1/24 reflection

Madison Ultis
24 January 2008
Article Summary/Response

I read the Kress article first and I have to say what I agree with most is the technological informality seen everyday. I think this is so true in the form of emails especially. I also liked how he laid out where he thought we, as society, were headed in terms of technology and the written word, as well, though as visualization altogether. On page 63 he notes that language is no longer the sole means for conveying information. Language now is only a partially vehicle in transmitting information to the public. When I read that, for whatever reason, my mind moved to Excel spreadsheets because even when there is written language anymore, people tend to give it a different look and feel. Using Excel spreadsheets, as well as graphs, pie charts, etc. helps to convey a message quicker and thus easier than just a random block of text on a page. I liked how he went into how if a teacher asks for his/her class to make a drawing of a specific event, it looks much different than it would sound had he/she asked for it to be a written account of that same event. Different representations occur between writing and visualization.

The Hefland article, which is much shorter, adds to the Kress article in the sense that as a society we are moving toward a much faster paced electronical era. Everything is in that sort of “I needed it yesterday” mode and because of that, the way we communicate as a society is ever changing.

I definitely think it will interesting to see how we continue to evolve technologically, and what different advances arise in just a few short years.