In our reading for today, Nicholas Gane and David Beer ask and begin to answer the question of why they organize their book around 6 key concepts in media studies (pp. 2-6). The short version of their response to the utilities of concepts is this:
- The first involves the manufacturing… universal concepts: encyclopedic definitions that seek to give concepts a fixed, universal meaning (pp. 3-4).
- Second, concepts can be produced in service of the capitalistic market: marketable concepts, geared to the production of ideas that are valued for their economic worth (pp. 4-5).
- A third possible line, labelled pedagogy of the concept, is experimental in nature and uses concepts in a flexible, open-ended way to address problems as and when they arise (pp. 5-6).
Clearly, in this framework we’d want to be on the side of the angels and associate most with the last option. In another part of my reading and research, I’m looking at a different set of definitions and reasons for defining concepts, in this case disciplinary “threshold concepts.” Characteristics of threshold concepts can be found at the following site: http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html.
The purpose of Threshold Concepts is to articulate what we claim to know in a particular discipline but also to help explain what we know to others outside the field, which is one of the purposes of this course. Another way to understand Threshold Concepts is that they are things and ways to knowing that provide access to expertise. According to their originators,
“Threshold Concepts may be considered to be akin to passing through a portal or conceptual gateway that opens up previously inaccessible way[s] of thinking about something” (Meyer and Land).
So if we thought about the concepts in the book (and the slightly different list I have for the class) more along the lines of Threshold Concepts, their utility might be something along these lines:
- as boundary objects for defining and explaining what we know,
- as heuristics or portals for planning, or
- as a set of propositions that can be put into dialogue with [others] for a richly layered map.
What are some potential threshold concepts that you’ve learned as an EWM student that have shaped your understanding of writers, texts, or technologies? What difference might these learned understandings have for you? What about that might you be able to demonstrate to an external audience?
what.is.a.text? 
In my article and essay technique class I learned about the power of personal essays and the ways in which they are much more powerful that fictional stories. Through workshops I learned the specific techniques to help the audience feel what you as the writer feel or felt about a specific event rather than simply telling a story.
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1.) Terministic screening- the idea that everyone sees life through a different perspective. It’s easy as a writer to write down what you see and that be it, but it’s even harder and more challenging to fully include your audience and their thousands of perspectives into your writing.
2.) Remediation- remediation for me is a field that I find myself in constantly. For some outsiders, they view it as the re-arranging of an already existing work. However, I view it as the creation of something entirely new. It’s easy to just copy and paste something that has already been done. For me, it’s taking that original concept and expanding it into something so much different which is my favorite part of the remediation process.
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Being an EWM major, I learned the importance of an audience. Before, I did not think texts had to be geared towards an audience. I just figured whoever wanted to read something would do so. I did not understand the need for keeping your audience in mind. After joined two online media websites, I learned how to curve my writing to affect my audience of college students. When you write for your audience, you can gain more of a following and people can look out for more of your work. This transformation threshold concept was something very new to me that I will always keep in mind.
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For me in the EWM major, some threshold concepts would be writing in an active voice, always citing all types of resources and using in-text citations, and learning how to read dense research articles.
Writing in an active voice is particularly important since I want to get involved with journalism. News always sounds more urgent and pressing when talking in the present, active voice.
Using citations properly and reading dense research papers are somewhat similar concepts to me since they help me in similar ways. Since learning this concept, I can utilize research from important essays, and also use it in my own essays by citing it properly.
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1. Remediation: While I am passionate about EWM, I am also passionate about art. I like to incorporate and expand on existing things through art and creativity.
2. Writing and editing in the active voice, as well as keeping audience in mind.
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Once being in the EWM major, I’ve definitely had to learn to write what comes to mind, and then edit after the fact (at least I’m trying). I hate moving forward with my writing when I do not believe in the decency of my words on paper as I write them. It was and still is extremely difficult for me to write and not edit my thought process along the way. Another threshold for me would be writing more so scholarly, as opposed to a more colloquial style. I had, and still am learning to differentiate the two and recognize when my opinion should be inserted and when sources make the paper. Words matter, but finding the meaningful ones are more vital.
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After taking the EWM class I definitely was more aware of the freedom of what a text is. Before the class I had many limitations for what a text was. When I thought of this concept I automatically thought of a book, newspaper, or magazine. I imagined a text as words that were on paper or on the internet. Now I view text as so much more. Text can be a photograph that speaks to an audience in ways that we cannot understand. Is our facial expressions a text? Does our body language communicate ideas to gazing eyes? These questions bring me to wonder if there are any limitations to what a text is. Who decides what is and what is not a text?
in describing text to an audience, I find it difficult. I can easily make arguments to why I think body language is a text by focusing on the ways in which we communicate nonverbally. In discussing this topic with an audience, I assume it would be easily convincing if a person enlightened me with a type of text that I had not thought of before. At the beginning of EWM I began with this question: What is a text. Now after a year later I am more concerned with the question: What isn’t a text.
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Thinking about writing as rhetorical was a huge threshold concept for me. When I was first introduced to the concept of rhetoric in WEPO, it completely changed the way that I thought about writing. From then on, I gave significantly more concideration to my writing’s audience and how my writing choices would influence how the audience perceived my message.
WEPO was also when I first began thinking about things other than words as rhetorical and textual. Never before had I thought of a photograph or a piece of art as text. I had also never considered how minute details like my font choice or color scheme could influence my arguement. This really changed the way I thought about the EWM program and how I approached my class assignments going forward.
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As an EMW student, some threshold concepts dear to me are the concept of rhetoric and how anything is consider rhetorical – from the way we dressed to our organizational skills. Another threshold concept important to me would be the rhetorical concepts of ethos, pathos and logos becausee they are the three binding theories essentail to why we write. Lastly, convergence is a threshold concept for me because everything in media is interconnected. No one medium stands alone.
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Everything is a text- in my WEPO class, we had to design a website. And when I was designing my website, I realized it was a meticulous process not only to create the content for the website but to also decide what font to use, what colors. What should be bolded. Should it be centered, situated to the right, or pushed to the left. I had thought that these aesthetic decisions would come easily because when I myself interacted with a website, I did not consciously pay attention to these things. But the aesthetic design of my website was going to be a text within itself and subconsciously inform the users what I thought they should think about my topic, so I had to pay attention. But then you take this idea of ‘everything is a text’ into various situations- what you wear when you give a speech is a text. In my HOTT class, we payed attention to the way books were bound because that was a text in itself as well- if a book was bound nicely, it was important, etc.
There is no true new media, but at the same time new media can be created. I really discovered this when we did a segment on remix/remediation in WEPO. How new media is really just a reimagining of old media. Every new song includes notes that have been played before, just in a different order. However, this in no way invalidates the new songs because they are able to combine old notes in a new way. It’s like the sentence: Matt loves Pam. vs Pam loves Matt. It’s essentially made up of the same three words and is therefore, in a way, nothing new, but the new sentence creates an entirely different media that does create something new.
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Every idea is formed from the basis of previous ideas that organize into unique thought.
In any given text, the writer, the reader, and the language each contain a form of authority and control that contribute to the work as a whole.
The medium through which a text is produced directly affects how it is consumed by the audience.
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1.) Hypermediacy and Immediacy
The study of how an interface affects our understanding of information is something that I always notice ever since learning about the concept. Learning about different interactivity in different media and how we can either be aware or very unaware of the medium serving as a filter is something that has affected the way I view information.
2.) Medium as Message
I also enjoyed learning about how the way that we choose to present material will affect the success and understanding of the audience. The medium is something I have never considered previously when learning new material but since learning of strategic choices, I now realize how some mediums change the way I view the message.
3.) Writing as Rhetoric
Rhetoric was my favorite class that I took in the EWM major because it is something I was never previously informed of. I especially enjoyed learning about how writing with intent of persuasion is altered depending on audience. I believe keeping audience in mind when writing is something I did not pay as much attention to before these classes and I now realize how much it can change the style and language.
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Threshold Concepts
After spending time studying in the EWM department, I feel that the most important threshold concept, in terms of rhetoric and writing, would be speaking to an intended audience in a specific way. A piece of writing has no importance if its audience is not interested in its message. After restraining a piece of text to certain boundaries- i.e., who will be reading it, writers are able to successfully and effectively convey a message. I feel like much of my writing would not have been as strong if I did not have the threshold concept of appealing to a certain kind of audience in mind. This idea is not only important in writing literature but also in other genres like music, speech, and other kinds of rhetorical channels. For example, we speak to our grandparents in a way that is different than we speak to our friends in order for each of these groups to successfully grasp the speaker’s message. Messages must be adjusted in order to be conveyed in a certain way depending on who is viewing/ reading/ listening to it.
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There are very many thresholds that I think people consider in their writing and in the media. I know one that directly affects my day to day writing is the rhetorical process. When I learned (no too long ago) that all writing can be considered rhetorical, I never looked at it the same way. Knowing that writing is based off of the readers perception of the text and not only what the author intended has a huge significance on my writing. I understand that just because the author of the text intends for one thing, it can be perceived in so many different ways by the reader. The fact that all writing is relative is a definite threshold that I have learned over the past couple of years, and I know that my friends (who are not business majors) don’t see writing the same way. This rhetorical aspect also goes for things that aren’t just writing. In the media, on television, in movies; all of it is rhetorical. One specific threshold that I encounter daily is when I write for a magazine here at Florida State. The writing is very informal and comedic, so sometimes I have a hard time writing more serious essays or stories for the majority of my classes. I get so caught up in writing lightly for the magazine, I sometimes forget that other works are to be taken more seriously.
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I think the most impactful concept I’ve learned was the concepts of remix and remediation. Understanding how the same media could be changed to fit a new medium or audience really changed how I view rhetoric and writing as a whole. Learning this really helped to solidify the ways in which social media can be used as modified versions of print text, for instance, tweets can be seen as remixed flyers when it comes to publicizing an event. In addition to remix & remediation, understanding the concepts of rhetorical theory helped me to construct better arguments because now I know how they work (as opposed to simply winging it), as well as helped me to get better at communicating with an audience through writing.
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One of the biggest concepts I’ve taken from various classes within the EWM major is how authors adapt texts for different audiences. It was something that seems obvious but I didn’t really consider until I took classes that emphasized the way authors adapt their writing across different mediums. I really began to understand the concept when I began writing or editing for various classes or internships. I began to make it a more conscious practice to think of the medium or audience I was writing for before I began writing instead of during. It’s something everyone does with speech … there’s a discernable difference between the way people talk to their parents, friends, professors, or boss. I was helpful when I compared this to how I write or edit in various personal, academic, or career settings. Making my audience a more conscious consideration for texts that I edit or write has been a really helpful concept I’ve taken from the major.
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As an EWM student I’ve learned about the importance of audience when it comes to writing and the media. Audience is an important concept to think about especially when writing for media. Another important concept is the platform or medium you use.
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One threshold concept that changed my perspective on writing was the idea that literacy is not only intangible, but it also transcends past what the majority of us would think of upon hearing the word; there are so many “types” of literacies. As simple as this may seem to some, once I understood literacy as more than just reading/ being able to read, I was able to view writing and composition in a different light as well.
Another concept was the idea of language marginality that bell hooks often speaks about in her essays and books. The idea of speaking from a marginalized perspective of intersectionality (being both female and African American) that is overlooked or devalued in a community ran predominantly by white males. This concept was not only a threshold concept for in terms of unlocking new information, but it also has helped me with my personal writing.
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Expanding my use of technology not only for recreational or social purposes but I am now able to translate it into the academia field. For example, learning the techniques on how to expand my reach, learning how to translate my voice from pure noise and transforming it as commentary. This has also translated into my writing since I have been an EWM student. Because of this I am unable to process my old way of thinking that I have so long been accustomed to in my texts and technologies.
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One of the threshold concepts in EWM that have gone and transformed the manner in which I look at writing is that of kairos. It was a term which challenged the idea that all writing is formed in a bubble and established that some texts are more timely than others. It also goes hand in hand with ethos for me, in that one’s own personal reputation might dictate how one writes and is received. Finally, the use of the word scholarly to classify works and assignments has developed a sort of classification system for what I read and its level of legitimacy. Outside of the classroom, all three of these concepts are visible in the manner one presents themselves. You can just point out the difference between political candidates in a debate in terms of their reputation, the timeliness of their lines of conversation, and the legitimacy of what they have to say.
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Foucoult’s three prohibitions: Taboo: can’t say anything you want sex/Politics , ritualized forms: In any space. basic rituals in our everyday lives, and Privilege: not everyone is equally privileged to say things.
Style: How one makes use of language. metaphors etc. Making something ornate
-Grand: Large words, vast vocabulary
-Middle: Pleasing the audience (humor) audience engagement
-Plain: Proving things, laying out your argument.
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A threshold concept that I have learned as an EWM student is to not always agree with the text that I am given to read in my classes. I need to read critically and ask questions. I also have learned that I should not read for the purpose of deciphering an author’s intended meaning. I should read texts to see how they work on their own and in context. The difference overcoming these thresholds have had on my learning is that it has deepened my understanding of texts and has pushed me past the stage of just reading them at their surface level.
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The threshold concepts I’ve encountered are from a variety of classes in the EWM major. I apply numerous concepts to my writing unconsciously because after a semester or so of hearing these words, they are ingrained in my mind. For example Aristotle’s Canons. After learning the canons I have applied these ideas to nearly every text, either written or spoken, that i have created since. Also the actual idea of appealing to the audience has greatly affected my writing. It morphs not only the way I create my text, but also the way I publish it.
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Some threshold concepts that I remember throughout my EWM experience would be the process of Remediation as to how you can understand/relate a concept form through different mediums. I learned that formation of a concept in different ways can allows a person to understand that concept in a way that’s more relatable.
The use of audience is another thing that stuck out to me as an EWM student. I learned that the audience is so much important when you’re writing. For delivery purposes, you have to take the audiences wants into consideration.
Being accountable as a writer is also important because you shouldn’t lack credibility or your audience will loose trust.
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Foucoult’s three prohibitions: Taboo: can’t say anything you want sex/Politics , ritualized forms: In any space. basic rituals in our everyday lives, and Privilege: not everyone is equally privileged to say things.
Style: How one makes use of language. metaphors etc. Making something ornate
-Grand: Large words, vast vocabulary
-Middle: Pleasing the audience (humor) audience engagement
-Plain: Proving things, laying out your argument.
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After being in the EWM major, I’ve realize that the goal of writing and speaking is to persuade your audience that your ideas are accurate and worth believing. The concepts I found were important in this, were the rhetorical appeals.
The means of persuasion are divided into three categories, each used to better your writing, and provide a strategy to have your writing appeal to it’s audience.
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Threshold concepts that changed the way that I read and write, forever.
1. Terministic screens: before taking WEPO I was familiar with the thesaurus but never really used it. I know that it can be a helpful tool but after learning about how everyone has their own terministic screens it made me a little more wary of hitting the thesaurus button in Word because now I am aware of the difference each word can carry to different people.
2. Ethos, pathos, logos: being aware of the emotions that a writer can convey to their audience through their voice in order to convince them about your message/topic.
3. Transmedia storytelling: telling/sharing the story in different ways. Such as through a textbook and movie. You need to make adjustments according to the medium.
5. Participatory culture: allowing/encouraging an audience to participate and share or like your text/media. (Ie. fantasy football, or girls tweeting into Pretty Little Liars)
6. Viral media: being able to make your content viral or understanding why/how certain viral pieces have achieved popularity.
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