Visual Rhetoric InDesign Project

Posted on September 20, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I’m teaching an undergraduate course in Visual Rhetoric for the first time at USF this semester. Our first few projects involved analysis and manipulation in photoshop. Our fourth project requires students to work in groups of 4 to design a cover and typography for a work in public domain using InDesign. We’re going to watch an episode from Bravo’s Work of Art this summer in class today as a way of introducing the project.

My guess is that others out there have tried a similar project–I’d appreciate any commentary you might be able to provide. I use this project to introduce concepts of visual research, teamwork, and to get them to play with a new technology. Here’s the assignment sheet:

Assignment 4: InDesign Project

Dr. Marc C. Santos | ENC 3310 | Fall 2010

Our 4th major project is our first team project. You will be placed in teams of 3 to complete this project. The project has two major stages: pitch presentation and delivered product.

The final group deliverable will be an InDesign file (.indd); individuals will submit a Project 4 Postmortem.
Each group will be responsible for selecting a work from the Gutenberg Top 100 downloads (all works in public domain) and giving it a modern re-design fit for print publication.

What Needs to Be Done for Monday, September 30th

Next Monday your project has to give an 8 to 10 minute presentation on your text that includes at least 3 design possibilities for the final project. The presentation should also cover whatever genre research you have compiled for your project (I am expecting 8 to 10 different images). Research should also speak to genre trends—think about size, color, font selections. In the presentation, you might want to have some kind of chronology that speaks to recent republications. Someone might want to look into font sizes typical for print publications. Start looking at books like a good chef eats.

All group members should speak for at least a portion of the presentation (although speaking time does not have to be evenly distributed).
Following your presentation, the class (emulating a corporate board) will vote for which of the mock-ups they would like to see continued to completion.

The visual portion of the research presentation should be collected into some kind of media that can be “turned in” for evaluation (be it a website, a powerpoint, a prezi, a flash presentation, etc). Additionally, each group should design a handout for the presentation (note: too much text can make a handout difficult to read, too little can make it useless).
Grading for the visual presentation will be based on: 1) the sophistication of the visual used in class, 2) the depth/quality of research grounding design decisions, 3) the quality of the mock-up selected by the class for additional development, 4) the professionalism and preparation of the group’s presenters.

What Needs to Be Done for Monday, October 4th

The group will email me one InDesign File (.indd) containing their project. A finished project will include a front and back cover design (fit for paperback printing), formatting for the book’s first 100 pages (if you are doing a book, this should be a minimum of 2 chapters). In addition to the cover, the book should include page numbers. If you are working with a book longer than 100 pages, there is no need to format all of the text.

The group project email should also include any research files or working files used to complete the project. InDesign is by and large a “finishing” technology. Groups will likely have to use other technologies (Photoshop for image editing, Word for rtf formatting) to create their projects.

Additionally, every person will turn in a Project 4 Postmortem sheet that documents their time spent on the project and speaks to group dynamics. This form will be distributed on Monday, September 30th.

How to Turn it in

As usual, a completed project should be sent to me on Sunday, October 3rd, at 11:59 pm. Please include your team name in the subject line. Postmortems should be sent in at the same time and include the team name in the subject line.

Posted in teaching, technology, visual-rhetoric | Comments Off on Visual Rhetoric InDesign Project

That’s Not O.K. Purdue Exponent

Posted on September 19, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

So I am a fan of Lanham’s theory of Attention Economy (link to interview) and I tend to enjoy a raunchy joke. As other’s have noted, Purdue’s student newspaper, the Exponent recently tried their hand at both. In a perverse way, they succeeded at both.

To the former, they have attracted at lot of eyeballs. I am contributing to that exposure. Controversy has gravitational pull.

There might be a context in which the cartoon (and I link back to Mxrk, since I can’t find a copy online), might be a critical commentary on an atmosphere of hyper-masculine conquest generated by contemporary youth culture. Maybe. But this ad, as many others on Facebook note, seems pretty happy with itself. There doesn’t seem to be a trace of irony to be found.

Hence the latter perversity. Its all too cliche for me to even spell it out here. In fact, it is so over the top, that it almost seems biblical to me (see how sex has become so impersonal, see how we have embraced debauchery, etc). It commands such a conservative heteronormative response that it performs something reminiscent of the sentiment of the “church” from this “if God were on Facebook” snippet:

As my wife pointed out, if you search “cartoon” on the Exponent site it becomes readily apparent that they don’t like women. Even without the cartoon in question, there’s plenty of other evidence. I think it enough for me to say: “that’s not o.k.”

Posted in feminism-is-still-necessary, politics, religion | Comments Off on That’s Not O.K. Purdue Exponent

Assessment from a Poetic Perspective

Posted on September 1, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

My wife today sent me a link to Heather K. Phillips MFA thesis project. Heather is a recent graduate of RISD; her project speaks to the legitimation of critique and the ubiquity of assessment at all levels of education. Here’s a great paragraph from her abstract:

In my work, I co-opt the vocabulary of critique, cloaked in niceties and reinforced by repetition, to demonstrate its limitations. Using a hyperbolic approach, I identify and mirror the language back to expose the veneer of objectivity and test the limits of subjectivity. I replay feedback in exaggerated form, to challenge the perception that critique is an infallible process.

Last night my Contemporary Rhetorics course focused on Lyotard’s Postmodern Condition. One of the student presentations highlighted an interview with Lyotard in a 1996 issue of JAC in which Lyotard declares PMC an abysmal failure and expresses extreme regret for every having written it. In a response to the interview, one of my colleagues, Deborah Jacobs, argued that Lyotard’s regret stems from his aversion to definition and “theory” (as Lyotard defines the term) in favor of philosophy and questions. She also notes that Lyotard’s dismissal of his writing “unsays” what was “said”–calls it into question, challenges its being. PMC, after all, is a book that attempts to define a particular movement, catalogue a series of transformations, and offer a possible (paralogical) response. It all sounds quite positivist. But it is also a slippery book that defies promises and undermines a few of its own pretensions (last night we discussed whether paralogy can exist as its own meta-narrative, or whether it is a parasitic operation, orientation, or attunement brought to an existing narrative-game). Lyotard jests in his introduction:

It remains to be said that the author of the report is a philosopher, not an expert. The latter knows what he knows and what he does not know: the former does not. One concludes, the other questions–two very different latter games. I combine them here with the result that neither quite succeeds. (xxv)

The passage reminds me of a saying of one of my more sardonic friends from graduate school: “you are always failing at something.” Phillips’ project speaks to this lingering postmodern challenge to the ideals of human autonomy and truth, particularly her “Stamps of Disapproval.”

I’m pretty sure I gave Casey one of these stamps not so long ago (but in my defense, his argument was entirely tautological).

Posted in contemporary-rhetoric, cool, lyotard, teaching, theory | Comments Off on Assessment from a Poetic Perspective

Let Me Tell You a Story

Posted on August 24, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Me (reading Lyotard’s Postmodern Condition)

Rowan: “What are you doing daddy?”

Me: “I’m reading a book about why people go to school.”

Rowan: “Oh.”

Me: “Why do you go to school?”

Rowan: “I go to school to BE QUIET!”

Casey’s got a recent post up about how “Emerging Adults” are having difficulty making decisions. Perhaps because no one has ever helped them encounter a question, only fed them answers?

Posted in education, rowan | Comments Off on Let Me Tell You a Story

Jonathan Swift

Posted on August 7, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Working with Ulmer’s Internet Invention this summer, I’ve had a number of projects exploring students’ crises of faith. Responding to these projects got me thinking of Swift’s later poem “Day of Judgment,” written near the end of a career as a Protestant minister in Catholic Ireland. Enjoy.

With a whirl of thought oppressed,
I sunk from reverie to rest.
A horrid vision seized my head,
I saw the graves give up their dead!
Jove1, armed with terrors, bursts the skies,
And thunder roars and lightning flies!
Amazed, confused, its fate unknown,
The world stands trembling at his throne!
While each pale sinner hangs his head,
Jove, nodding, shook the heavens, and said:
‘Offending race of human kind,
By nature, reason, learning, blind;
You who, through frailty, stepped aside;
And you who never fell—through pride:
You who in different sects have shammed,
And come to see each other damned;
(So some folks told you, but they knew
No more of Jove’s designs than you)
The world’s mad business now is o’er,
And I resent these pranks no more.
I to such blockheads set my wit!
I damn such fools!—Go, go, you’re bit’

Posted in poetry, religion, Swift | Comments Off on Jonathan Swift

Every Once in Awhile…

Posted on July 15, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I read something and hear in my brain a voice:

That can’t be fucking true. No way.

It is usually triggered by an internet news story with dubious sources. I heard the voice this morning while scrolling through my slash.dot feed. A nice little post:

“The Pacific Ocean trash dump is twice the size of Texas, or the size of Spain combined with France. The Pacific Vortex as it is sometimes called, is made up of four million tons of Plastic. Now there’s a proposal to turn this dump into ‘Recycled Island’. The Netherlands Architecture Fund has provided the grant money for the project, and the WHIM architecture firm is conducting the research and design of Recycled Island. One of the three major aims of the project is to clean up the floating trash by recycling it on site. Two, the project would create new land for sustainable habitation complete with its own food sources and energy sources. Lastly, Recycled Island is to be a sea worthy island. While at the moment the project is still more or less a pipe dream, it’s great that someone is trying to work out what to do with one of humanity’s most bizarre environmental slip ups.”

I admit that I don’t really keep a close eye on the news. Its just not my thing. But I’m surprised I haven’t heard about a trash island larger than France and Spain combined before today.

That can’t be fucking true. No way.

But the links in the post seem legit.

And so do all these other links to Mother Nature Network, CNN World (although its a story by an independent news group VICE buried on the site), and The Times Online.

Wikipedia already has a scientific name for this phenomenon “The Pacific Ocean Vortex,” which sounds much nicer than its original moniker: “The Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.” George Carlin just let out a chuckle from the grave. (See about 57 seconds in on the distancing ourselves from reality. I’m becoming increasingly interested in this as I think of the legacy of modernity and postmodernity as we move into the era of posthumanism, globalization, and actor-network theory/ecologies). For those that haven’t read/heard/seen Carlin’s bit on war and shell-shock, its worth a few moments.

And so, if any of you care, I will be in a delirious fit of rage for the rest of the morning. Rest assured I’ll feel powerless and apathetic by tomorrow.

SERIOUSLY WTF THERE’S AN ISLAND OF TRASH TWICE AS BIG AS TEXAS JESUS CHRIST WHY ARE WE SO AWFUL.

/rant

Posted in carlin, trast, voice-in-my-head, wtf | Comments Off on Every Once in Awhile…

Some Good Web Comics

Posted on July 13, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

The web comic “Stuff No One Told Me” has become my daily little moment of Zen. He’s on vacation for awhile, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a stroll through the archives.

And there’s always a quick visit to “My Milk Toof” if you need a heart-warming pick me up.

If you are into comics, or new media, you should check out balak01’s “About Digital Comics” and the sequel (which doesn’t rip off Twilight) “About About Digital Comics.” They’re both really worth your time. I found them via workspace.

Posted in comic, webcomic | Comments Off on Some Good Web Comics

Ulmer Riff: Recipe

Posted on July 9, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

My class is progressing with our mystories. In an effort to help them grasp Ulmer’s approach to relay and imitation, I crafted what I call the recipe assignment. Its inspired by a visit from poet Robert Pinsky this past Spring; in response to a question on how a young poet can improve her skills, Pinksy advised: “learn to read like a good cook eats.” Its not just about savoring the flavor, but about tasting the technique. Beyond understanding what something is, its about tracing how something becomes.

Ulmer uses a number of examples in his chapters, what he calls relays. Along the lines of classical and neo-classical imitation, these relays provide models for approaching the larger assignments. I’ve asked my students to break into groups. Each group is required to take one of Ulmer’s extended quotations and re-mix it into a recipe, distinguishing ingredients, equipment, time, and step-by-step directions.

Judging by the temperature of the room, it seems to be going well.

Posted in pinsky, recipe, remix, ulmer | Comments Off on Ulmer Riff: Recipe

Ulmer Exercise: Term Extensions

Posted on July 2, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today in class we are working on two exercises from Ulmer’s Internet Invention; the first of which is his Term Extensions exercise.

Using the history of the term “culture” as a model, select a different craft (other than agriculture) and develop its figurative possibilities as a new extension of the meaning of the term culture

[…]

If human development of learning can be like agriculture, what else might it be like? Or, if human development in general may be tended in the manner of a crop or herd, what about your particular specialized area of work? What sort of craft makes a good metaphor for developing knowledge in your career field? (35)

For my term, I picked “assembly.” Here I admit I didn’t pick a “good” term, but rather an unfortunate one. This keeps with the logic of my career site since I am examining the Scantron machine as my disciplinary invention. The assembly line, in connection with Fordist industrialization, appears as a trope for contemporary education in a number of places, particularly Aronowitz’s book The Knowledge Factory. It is also the underlying trope driving Asimov’s short story “Profession.”

To help with this assignment, I used the Oxford English Dictionary.

Without getting too much into specifics, there’s essentially two historic meanings for assembly. The first, whose origins date back to around 1333-1436 and is still in use today, speaks to bringing some things together. It can refer to assembling an army, a governmental body, or a flock of birds singing in a tree (“The byrdes..syttynge in assemble vpon an hye tre”).

The second meaning refers more to the industrial process and emphasizes putting something together. Unlike with the first meaning, the parts here constitute little if taken separately. It is only in the right combination, guided by the proper process, that the parts gain utility or significance. This meaning begins to develop around 1914. From a 1914 Engineering Magazine article: “The boards travel..down the line, growing in completeness as they move, each ‘team’ working simultaneously on opposite sides of the board, adding some step to the assembly.”

As with Ulmer’s definition of culture, we have two different intonations here. If we consider education in terms of the first, then we think of students as individual entities whole before they arrive in the classroom (be it to fight, deliberate, or sing). If we follow the second, then students are incomplete entities before they arrive on our doorstep. Students lack. Teachers provide.

There are, of course, distinct overlaps to the definitions of culture Ulmer highlights–Arnold’s and Taylor’s. Recall that Arnold’s specifies a particular and higher culture as the aim of education/enculturation. Arnold’s students lack. Taylor, however, sees culture as something central to all humanity everywhere, he isn’t interested in articulating a particularly proper culture as much as he is in identifying those things that all cultures do (even if they do them differently).

My objections to Scantron were routed in its homogenization of education, its dedication (and glorification) of efficiency and singularity. It makes sure students are getting what they lack. 

Posted in Arnold, culture, education, oed, term-extension, ulmer | Comments Off on Ulmer Exercise: Term Extensions

Rosenbaum on the New Agnosticism

Posted on June 29, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Ron Rosenbaum has an article up on Slate.com that speaks to the possibility of a New Agnosticism (as a response to the New Atheism). Pretty much speaks to how I read Levinas, and why I was interested in his metaphysics. A highlight:

Humility in the face of mystery has been a recurrent theme of mine. I wrote most recently about the problem of consciousness and found myself allied with the agnostic group of philosophers known as the Mysterians, who argue that we are epistemically, flat-out unable to know the nature of consciousness while being within consciousness. I’m reluctant to call agnostics Mysterians, much as I like the proto-punk ballad “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians. But I do like that agnosticism, which in fact can be more combative than its image, does have a sort of punk, disruptive, troublemaker side.

Posted in agnosticism, consciousness, levinas, rosenbaum, slate | Comments Off on Rosenbaum on the New Agnosticism