Information is Beautiful

The way information is received is undoubtedly apart of rhetoric. The substance of the medium that the message in embedded within ultimately influences an individual’s perception of the message. When an individual's perception is affected the rhetoric of the argument, or plain information in the case of this post, is likewise affected. After all, rhetoric is fundamentally based on how a person reacts to persuasion.

The recent focus of class has been over the various aspects of visual rhetoric. Visual argumentation, as opposed to spoken or written arguments, affects an audience in a different while having a greater effect in some areas and a lesser one in others. This is where the whole “the message is the medium” philosophy comes into play. The effect that visual rhetoric has on perception is that the argument or information presented is immediate as the audience has a clear image of what is being presented rather than having to construct their own image of the information that would be presented through other mediums. However, visual rhetoric is limited in the sense that an audience is given a somewhat surface representation of an argument which can fail to give a full understanding.

The reason why I have been discussing this is because of a website that I had stumbled upon called Information is Beautiful. The website collects various forms of data and general information and creates affecting, visual representations of the data. My point is that the visual representation of the data is far more effective (in my opinion) than reading informative text by itself. The information is more accessible, understandable, and even more entertaining.

In this example of one of the visual representations, information is presented visually in an highly organized and effective way to create and implicit argument about the destructiveness of nuclear bombs. If this image was condensed to a written description, the argument would lose much of its value and directness.This is how the medium ultimately affects the message.

Although all the visual information on the site isn't argumentative, tit is is still interesting to explore how the information is affected by the medium.

informationisbeautiful.net

R for Rhetoric

An icon that is growing in cultural eminence is the “Guy Fawkes” mask that was brought to mainstream focus through the film V for Vendetta created by the Wachowski brothers.  Through its association with the spirit of revolt, the icon has come to embody ideals such as justice, rebellion, and political keenness within whichever person deciding to wear it. As of recent, movements with significant influence including Occupy Wall Street and the “hacktivist” group Anonymous have used the symbol heavily within the rhetoric. It functions to provide a sense of unity across many elusive, dissenting claims. It is used as visual rhetoric to signify to others the spirit a person is trying to convey. With the right precision, the use of this mask can be surprisingly effective in creating a fairly distinct message.

An example of the precise use of the mask is in the scene of this picture. Polish senators are seen holding up the emphatic mask to their faces for what purpose? To protest. They use the symbol behind the mask to protest the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) from getting passed through their political system. The Trade Agreement would impose harsh restrictions on the liberal use of copyrighted material which is seen by many as a direct violation of Internet freedom and creativity. The climate that ACTA would create is the type of climate that the ideology behind the mask is opposed to. The politicians recognizing this, utilized its symbolism to visually argue the agreement in a poignant way. This is a testament to the power that a simple image can hold rhetorically. I believe that this group of politicians’ decision to use the mask is stronger by leaps and bounds than just simple verbal argumentation alone. This act would have a far greater reaction with the public which potentially increases the success and recognition of the argument. All of the mask’s hype and success reveals the importance of visual rhetoric in modern culture and it also suggests its potential to cause effect.  

Another interesting piece of visual rhetoric using masks is used in the "March of the Dead" in which protesters wear a mask that shows their lack of identity and name of a specific American or Iraqi that was killed in the conflict. 

Animation and Rhetoric

An interesting youtube series from RSA Animates has been brought to my attention fairly recently. The initiative takes a sound clip from TED talks and creates whiteboard animation that coincides with the topics discussed in the lectures in a wholly engaging and entertaining way. A particular favorite of mine focuses on a lecture given by Sir Ken Robinson on the institutional nature of the education system of the United States. His argument revolves around how schools and the culture that they assume are doing destructive things for students by limiting their capacity to learn and their general outlook on almost everything. Now, Robinson is not saying that education is a destructive force. Rather, he is stating that the institutional foundations in American education are mostly irrelevant and wrongly applied to the best interest of people who wish to flourish in our current system in which economic and social structural stresses are abundant and present. These are the basic premises that Robinson discusses in his lecture, but I am more concerned with the use of animation for the purpose of more effective rhetoric.

I was very surprised to find how engaging this video would be with the title of  "Changing Education Paradigms". I can honestly say that I have viewed this video multiple times and that I'm still entertained and engaged in the material. I believe that the animation aspect of the video is mostly responsible for this. This is the main reason as to why the video and series as a whole function on such a deeper level of rhetoric than just the lecture alone. The animation portion of the video allows the argument to be emphasized to a greater extent because it allows the material to resonate with the viewer. The added level of dimension that it brings cause me to confront the argument with a heightened awareness which further allows the argument to make its impact. Thus, a deeper rhetorical power is added which causes the argument to be reinforced and given more attention to. 

Its worth the 12 minutes!