College Students: A Multi-Modal Students

A Multi-Modal Student Society has reached a level of sophistication and progress in the 21st century that has never before been seen. The way we work, socialize, and live on a daily basis is founded on the many platforms of our generation. It is essential as college students preparing to enter the real world to have an understanding of the many different literacies that are available to us. With a proficiency in basic technology, students and professionals can create persuasive arguments, efficiently solve problems, design and synthesize information, and make better connections. We have the opportunity to make more incredible advances than ever before because of our access to these literacies. This class has given me many of the tools and
Photography is a hobby I enjoy and learning about the rule of thirds, point of view, and other basic photography language was review. It is a well known idea that a photograph is worth a thousand words. A picture can portray almost any idea to an audience if devised in the right way. Visuals, like audio, are extremely abundant in our everyday lives. Every advertisement we view on television or in magazines is purposefully constructed to convince the audience of their product or idea. Even professional photographs, when taking pictures of their subject, are purposefully creating a story or argument that they want the audience to understand. Before the visual unit, I hadn't really thought about creating an argument with my photographs. When I captured my own images, I only really thought about what was on the first layer. In other words, I didn't really have a purpose for my photographs. Once we analyzed some different images though, I came to the realization that every photograph needs a purpose and has the opportunity to tell a magnificent story or convince an argument. The only way to create a convincing image is to be purposeful with the elements used. It is important to rely on the different affordances of visuals to produce an image that the audience can easily interpret and understand. When developing a visual, consider such aspects as gaze, placement, and depth with the intention to focus the viewer's attention and get your message across. All of these affordances have the ability to completely change an image. Knowing how to recognize these affordances and what they contribute to the argument can be beneficial in allowing one to analyze other arguments and invent their own. I focused a lot on natural aspects for my visual essay. As a result, I used techniques like the rule of thirds, perspective, and contrast to build my argument. Using these affordances allowed me to better