Society has reached a level of sophistication and progress in the 21st century that has never before been seen. The way we work, socialize, and live on a daily basis is founded on the many platforms of our generation. It is essential as college students preparing to enter the real world to have an understanding of the many different literacies that are available to us. With a proficiency in basic technology, students and professionals can create persuasive arguments, efficiently solve problems, design and synthesize information, and make better connections.
We have the opportunity to make more incredible advances than ever before because of our access to these literacies. This class has given me many of the tools and abilities to be a “successful participant”, as deemed by the NCTE Executive Committee, in the 21st century society. By learning the different affordances of sound, visuals, text, and a mixture of these, I have a better understanding of how to use the technology around me to craft an argument and synthesize information.
As I continue my college career and eventually move into the workforce, these skills will open opportunities and allow me to be more successful. Most students are aware of the basic way to form an argument and portray information to the audience. Through a textual essay, the author has an opportunity to choose their words in such a way that convinces the reader of their subject. The author of a textual essay has access to an endless amount of information and sources that they can synthesize with their own thoughts and words. An effectively written essay has the opportunity to convince its audience of almost anything.
During this class though, we learned that textual essays are not the only way to efficiently portray information and an argument. The greatest learning experience this semester occurred with the audio unit. After completing this unit, the effect audio can have in convincing an argument or portraying information is more obvious to me. Audio is all around us and has a huge impact on our lives. Learning about all of the affordances of sound (e. g. , interviews, sound effects, tone, music) opened my mind to how an argument or information can be developed.
Each of these different aspects of sound can completely change the mood and emotion of the work. Different affordances of sound allow the creator to layer ideas and points to support their overall argument. Learning how to use audacity, a program specifically for audio, was a struggle. I am not the most technologically advanced student but now, after much practice, I feel confident that I can produce a work in audacity. In my own audio essay, I used affordances of sound like an interview, background music, and sound effects to advance my argument.
It took a lot of thought and layering to use these affordances in order to catch the listener’s attention, get their empathy, and convince them of my subject. With a lot of time and effort though, I now understand and can generate an argument through audio. Having the knowledge and skill to use audio to my advantage will be beneficial as I move on in my college career. The unit focused on visual rhetoric fell more into my area of previous knowledge. Photography is a hobby I enjoy and learning about the rule of thirds, point of view, and other basic photography language was review.
It is a well known idea that a photograph is worth a thousand words. A picture can portray almost any idea to an audience if devised in the right way. Visuals, like audio, are extremely abundant in our everyday lives. Every advertisement we view on television or in magazines is purposefully constructed to convince the audience of their product or idea. Even professional photographs, when taking pictures of their subject, are purposefully creating a story or argument that they want the audience to understand. Before the visual unit, I hadn’t really thought about creating an argument with my photographs.
When I captured my own images, I only really thought about what was on the first layer. In other words, I didn’t really have a purpose for my photographs. Once we analyzed some different images though, I came to the realization that every photograph needs a purpose and has the opportunity to tell a magnificent story or convince an argument. The only way to create a convincing image is to be purposeful with the elements used. It is important to rely on the different affordances of visuals to produce an image that the audience can easily interpret and understand.
When developing a visual, consider such aspects as gaze, placement, and depth with the intention to focus the viewer’s attention and get your message across. All of these affordances have the ability to completely change an image. Knowing how to recognize these affordances and what they contribute to the argument can be beneficial in allowing one to analyze other arguments and invent their own. I focused a lot on natural aspects for my visual essay. As a result, I used techniques like the rule of thirds, perspective, and contrast to build my argument.
Using these affordances allowed me to better understand the overall argument by giving it a purpose. After completing this unit, I am more convinced that with the right skill I can develop a visual that has the ability to speak my words and thoughts for me. The last unit was the greatest learning experience because we were prompted to create a video by essentially combining all of the different literacies we have previously learned. A moving image has the opportunity to use many different strategies and skills, which makes it an intimidating venture.
With the right skills though, a video can use audio, visuals, and written text in order to develop a complete argument. Using the most effective affordances of each literacy gives the author the ability to layer an experience for the audience. In my group’s video essay, we used a combination of interviews, voice narration, and images of information being written out to expose the audience to our issue and opinion. These three methods, all of different literacies, allowed us to portray our ideas to the audience effectively.
We also layered upbeat music and videos of campus to keep the mood light because our subject is possibly uncomfortable. By combining all the different literacies, we were able to effectively progress an argument that was interesting and convincing for our audience. Learning how to bring all the different literacies together and layering them will be beneficial as I move on in college. I now have the understanding of how to use all of the modes together in the most effective way. Learning how to combine the different technological modes including visual, audio, and textual, was extremely valuable.
Each of these literacies have their own strengths and weaknesses in creating arguments and portraying information. As a student in the 21st century, when our lives are so dependent on technology, it is important to learn how to use these different modes to our advantage. This class has given me the opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge for each of these literacies. As I go on in my college career they will be useful in allowing me to create unique arguments and open new opportunities.
