Text and Images in Education
Kress and Bolter suggest that images are increasingly becoming more common in the electronic media we now consume. This has an impact on design and literacy. Kress argues that “Instead of competence in relation to stable social frames and stable resources for representation, we need the notion of design, which says: In this social and cultural environment, with these demands for communication of these materials, for that audience, with these resources, and given these interests of mine, what is the design that best meets these requirements? (Kress p. 20)”. Kress’ point reflects the notion that the increase in images can both be a positive and a negative and it is up to the author to judge whether different types of multimedia enhance the design of the text or not. I think what we are witnessing is a supply and demand relationship based on the marketability of image rich texts. When Kress suggests accounting for “these interests of mine” (p.20), meaning the author, we now have a very wide range of authorship and many see the profitability of flashier image rich texts. The increase in visual representations means that creators feel that there is perhaps a larger audience that demands image rich texts. The popularity of manga and other comics has certainly increased (an increase from zero shelf space to an entire section in my current school library over 12 years), and I have heard the medium praised for its ability to get students who seldom read, to read often. The type of information that benefits from a purely textual representation still exists but its application may be less versatile and target a much smaller audience and therefore less profitable. I don’t think that this balance is problematic unless as Kress explains, the design does not meet the intended requirements prescribed by the author. However, when the author’s interests are largely financial, does this not bias the author towards flashy images and designs when they may in fact be ill suited to the text and its intended audience? The layout of new social studies textbooks I have seen increasingly resemble websites with multiple side bars, feature windows, and shorter passages of text. Newer editions often include access to online versions of the textbook with even more images, videos and animations. If an activity requires research, students turn to the textbook or the first few sites in a Google search. In either case, the content is typically media rich and may not be an example of effective design from an educational view.
Kress argues that the change from purely written texts to multimodal designs alters the reader’s concept of sequence. “The logic of space works differently: In the message entity (the image), all elements are simultaneously present—even though they were, of course, in many forms of image—in draw-ing or in painting, though not in photography—placed there in time and even though the viewer traverses the image-elements in time. And so it is the viewer’s action that orders the simultaneously present elements in relation to her or his interest. In spatially organized representation, the elements that are chosen for representation are simultaneously present, and it is their spatial arrangement that is used to make (one kind of) meaning” (Kress, p. 13). I think that there is educational value in texts with a fixed sequence. Students can more easily focus on one stream of content. However, Kamin (1984, p.218) predicts that students using these electronic multimodal texts would benefit by learning to to handle various types of information presented in different modes all at the same time.
The difference between linear written texts and spatially organized multimodal designs is probably better viewed as a continuum and arguments can be made in favour of the benefits of either end of the scale depending on the audience and goal of the design. Despite its criticisms as an academic source, I think Wikipedia is good example of a balance between texts and images. Typical Wikipedia pages contain more text than images and the reader must scroll to reveal the sequence of the article. Images, videos and graphs are place throughout the article next to the related text. The images do not dominate the page or alter the sequence unless the reader chooses to scan to specific sections. Students can deep read content without distraction but also benefit from images that supplement the text. Perhaps this is a result of Wikipedia’s community of contributors following a structure that helps functionality, or perhaps the balance is a result of a design that is not economically driven by advertisements or subscriptions.
Bolter, J.D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Kamin, J. (1984). The Think Tank Book. Berkeley, CA: Sybex.
Kress, G., Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal Discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. New York: Oxford University Press.
“Wikipedia-logo-v2-en” by Wikimedia Foundation – Wikimedia Foundation. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia-logo-v2-en.svg#/media/File:Wikipedia-logo-v2-en.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morse
Technology has re-mediated the page bound text through hyperlinks.Wikipedia is an example of hypertext (a text which contains link to other text). One click give access to other links. Wikipedia can fulfill our immediate need to know the subject but neither stop the desire to deeply understand subject nor give comprehensive knowledge.
A well designed visual image can produce more influential effect and learning than merely words. Visualizing Images as Text is a Cognitive Process (Felten, 2008). Moreover, the time of multimodality and multiliteracies pushes educators to integrate various approaches and methodologies to teaching and learning. As James Paul(2004) has said, meaning and knowledge are built up through various modalities,Images, texts, symbols, interactions,abstract design, sound, not just words (as cited in (Felten,2008)). Furthermore, visuals haven’t completely offset the importance of text. The electronic book or e-book is the example of remediation of printed book (Bolter, 2001). Indeed, there are multiple pros and cons of image or visuals usage but we cannot deny the educational perspective and use. In some regions, teachers are still considered as source of information and printed text still dominates.
I agree with you that the choice of text over image depends on the type of information and intended audience. I just want to explain a point that text and image have inverse relations(Bolter, 2001)[ or simply inversely proportional to each other]. In case of image, text becomes secondary or most the time nothing. He has defined a process named reverse ekphrasis, a process in which image has given the task to explain words with the aid of sound for example film. In image rich world, words are given some rights to enhance meanings of image for example digital storytelling, video presentations.
Technology has embraced globally and altered according to the needs and learning styles. Selection of technology or media does not depend completely on individuals’ choice it certainly involves various dominating components like institutional policy for media, the desire to connect with family and friends. Text still exist as well as print but the primary medium to publish information has replaced by technology.
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah,NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates INc.
Felten, P. (2008). Visual Literacy. Resource Review, 60-64.
Brendan,
The cultural shift towards the inclusion of the visual over the written word is interesting. You raise an excellent point regarding the author’s interests and if they are solely financial. It seems that authors and web designers are catering to the masses and most people are drawn to the visual. Social media plays a crucial role in that. The dominance of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Reddit, to name a few, paved the way for the visual to dominate the text. People are naturally more attracted to images than they are links or text. Facebook posts with an image receive, on average, more than twice as many comments as those without. Photo albums on Facebook receive 180% more engagement than a normal post.
This also applies to businesses as well. 67% of consumers consider clear, detailed images to carry more weight than product information or customer ratings. That is a surprising statistic. I would assume that the customer rating, although largely text-based, would carry more weight because it’s coming from people who actually used the product. The visual aspect overpowers that because visuals show the product without telling people about them. It allows the viewer to seemingly make their own decision without the pressure from the business.
More and more people, and especially business, are turning towards the visual as a means to communicate. There are far too many positives to overlook. The written word still has a role to play, but it is no longer as effective as it once was. The future is the visual.
Sources:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx
http://blog.wishpond.com/post/70300587846/10-reasons-visual-content-will-dominate-2014
This is a really good point but I think we need to distinguish the types of visual media. One of the concerns I have with Bolter is how specific he is about what constitutes visual media and how each of those types of media actually are used. Graphic organizers, stock photos, case study images and exemplars all have very different relationships with text when embedded.
Graphic organizers seems to make the most sense as a way of communicating information. They show relationships between concepts and facts, and do that quickly and easily. Infographics, for example, combine visual and written media near seamlessly. Most are educational and are often quite effective at communicating information. They also draw in a reader.
Sometimes images can be used well for case studies. Having a student examine an image as part of a text can actually provide an opportunity to apply a skill. It has to be framed appropriately though.
Stock photos often don’t have this feature and often are used as garnish to the text. It might make visible a certain idea, but rarely provides anything meaningful to a student beyond eye-candy.
Overall, I think we need to learn how to see images and text not as opposing media, but rather complementary under the right circumstances.
Brian your mention of info-graphics is great example. It’s interesting to see how they are being used in education, business and in the public. The graphics used are carefully selected to represent or explain the textual content. Generally, at the bottom of an info-graphic a list of references cite longer works for interested “readers” of the info-graphic to check out.
Even in the workplace, info-graphics are used to summarize longer text-based documents, such as proposals, or project plans. In those cases the text content is dominant, and the info-graphic communicates the same information visually.
In some of the online courses I’ve worked on, I’ve created mini info-graphics to re-enforce key concepts of the text. In a way, info-graphics are used as visual versions of pull-quotes.