attentive, in this project, to how you are combining the verbal and the visual, and make use of images in multiple ways.

Who is the Targeted Audience for This Work?

Your reader is simply your instructor and classmates, as well as anyone interested in 1) where our culture is headed on the Information Highway; 2) how college students are adapting to the demands of new literacies and a visual culture; and 3) the possibilities of both traditional as well as innovative, yet-to-be-tried verbal-visual modes of communication. That is, for this project you will be something of an explorer.

Why are We Doing This?

The assignment meets several course aims. One of these is to give you practice writing visually. I.e., to help you "produce effective visual communication in several genres and media related to personal, professional, and/or educational goals." Your visual essay and our class anthology will be just such a form of visual communication.

Another aim is to help you "describe and assess [your] own involvement in a visual culture." This is actually the heart of the project.

And, finally, our aim is to make you a knowledgeable, self-aware citizen of the culture industry. That is, you'll be able to "discuss visual culture and language intelligently with classmates, instructors, friends and family, drawing on principles and vocabulary introduced in class." Because you'll be integrating Todd Gitlin and other new media theorists into your essay, this project will go a fair distance toward making you "VC-literate."

How Do You Proceed?

You can go about creating your visual essay in a number of ways. You can develop and polish the piece you wrote the week of Sept. 6th, then begin adding images. Or you can put together images first and then incorporate your written essay among them. Or you can do a little of both. There is no one way to accomplish your ultimate task; we'll go over specific possibilities and demonstrations in class.

How Long?

It's very hard to mandate length for a project like this, but let's say APROXIMATELY 1,000 words, or 3 double-spaced pages of text, plus a proportionally equal amount of visual material.

How Your Work Will be Evaluated

Your finished essay must:

  1. Include both written text and images in a ratio of (roughly) 50% text and 50% image.
  2. Show awareness, skill, and flexibility in combining text and images, drawing on McCloud. You should combine images and text in multiple ways.
  3. Present quality images which are a) varied; b) aesthetically pleasing; and c) scaled and focused as needed. (You are free to "shop" any images you use.)
  4. Present a clear and relevant thesis which is evident throughout, and supported by plenty of specific reasons, facts, sources, and examples.
  5. Be structured in a way that makes your argument most convincing as well as easy to follow, with a clear pattern of organization and helpful transitions between its parts. (For instance, make sure paragraphs are focused and developed.)
  6. Be edited for appropriate sentence style (voice, clarity, and concision).
  7. Be proofread for mechanical slips and surface errors (punctuation, spelling, syntax).
  8. Include MLA-style documentation for all sources. (You may have to innovate a bit, but MLA format should be discernable.)
  9. Be functional. (That is, it can be opened, viewed, read, and navigated smoothly.)
  10. Show strong understanding of Gitlin and at least one other relevant source.
  11. Show creativity.
  12. Include a 1-2 page reflective letter to the teacher, describing and explaining your experience in creating the project, including any trouble you had. If such a letter will fit into your project itself--great. But otherwise you may just hand it in as hardcopy.
 

Project Grade Definitions

Outstanding = A = 18-20

Meets all of the criteria above and shows originality relative to work typically produced in English 357.

Very Good = B = 15-17

Meets all of the criteria above, but may do so without distinction, or may meet some of the criteria exceptionally well and other criteria somewhat weakly.

Fair = C = 12-14

Meets some of the criteria above, or meets all somewhat weakly.

Poor = D = 9-11

Meets few of the criteria above, or meets all very minimally.

Unacceptable = F = less than 9

Meets none of the criteria above or meets some in an exceptionally weak manner.

 

Have I seen the sea or has the sea seen me?     —Lawrence

 

back to 357 Homepage

—