When I stepped into Writing 220: Intro to the minor in writing, I had a fairly confident conception of how the class would run. I believed that it would involve writing a lot of papers. I believed that I’d receive criticism about word choice, tone, and syntax. I envisioned this class enhancing my ability to put words into a document.
However, as I soon realized, we did very little writing, and even less of this was analytical. Our first paper — our most analytical — asked us to explain why we write. Though I was putting words to a text document, these words were analyzing myself. I found the assignment enjoyable, but I felt that I wasn’t developing my writing skills.
So we got to the second project, titled “Re-purposing.” Essentially, you’re asked to take a previous piece of writing, keep the same argument, but make this argument for a different audience. I chose a column that I wrote about male eating disorders. Because my previous argument centered on informing the masses about these disorders, I targeted my new piece towards males that they had these disorders. Males having these issues typically don’t realize that they have a problem. In other words, they shame their bodies without understanding that this isn’t right. Therefore, I wanted to expose this lack of understanding in my piece. This made a short story appear a great approach to solve this issue. Though they can’t recognize these problems with themselves, they would likely be able to see the clear issues with others. My hope was that this would create an “ah-ha” moment where there reader connected his issues with the main characters. The issue with this, though, is that this didn’t feel like the writing I was accustomed to. It felt distanced from the analytical writing that I was expecting.
Then, we arrived at the third project. This one was called “Re-mediation.” We took our re-purposing project, maintained the same audience, but used a form of new media to design our project.
Though the prior two writing assignments felt distant from my writing assignments, this one actually wasn’t writing. The projects — including videos, podcasts, twitter accounts, and posters — required little to no text. I didn’t understand the purpose of this project. Why were we in a writing class that involved such little writing?
I chose to make a poster for this project. This decision stemmed from my desire to appeal to an audience. I couldn’t imagine the masculine men I was writing for frequently viewing podcasts or videos. These people weren’t going to seek out the information that I was writing. Therefore, I found a poster to be the most effective presentation of my work. I could imagine the poster being placed in a gym — where my audience would locate. Because the poster would be somewhere in the gym, they wouldn’t be forced to read it. Instead, through multiple viewings, they would eventually absorb the information. Therefore, they would be able to gauge whether they had an eating disorder by their definition. I thought the assignment would be simple.
But as I began working, problems arose. I realized that technology doesn’t directly translate your ideas onto a screen. Sections of the poster didn’t fit in places that I wanted. Strategies to appealingly present concepts looked tacky. I realized this project would require a lot more effort than copying a mental image and pasting it onto piktochart. I needed to fiddle with placements and aesthetics.
This arranging actually felt fun, and, as I spent a few hours playing with the poster, it began feeling like writing. Writing’s process often centers around creating a piece that I subsequently sift through to find weaknesses and revise. Sometimes my favorite idea becomes the weakest argument when placed in life’s tangible reality, and sometimes a previously idolized placement of arguments proves insufficient to another arrangement.
After realizing my poster work was interrupting bedtime, I glanced through my work and realized my thorough pleasure of the work. Images and aesthetics were perfectly coupled with informative text. Though I needed to tidy a few misaligned points that looked displeasing to the eye, I felt proud of my project.
And that started getting me thinking. Being a columnist, part of my love for writing stems from my ability to share my content with others. If this assignment really is writing, then there should exist a vessel through which I can submit my work. I thought about my audience and why I made the poster in the first place. I thought that guys suffering from male eating disorders wouldn’t view a podcast or video, but I thought they might view a poster in a gym. So I decided to email the CCRB.
They responded a week later indicating their interest! Imagine my surprise that my poster would be placed in the building.
That’s when I realized that new media writing has expanded writing past the typical text approach. Writing is about expressing an idea to an audience, and it doesn’t require a specific medium. All it needs is an audience, a form of presentation, and a person willing to take time to craft an argument.
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