"Words or Visuals: Which Speaks Louder?"

About the Author

Jennifer Heater is an undergraduate at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, MO. She is working towards her Bachelors in English with a Technical Writing concentration and is minoring in Communications. She anticipates graduating in Spring 2014 and then continuing her education seeking her Masters in Technical Communication. Although Jennifer is fairly new to the Technical Communication field, she is excited about her research and hopes to continue it throughout her Masters.

Contents

Introduction

Goals of Typology

Metafunctions

Tables

Conclusion

Works Cited

Introduction

When choosing visual media to accompany text in an article, technical communicators need to consider many factors. With the increasing advancement in technology, humans have access to a vast variety of different visuals that were not as easily accessible in the past. With advancements in the internet, Smartphones, and multiple options for capturing photographs and sharing them virtually instantly, anyone can publish visuals instantly. Technical communicators need to be aware of technology’s steady increase in today’s society which allows humans to have easier access to visual media.

Visual media can reach around the world in the matter of seconds, as noted by Marketing Vox: “Facebook boasts 15 billion images and 300,000 accesses per second” (qtd. in Gurri, Denny, and Harms 101). Visual media can be transmitted through many different outlets and has no limitation on the possibilities of the viewer’s perceptions. In today’s advancing society, it is important to consider visual rhetoric and its impact on the way a document is perceived. Although there is no concrete definition for visual rhetoric, an understanding that there is a persuasive factor to media is an important factor that needs to be considered. According to the Marguerite Helmers and Charles Hill “simply applying methods and concepts designed specifically for verbal language to persuasive images is not the most productive or accurate way to develop methodology for the study of visual rhetoric; doing so often results in misleading (or something simply useless) assertions about the way in which persuasive images work” (2004). A document that has uncomplimentary visuals can be hard for a reader to comprehend and could lead to a reader not putting effort into trying to understand the meaning of the words. The viewers of the visual media are left to make their own interpretations as they see fit. At times, the intended meaning is not easily seen by the reader and the visual media chosen can complicate it as well. This can cause visual media to be misleading or perceived incorrectly, which could lead to misunderstanding from the reader and could jeopardize the ethics of the technical communicator. As technical communicators, we try to persuade readers that our messages are credible, meaningful, and useful. Communicators need to ensure that they place an emphasis on visual rhetoric when they incorporate visuals while considering the meaning of the accompanying text.

The elements in visual media give meaning to the image and can blur the lines between an image and reality. As stated in an article by Martin Gurri et al., “with visual media, however, the illusion is created that we are gazing out of a window at the real world” (102). Visual media opens windows of possibilities that images might have the same effects as real life on the reader; it is important for technical communicators to make certain that the images within text compliment the message being written. In this article, I will discuss and evaluate visual media used in multimodal documents and the effects that they can have on the perception of the reader and the ethics of the writer while suggesting that educators stress the significance of visual rhetoric at the classroom level.

Many scholars who have researched visual rhetoric and ethical issues agree that visual media and text work together to portray overall meaning of a document. According to Paul Lester, “The most powerful, meaningful, and culturally important messages are those that combine words and pictures equally and respectfully” (qtd. in Gurri et al. 102). As students and professionals we might not have thought about the meaning of visual rhetoric and modes. It is vital that technical communicators understand that images in an article are an equal part of a document. A multimodal document needs to be understood by the writer as well as the reader. Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen’s explanation of mode is as follows, “Modes can be understood as ways of representing information, or the semiotic channels we use to compose a text” (qtd. in Lauer 227). Using multimode documents can present many challenges to writers. Technical communicators have a responsibility to the reader to honestly and effectively pass on information without confusing or misleading the reader. In an article by Nancy Allen, she reasserts that point by stating, “Technical communicators want their documents to be attractive and persuasive to their readers, but they also need to remain true to their informative purpose” (88).

There are several different ethical issues that can arise while working in the technical communication field. When a technical communicator deceives a reader, it is unethical and could expose the writer to scrutiny and diminish the credibility of their work. This is an issue that needs to be addressed while preparing technical communicators for the work force. As a student of technical communication, I can see the importance and value of understanding visual rhetoric and its potential effects on the ethics of the writer. Ethical issues and visual rhetoric should be included in the course work required for technical communicators throughout their programs to ensure that there is a standard or expectation placed in the field on communicators. Gurri et al’s. article reasserts this by stating, “People are taught to read words but are never taught to read pictures” (qtd. in Lester viii). It would be beneficial for technical communicators to educate themselves on a few key factors when choosing an image, which would help support the goal of the document without compromising the perception of the reader and the ethics of the writer. Several scholars agree that education of visual rhetoric could help clear up any misunderstanding or misperceptions that may arise with visual media. This is not a new concept to the field. There is an immense amount of research that supports the importance of properly evaluating visual media before placing it in documentation. That is not the argument. The argument is how to give technical communicators the knowledge to help them write effective documents. Kress stresses “an ‘outcome-based curriculum’ or, to use a better formulation, a curriculum which focuses on skill, disposition, essential processes, and understanding of resources for representing and communicating, may be what all of ‘us’ in the anglophone and ever more globalizing world will need to consider urgently” (qtd. in Handa 52). One way we can do this is to make visual rhetoric a part of the technical communicator’s education and to teach how to properly integrate visuals and explain the effects of visual rhetoric by taking a look at visual semiotics. Visual semiotics is defined by Carey Jewitt and Rumiko Ovama as “the description of semiotic resources, what can be said and done with images … and how the things people say and do with images can be interpreted” (136). In this article we will take a deeper look at visual semiotics and the key factors involved in choosing appropriate visual media to place in multimodal texts and understanding visual rhetoric.

By learning the basics of visual semiotics and typology students can have a solid starting point to understanding the effects of visual rhetoric on a reader. Visual semiotics break down images according to the different attributes that interpret meaning. An image should be chosen to highlight the message that the writer wants to portray. Wang Qiuye agrees by stating, “Visually heavier than words, pictures are usually used for emphasis” (557). Images placed in articles are intended to appeal to the reader by fitting into a typology. Understanding typologies is a key point to communicators developing an awareness of what images can do to a reader. This theory was introduced in the 19th century by philosopher Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914). Peirce outlined a three-part typology to define specific purposes when analyzing images for documents. Allen Manning and Nicole Amare explain Peirce’s theory on three-part typologies. The typology that Peirce suggests includes three rhetorical goals: decorative, indicatives, and informative. The next section will take a more in-depth look at Peirce’s theory on typology.