Portfolio #3: Reflective Essay

Directory:
01. Informal Writing #1
02. Informal Writing #2
03. Blog Post #1
04. Blog Post #2
---Final Intervention Project---
05. Text Artifact #1: Website
06. Text Artifact #2: Infographic
07. Text Artifact #3: Map (below infographic)
08. Rationale
09. References

Reflective Essay

In this unit, and in this course as a whole, I learned about the different modes (linguistic, gestural, aural, visual, spatial) and how they can be effectively utilized. I experimented with creating text artifacts that conveyed information or narrative in each of the different modes, and became well versed in interpreting how other materials utilize the modes to create engaging methods of expressing information.

Overall, I used the linguistic, aural, and spatial modes the most when creating text artifacts for this class. For example, my very first composition, the webpage I made to represent the linguistic mode, also unknowingly utilized the visual and spatial modes. Although the phrases I selected were undoubtedly presented via the linguistic mode, they were also presented with the visual mode, as I placed careful consideration into how the text was presented visually. Each phrase was presented using different colors, fonts, and visual effects. Additionally, the spatial mode played a huge part in the creation of the page, as with any webpage, since special consideration has to be given to margins, padding, line breaks, and more, in order for the text and images to be displayed in an understandable and visually appealing manner.

What I learned from this class that will most likely help me the most in the future is not only how to utilize the different modes to express information, but how to use different types of media and technology to the same effect. For example, through the Media Literacy Workshops, I learned how to create an infographic using the website Canva, which ended up being extremely helpful when it came time to make the text artifacts for my final portfolio.

I also ended using this information for a project outside of class, where as part of the final project I had to include a graphic along with my research notebook and paper. I created an infographic via Canva to depict facts and figures regarding abuse in youth residential treatment centers, and while doing so, paid careful attention to how I was integrating the linguistic, visual, and spatial aspects of the information. I expect I’ll continue to use these concepts learned in this class in my future academic, professional, and recreational endeavors.

If there’s one thing I wish we had focused on more in this class, I think it would have to be the resources we have available to us as students on the University of Illinois campus. For example, I had no idea that the Makerspace existed, or the range of objects we could create there. I also wish I had known earlier about the 3D printing and VR technology available to us.

Additionally, for the purpose of creating text artifacts, I ended up having to search for resources available to me outside of class time. Since the computer I have is a Chromebook and can’t run any programs, in order to create the video I did for the aural mode composition, I had to go to the Undergraduate Library and ask if they had any computers available that had video editing software. I was redirected to an area called the Scholarly Commons on the third floor of the Main Library, which had a Mac computer that had the iMovie program. Using that, I was able to make and edit the movie.

There, I also discovered several computers that had access to other useful programs, such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. I also learned that I could rent tablets for digital drawing at the Undergraduate Library tech desk, and though I haven’t had time to try it out yet, I’m hoping that over the winter break I’ll be able to borrow a digital drawing tablet and hook it up to one of the computers that has Photoshop, so that I can learn how to use the program for digital artwork.

Unfortunately, I only learned this very recently, but it would have been very helpful information to have when working on earlier compositions or assignments. Therefore, I think it would have been useful if we spent more time on learning the resources available to us, such as the Scholarly Commons or the technologies available to rent from the Loanable Tech Desk.

Throughout this course, I learned a lot, not just about multimodal composing, but about how I can use skills such as media literacy and multimodal composing to create meaningful and interesting ways of expressing information, as well as my own personality. For example, at the very beginning of the course, our text artifacts were meant to be self-exploratory. Through that, I got to experiment with using different modes to express myself and concepts that were important to me, such as music, language, humor, and art.

This can be seen in my very first text artifact, which was purely a work of self-expression. As the course progressed, we began to integrate more professional and academic aspects to our compositions. However, since we still had that base of self-exploration, all the compositions (at least in my case, I can’t speak for others) ended up including expressions of our own personalities and artistic tastes in them, while still being academic endeavors.

For example, my aural composition very obviously included aspects of my interests, as it was a compilation of clips from musical performances by Japanese bands, and as seen from the very start, Japanese language learning and music are two extremely important interests of mine. Despite this, the aural composition, as can be seen from the rationale, was as much an academic endeavor as it was one of self-expression. I used the aforementioned video clips in order to explain the concept of multimodal listening as had been explained in the reading assigned to us.

In this way, I managed to combine crucial elements of my personality with an academic assignment, which is something I usually am not able to do in other classes and haven’t experimented with before, despite being in my fourth year of college. I continued combining my personality and academics in compositions going forward: for example, my final composition for this course, my website, is an expression of one of my main interests, which is website design, but adapted to an academic context.

In conclusion, through the course of this class, I learned not only how to use the linguistic, gestural, aural, visual, and spatial modes in creating multimodal compositions; but also how to fully utilize the media resources that are available to me; and to combine self-expression with academics. 

Portfolio #3: Blog Post #2: Theorizing with Transmedia Storytelling

Theorizing with Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling is when a narrative is told using several different types of media, such as film, music, performance, prose, or more. An example of this would be Donald Glover/Childish Gambino’s work This is the Internet, according to Camden Ostrander. In This is the Internet, Glover used video, music, live performances, a specialized app, a website, and more to create a story about how the internet affects identity. Although I didn’t know about this project or the artist before going through Ostrander’s website, I was very impressed by the breadth of Glover’s project and the vast array of media utilized to create a transmedia narrative.

After reading about This is the Internet and Ostrander’s analysis of it, I started thinking about other forms of transmedia storytelling I may have encountered in my personal consumption of media. One related narrative that came to mind was the band Malice Mizer’s conceptual album, accompanying film, and art book Bara no Seidou (Cathedral of Roses). Although it doesn’t compare to This is the Internet in terms of breadth of media used, it also (presumably) had a significantly lower budget and was directed towards a more niche audience.

There wasn’t a linear storyline to Malice Mizer’s conceptual neoclassical darkwave/gothic metal album Bara no Seidou, as much of the songs didn’t have lyrics, and the album was instead meant to represent musically and artistically the themes of loss and despair; largely influenced by the recent sudden death of the band’s drummer. Instead of releasing the album as a CD, the band instead created a book with ten sections, each section corresponding to one of the ten songs in the album. Included in each section was the lyrics of the corresponding song (if there were any); one or more poems relating to despair, death, or loss; and an illustration or artistic photo that one was supposed to look at and reflect on while listening to the corresponding song.

The physical CD was in the back of the book. The band then did two performances of the album in which they utilized a scaled down replica of a cathedral as a stage prop and a choir of veiled nuns for assisting vocals. Finally, they then wrote, directed, and starred in a silent black and white horror film, using the music from the album as the film’s soundtrack.

Although one could argue that Bara no Seidou was not necessarily transmedia storytelling as there was no linear story being told, it was certainly an artistic work that utilized several different forms of media across all modes in order to convey emotion. The actual music of the album utilizes the aural mode; the lyrics and poems utilize the linguistic mode; the performances, film and stage setup use the gestural and spatial modes; and the art and photographs in the artbook used the visual mode. Additionally, Bara no Seidou can be consumed in the form of film, music, poetry, art, or theatre, making it a transmedia narrative.

My current final project for this course is to create a portfolio centered around a social issue that uses several compositions across different modes discussed in class. For this task, I am trying to raise awareness about the current lack of adequate mental health care in Illinois, and to find a way to take action and help others do the same. I am designing and creating a website that will host information about the topic, and I plan to also create an infographic and a short video directing viewers how to take action, although more research is required in order to find out exactly what one can do to help.

I also need to find a way to direct people to my website; I’m contemplating using the design lab to create stickers with a link and QR code that I can then give to people. In this way, although my project isn’t a narrative or form of storytelling, I believe it would still count as a transmedia enterprise, as I would be utilizing the aural, linguistic, and visual modes to convey information, as well as the spatial mode in terms of my website design.

Portfolio #3: Blog post #1 - Theorizing With Modality: Concepts of Normality and Neurodivergency

Theorizing With Modality: Concepts of Normality and Neurodivergency

In Leonard J. Davis’s essay titled “Disability, Normality, and Power,” the modern concept of the “norm” is dissected. Davis explains how the current concept of a normalized or ideal human body, ability, and intelligence came about in the late 19th and early 20th century due to the rise of eugenics. Along with these established rankings came a way of categorizing anyone who didn’t fall into the desired or “acceptable” societal, physial, and intellectual norms as “feebleminded, crippled, depraved,” thus lumping in mentally and physically handicapped individuals with “criminals” and “degenerates.”

This lead to a societal stigma against mentally and physically handicapped people, as well as the belief that for humans to progress as a society, mentally and physically handicapped people must not proliferate and so should be sterilized. Obvious results of this belief can be found in the forced sterilization of mentally and physically handicapped people, as well as those believed to be deviant in behavior, such as “habitual alcoholics,” and more famously, in Hitler’s mass murder of such individuals.

Additionally, due to the more recent historical narrative of handicapped people being outside the established “norm,” much of modern society is structured in a way that excludes such individuals. For example, most buildings were built without thought given to how those with physical handicaps might not be able to enter or move around in them. Only in recent decades have public structures added features such as ramps, elevators, and accessible bathrooms.

Even then, because these features were usually added long after the building was completed, they are not fully integrated into the architecture, and still make it difficult for handicapped individuals to access a structure in the same way someone without handicaps would. For example, a building could have four different entrances, but only one accessible entrance. A person in a wheelchair may have to wheel around three sides of the building in order to enter, while a person without a wheelchair could enter normally and without impediment.

Although Davis’s paper was focused mainly on those with physical handicaps, I would like to address the issue of those with mental handicaps/illnesses or certain mental features that affect their lives in ways those without such mental features wouldn’t ordinarily perceive.

For example, although Asperger’s syndrome (also referred to as high-functioning autism) isn’t usually thought of as a mental handicap or illness, it can significantly affect the lives of those who have it. Although the disorder affects different people in different ways, typical symptoms include having difficulty in reading social cues, hyperfocusing on certain topics, sound sensitivities, being unable to make or maintain eye contact, and fidgeting or repetitive movements.

In American society, some social “norms” of communication are to make eye contact while speaking, sit still, be able to switch conversational topics (rather than focusing on one certain topic for a prolonged period of time), etc. Because many individuals with Asperger’s are unable to do such things, they are often perceived as being untruthful, socially inept, annoying, or unintelligent. As a result, this can impact the lives of people with Asperger’s significantly. It can make it hard to make friends, to get hired for jobs, to establish romantic relationships, to communicate effectively in academic or workplace environments, and more.

Currently, at least in the case of those with Asperger’s syndrome, those who are lucky enough to get it diagnosed at a young age are sometimes able to take classes that teach them social cues and how to function “normally” in society. For example, a young person with Asperger’s could be taught or teach themselves that “when someone says x, the proper response is y.” This allows them to act according to society’s “norm” by constantly monitoring their interactions and adjusting their behavior thusly, which can be extremely exhausting.

In an ideal society, rather than people with Asperger’s having to constantly self-regulate, those who don’t have such mental features would be educated about the symptoms of Asperger’s and taught how to recognize individuals with the syndrome and communicate with them.

Additionally, workplaces and academic institutions would restructure in such ways that would be more accessible for those with Asperger’s syndrome. For example, many individuals with the syndrome have sound and light sensitivities or auditory processing issues. Being aware of this and providing subtitles when videos are shown in class or not assuming that an individual wasn’t listening when they ask for clarification or for an instructor to repeat something would be one such way in which academic institutions could become more accessible to those with neurodivergent features such as Asperger’s syndrome.

In American society, the established “norm” is built in such a way that it unintentionally excludes those with not only visible physical handicaps, but invisible mental handicaps, illnesses, and neurodivergent features. Although many buildings and institutions have retroactively put in features to make them more accessible to those with physical handicaps, many have yet to socially restructure themselves in ways that make them more accessible for those with mental handicaps, illnesses, and neurodivergent features.

Portfolio #3: Informal Writing 2

The following is the CSS code used for my website. This code provides the layout and basic color scheme of my website.

Portfolio #3: Informal Writing #1

The following notes are ones I took while doing research for my website and infographic. They have been edited somewhat for clarity.

Portfolio 2: Reflective Essay

Directory:

01. Informal Writing #1
02. Informal Writing #2
03. Theorizing with the Visual Mode
04. Composing with the Visual Mode + Rationale
05. Theorizing with the Aural Mode
06. Composing with the Aural Mode + Rationale 

For my first informal writing, I used my notes from class when we were first developing our themes for our second portfolio, based on a social issue we were interested in. Because it was something I had read about in the newspaper recently, I started thinking about the general lack of access to mental health treatment in Illinois and its effects on those who have mental illnesses. In these class notes, we were asked to use four different types of questions we had read about to start developing the sorts of questions we wanted to ask (and answer) in our portfolios. As can be seen from this informal writing sample, although I still needed to conduct more conclusive research, these questions became the basis for the main theme of my second portfolio and ongoing final project.

My second informal writing wasn't so much a writing as a rough sketch of what ended up becoming my "Composing with the Visual Mode" text artifact. For the connected "Theorizing with the Visual Mode," I had been thinking about how unrealistic depictions of female bodies in art and media leads to negative self-image in many women, and was trying to think about how I saw myself vs. how I wanted to be (based on media depictions of women). These thoughts led to this impromptu sketch on the back of a worksheet, which later ended up becoming the model for my finalized "Composing with the Visual Mode" text artifact.

In my "Theorizing with the Visual Mode" piece, I wrote about the chapter "Visible Guerillas" by Karen Springsteen which examined the subversive nature of both the work of the Guerilla Girls and Edouard Manet, particularly in the way they deconstruct prominent visualizations of the female form. I connected these theories to another prominent artist called Gustave Courbet, who, like Manet, subverted the 19th century French art world's beliefs on how female bodies should be presented.

Towards the end of the first draft I mentioned how modern-day depictions of female (and male) bodies are similarly warped to fit society's ideal, albeit in the context of technology in which Photoshop and Instagram filters have replaced oil paint as a method for smoothing over perceived imperfections. However, I did not manage to connect this to my main theme for this portfolio, which was mental illness, and so when I went back to write a second draft, I expanded upon this train of thought. I wrote about how, by having only a few body types portrayed as attractive or desirable in the media, many people end up developing poor self-image, disordered eating habits, body dysmorphia, and even eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.

For my "Composing with the Visual Mode" text artifact, I continued along this train of thought and decided to use art as my medium to express my message, similar to Courbet or Manet. I chose to represent my actual self vs. my "ideal" self: thinner, with more piercings and better hair. Additionally, to connect to the theme of mental illness, I represented my own personal history of depression. In my "real" self-portrait, I depicted my head as opened at a hinge- unhinged- with colored flowers and bees flying out to represent happiness leaving. Then for my "ideal" self-portrait, I drew a normal brain inside my head, to represent the desire for having a brain that produces serotonin properly.

With my essay for "Theorizing with the Aural Mode," I reflected on the reading by Jennifer Stoever which explained the concept of the "sonic color line." Because I couldn't think of a way to connect the sonic color line to my own experiences as I am white and have not been racially profiled from my voice, I first wrote about what I called the "sonic gender line" and how some music is unnecessarily gendered, for example "harder" music is perceived as being masculine, whereas lighter, pop music is perceived as being feminine. In my revised version, I then wrote about how women aren't listened to and are seen as being shrill, overemotional or hysterical and how this can impede their access to mental health treatment.

Finally, for my "Composing with the Aural Mode" assignment, I created a short video featuring different songs with different "textures," as inspired by Steph Ceraso's paper "(Re)Educating the Senses: Multimodal Listening, Bodily Learning, and the Composition of Sonic Experiences." Ceraso wrote about multimodal listening, which can be defined as the experience of listening to sound with more than one sense. For example, when going to a concert, you not only hear the music, you see the musicians, feel the vibrations of the music in your body, smell the sweat and cigarette smoke of the crowd, etc. As an avid music fan myself, I noticed that some songs have specific textures, and wanted to portray that. Therefore, I created a short video that consisted of 5 different songs, each with a different "texture." Additionally, to tie it in with the theme of mental illness, each of the songs I picked were about mental illness.

Through completing this second portfolio, I put a heavier emphasis on making sure there was a consistent theme threading through each of the facets of my portfolio. While my first portfolio was more of a free-for-all, I wanted this one to be more concise and connected through the theme of mental illness. This was a new practice for me, because usually I don't have to worry about connecting individual assignments, I just write it, submit it, and forget about it. However, for this portfolio, I had to be conscious while working on each composition on how it would connect to the project as a whole.

Portfolio 2: Informal Writing #2