This task was no easy feat. Trying to determine the connotations of emojis requires not only some creativity by the writer, but also by the reader. My approach was to rough out what I wanted to say then I reviewed the image options to see if I could substitute the image for the word or idea. It was an approach similar to one offered by Bolter (2001). “Print today is continuing to remake itself in order to maintain its claim to represent reality as effectively as digital and other visual technologies” (Bolter, 2001, p.47).

Both images and words take meaning from the experiences of the viewer/reader. For instance, when starting with the title, I decided that it didn’t need to be verbatim so instead I added some additional imagery to help guide the viewer to its meaning. Hayles (2006) describes the emojis as a site of negotiation or interpretation. The limited numbers of emojis in this exercise made it more challenging.

Kress (2005) developed the idea of aptness as a key variable within expression. “Aptness of mode and what is represented is not the only issue: Equally significant now is the aptness of fit between mode and audience (Kress, 2005, p.19). Bridging both Bolter and Kress, it is interesting to take their perspectives into pedagogy when it comes to multimodal delivery.

As a partial aside, this task reminded me of Ikea instructions. Check out this article for more information about the guiding principles within every page of their designed instruction booklets.

Want to know what movie is described above?

References 

Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd ed.). Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. doi:10.4324/9781410600110

Hayles, Katherine (2006). “The Future of Literature.”  Audio Recording of Lecture.

https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/96891/files/20820576/preview

Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22(1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.004