In this article, I draw on Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen's (2001)
Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication
and Lev Manovich's (2001) The Language of New Media, which have
become prevalent texts in US writing studies fields, to describe the rubrics they
use and show how they help readers determine the materialities of multi modal or new
media texts. I also argue, however, that writing studies scholars should not rely
solely on these rubrics because they function in designerly, not readerly, ways that
would help readers understand a text's rhetorical situation. I apply the
rubrics to a new media text, ‘While Chopping Red Peppers’
(Ankerson and Sapnar, 2000), to show their limited use and to suggest that while
these multimodal and new media theories have a place in writing studies, we need
better methods and/or reading heuristics in order to interpret (and teach) such works.
Anderson, Daniel
(2003)
‘Prosumer Approaches to New Media Composition: Consumption and
Production in Continuum’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy8(1), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.1/binder2.html?http://www.hu.mtu.edu/kairos/CoverWeb/anderson/
2.
Ankerson, Ingrid
and
Sapnar, Megan
(2000) ‘While Chopping Red
Peppers’, Poems That Go, URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://www.poemsthatgo.com/gallery/spring2000/redpeppers/start.htm
3.
Ball, Cheryl E.
(Under review) ‘Not Just Visual: A Heuristic for Reading
New Media Texts’, Computers and Composition.
4.
Ball, Cheryl E.
and
Arola, Kristin
(CD-Rom) (2004) ix: visual exercises.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins Press
.
5.
Ball, Cheryl E.
and
Rice, Rich
(2006)
‘Reading the Text: Remediating the Text’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy10(2), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/10.2/binder2.html?%20coverweb/riceball/
6.
Bolter, Jay David
and
Grusin, Richard
(2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
.
7.
Cope, Bill
and
Kalantzis, Mary
(eds) (2000) Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the
Design of Social Futures.
New York: Routledge
.
8.
Foss, Sonja K.
(2004) Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice.
Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland
.
9.
Iser, Wolfgang
(1978) The Act of Reading.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press
.
10.
Johnson, James William
(1993) ‘Lyric’, in
Alex Preminger
and
T.V.F. Brogan
(eds) The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, pp.
714–726.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
.
11.
Kress, Gunther
(2000) ‘Multimodality’, in
Bill Cope
and
Mary Kalantzis
(eds) Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social
Futures, pp. 182–202.
New York: Routledge
.
12.
Kress, Gunther
and
van Leeuwen, Theo
(2001) Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of
Contemporary Communication.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
13.
Kress, Gunther
(2003) Literacy in a New Media Age.
New York: Routledge
.
14.
Manovich, Lev
(2001) The Language of New Media.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
.
15.
Miles, Adrian (ed.) (2003)
‘Violence of Text: Online Academic Publishing Exercise’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy8(1), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.1/binder2.html?%20coverweb/vot/
16.
Ross, Heather
(2003)
‘Digital Video and Composition: Gauging the Promise of a
Low-maintenance High reward Relationship’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy8(1), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.1/binder2.html?http://www.hu.mtu.edu/kairos/CoverWeb/ross/
17.
Sorapure, Madeleine
(2003)
‘Five Principles of New Media, or, Playing Lev Manovich’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy8(2), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.2/binder2.%20html?coverweb/sorapure/
18.
Sorapure, Madeleine
(2006)
‘Between Modes: Assessing Student New Media Works’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy10(2), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/10.2/binder2.%20html?coverweb/sorapure/
Wysocki, Anne Frances
(2001)
‘Impossibly Distinct: On Form/Content and Word/Image in Two
Pieces of Computer-based Interactive Multimedia’
, Computers and Composition18(2):
137–162
.
21.
Wysocki, Anne Frances
(2002)
‘A Bookling Monument’
, Kairos: Rhetoric, Technology, Pedagogy7(3), URL (accessed 1 March 2006): http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/7.3/binder2.html?coverweb/wysocki/
22.
Wysocki, Anne Frances
(2004) ‘Opening New Media to Writing: Openings
and Justifications’, in
Anne Frances Wysocki
,
Johndan Johnson-Eilola
,
Cynthia L. Selfe
and
Geoffrey SircWriting New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of
Composition, pp. 1–41.
Logan, UT: Utah State University Press
.
23.
Wysocki, Anne Frances
,
Johnson-Eilola
,
Johndan, Selfe
,
Cynthia L.
and
Sirc, Geoffrey
(2004) Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for
Expanding the Teaching of Composition.
Logan, UT: Utah State University Press
.
