Visual material rhetorics of story map journals

Editor's Notes

• #2: The visual-material rhetorical approach accounts for the multimodal, spatially-situated artefact but is also mindful of its impact on the embodied subject
• #3: Defined: VMR Considers geospatial narratives within the context of space, the body, and materiality. (Amy Propen) New media and geospatial technologies are emerging as the go-to tools in science communication. From mobile apps to geospatially driven story maps, multimodal components are key to audience interest and retention in science communication. But how can we theorize text, image and space? In 2012 Amy Propen introduced the world to visual material rhetorics – a theoretical framework as a way to see and understand multimodal devices as artifacts that help us interpret and explain how we see the world. She states that “the relationship between what we see and what we know is always shifting and is a product of changing cultural contexts, public understanding, and modes of human communication.” This framework is informed primarily by Carole Blair’s theory of material rhetoric and Michel Foucault’s theory of heterotopias (heterogeneous contested spaces that include identifying characteristics specific to that space. What is rhetoric: Rhetoric refers to the study and uses of written, spoken and visual language. It investigates how language is used to organize and maintain social groups, construct meanings and identities, coordinate behavior, mediate power, produce change, and create knowledge. Visual-Material Rhetoric: Theoretical approach where Propen combines Michel Foucault's theory of heterotopias with Carole Blair's theory of material rhetoric. VMR Illuminates knowledge that is fostered through the relationship between rhetorical artifacts and technologically mediated, posthuman body . visual-material rhetorics can provide a helpful point of entry into such questions by examining the implications of multimodal rhetorical artifacts for contextualized, embodied experience and the relationships that are forged through such experiences. i.e. Exploring not just the graphical, physical, and textual components but also their combined, broader-consequences on the rhetorical situation
• #4: The study of VMR as a sustainable project of inquiry can provide a window into the larger consequences that these artifacts have in the world means uncovering an analytical approach that can account more explicitly for the ways in which visual-material artifacts and particular spaces can shape or influence the practice of the contextualized body. With the emergence of new media technologies in science communication, VMR can also be “further informed by IDN theory – interactive digital storytelling Maps are graphic representations of how we see things in the world. They invite participation and dialogue. For example, through its physicality and multimodal cues, the GPS engages the user and invites an audience – in some cases even a dialogue – that once again requires the user to remain mindful of both symbolic and material environments
• #5: VM artifacts rarely work in isolation from other texts and contexts How do new media-driven story map journals fit into the VMR Scheme in science communication? What questions can we ask? Creating a space for material rhetoric means moving beyond the traditional view of rhetoric as symbolic and immaterial. Start with a text’s material existence then interweaving it with the visual existence. Qs: Blair asks: What is the significance of the text’s material existence? What are the apparatus and degrees of durability displayed by the text? What are the text’s modes of possibilities of reproduction or preservation? What does the text do to (or against) other texts? How does the text act on people? Through its multimodal qualities, such as its physical presence and its use of visual and audio cues, the device engages users in a unique way that elicits interaction and bodily engagement in everyday settings and mundane activities Focusing less on a text’s production can bring us to the point of more meaningful analysis. Rather than ask what a text means, ask what is does (and not what it is “supposed to do. Look at the variety of digital geospatial artifacts e.g. content, contexts, styles of expression that the text may produce to help illuminate the value of a visual-rhetorical approach. A visual-material rhetorical artifact helps mediate navigational experiences. The interactive process also involves exchanges between multiple agents, texts and influences - contextualizes process that shape these levels of interaction and decision-making, and their implications for embodied, mediated experiences. The use of technology to make purposeful informed decisions.
• #6: What will you use? VMR as a mode of inquiry provides for the ability to recognize and understand options, recognize resources that facilitate decision-making as well as barriers to informed choice, and make purposeful decisions. Applying the VMR scheme, the geospatial within the multimodal visual material scheme summons the user and invites an audience to participate and in some cases even dialogue while being mindful of both symbolic and material environments. e.g. How are lines and color an important component of how maps shape meaning? Knowledge? Multimodal cues invites audiences to participate and engage with the digital text and technology. Through new media applications, it influences social and interpersonal relationships and signals a shift in ways that humans hav ebegun to understand and navigate their physical environments. How does VMR apply to story map journals within the context of interactive reporting? Story maps have been around for a long time, but primarily as geographic information systems. While the story map runs on a GIS platform, story maps are being used as tools for professional and technical communication especially in the scientific and health communities. e.g. analytical report, project planning.    Story Maps are web tools that makes it possible to tell a story, present results or monitoring of a project based on authoritative maps by bringing together images, narrative text, and multimedia content. This tool can be used to create annual reports, for trainings, team presentations, promoting events, etc. Story maps are visual tools for management, analysis, decision support, modeling, situational awareness, and professional communication. Let’s take a look at two approaches to VMR and the story map journal as a report.
• #7: Applying Propen’s visual-material rhetoric principles and methods of multimodal map analysis to interactive science reporting Color and other visual cartographic and multimodal conventions (lines, symbols, graphical devices) shape meaning e.g. video, images may be understood to the durability of the map’s composition and subsequent knowledge claims. The visual texts displayed by the GPS are indeed an integral component of both its multimodality and its impact on the user’s bodily experience. Many users described the general aesthetic appeal of the visual display or the way it would allow them to see the surrounding landscape in relation to where they were located Tap into the heterotopic representations of space Maps require that we tap into existing cultural norms and symbols in order to extract meaning e.g. clear points of entry that provide understanding about environment and terrain. How does the interaction design contribute to how users extract meaning? On the left is a NOAA Hilo, Hawai'i First Observing Station Information report.  On the upper right are some randomly selected maps and data visualization tools on the same topic that you could use to create an interactive story map. On the lower right is an example of how you might organize and write your content.   Looking at the densely written report, how would your revise or convert this report into a digital interactive story? Would you use the arcGIS online template for a Story Map? or a digital SlideDoc  pamphlet shared in Slideshare? (see below example of a SlideDoc conversion)   Consider using multimodal communication in your story. Data Visualizations Images and Maps Interactive Videos Podcasts
• #8: JWST video: https://youtu.be/1NvjeeWter0 HOW How can we map this report? What is the future direction of Visual-Material Rhetorics? Consider further exploration of the implications of visual-material rhetorics for technologically-mediated environments and multimodal sites in which knowledge is spatially embodied – considering such spaces as rhetorical, geographic, and heterotopic. Heterotopias characterize and contextualize space in ways that illuminate its heterogenous, selective, shifting, and contested nature. Understanding space not only as rhetorical but also as informed by perspectives aligned with critical cartographies… Consider impacts of these genres on the practices that contribute to embodied knowledge-making or material dimensions of visual rhetorical analysis. Advocacy work in visual-material rhetorics – how visual-material, multimodal and other textual artifacts and genres function together and rhetorically within a broader activity system. Comprehensive analyses of the visual-material, multimodal, and textual artifacts involved in issues of rhetoric and environmental advocacy. Future work –consider how rhetorical artifacts function as mediating devices within various, multimodal acts of ecosystem preservation or conservation mapping, and how they help accomplish meaningful advocacy work through the combined activities and interpretations of biologists, cartographers, conservation groups, concerned citizens, and other related parties. Such work could easily entail partnerships with local or regional organizations.
• #9: Conclusion: Visual-material artifacts and the spaces in which they reside invite and encourage interactive, embodied experiences that contribute to the uniquely contextualized experiences of the moment and focuses more so on how spaces are experienced by those who visit or inhabit them. multimodal, interactive engagement with the GPS participates in the construction of geographic knowledge that then informs users’ decision-making A visual material approach helps demonstrate how to investigate how digital new media reports scientific information in ways that engage audiences through interactive exchanges and multiple, multimodal rhetorical practices where new media technology impacts the social exploratory practices of users and how they choose to explore and communicate scientific information. The VMR approach also supports the investigation of digital memory practices through interactive multimodal storytelling and makes a case for the usability of story map journals as an innovative visual-material approach to report writing.
• #10: Conclusion: Visual-material artifacts and the spaces in which they reside invite and encourage interactive, embodied experiences that contribute to the uniquely contextualized experiences of the moment and focuses more so on how spaces are experienced by those who visit or inhabit them. multimodal, interactive engagement with the GPS participates in the construction of geographic knowledge that then informs users’ decision-making A visual material approach helps demonstrate how to investigate how digital new media reports scientific information in ways that engage audiences through interactive exchanges and multiple, multimodal rhetorical practices where new media technology impacts the social exploratory practices of users and how they choose to explore and communicate scientific information. The VMR approach also supports the investigation of digital memory practices through interactive multimodal storytelling and makes a case for the usability of story map journals as an innovative visual-material approach to report writing.
• #13: Data isn’t really just about the numbers—it’s about the meaning behind the numbers. The conclusions. The insights. The actions humans will take because of the numbers. It’s your job to uncover these elements. When incorporating data, don’t just stick a chart on a page. Determine the findings and narrative of the data and include prose around that. Use visual elements and call outs to help your reader understand your information. Highlight What’s important in the data.
• #14: Chunking the text by topic and displaying it in a visually interesting way can entice students to dive in. How does this document effectively address the Six Design Principles? Balance Alignment Grouping Proximity Consistency Emphasis