Course Description

This course examines the ways rhetorical principles are applied to technological design and presentation when the concept is "large". Whereas we could design pamphlets, websites, or press dvd's on practical applications (such as technical sequences in music or movies), we will take the concept of peace and consider how peace is presented, and how we will present peace in text, visually, and experiential.

We will discuss the theoretical foundations of visual literacy practices, and we will explore the rhetorics of historical, educational, environmental, and social action associated with visuals as it pertains to peaceful beliefs and action. We will examine elements of design and its impact by paying attention to fonts, color, images, audio, stills, video, and language. We will use peace as our topic for multimedia exploration.

If the concept of peace is a simple one, then why do we need to choose between economic gain and the physical environment? Why do we dismiss peace during a time of war? Must we wage war to gain peace? Is war inevitable? Is peace inevitable? Is peace guaranteed during a time when there is no war? What language do we use to define peace? Which images? If the internet makes the world a smaller place, then university students ought to be the most aware, the most inquisitive, and the most able to construct possible solutions for local, regional, statewide, national, and global problems. One of your challenges in this course is to think about other people's thinking (theory), how thoughts are constructed (language), presented (context), and visualized. Another challenge is to take your own thoughts and to apply them to various projects, papers, and presentations individually, in pairs, and in groups.

Although this course will have projects, this course is not solely a workshop style course as it is combines theory and practice. Students will work on experiential rather than informational projects. How do we experience a concept? Students are expected to learn software programs as needed and to maintain an intellectual level of curiosity of theory and design principles. Students are also expected to put some time into ideas that develop and maintain peace. We will merge visual rhetoric, practical digital applications, and peace-work.

Students will compile a portfolio of their projects by the end of the term and they will submit a group digital project to the World Peace Forum, Vancouver, B.C.

Papers:

F2F and Digital Participation @ 20 points total
4 Response Papers @ 10 points each
2 "medium" papers @ 15 points each
2 Quizzes @ 10 points each
3 projects @ 10 points each (nondigital, images/iMovie, blog or podcast)
3 presentations @ 10 points each (on each project)
1 researched paper that lends its data to the Vancouver Project @ 30 points (project must be accessible via the web)

Total possible points: 200

Absences: -1 absence, no questions asked. -2 absences and your grade is affected.
(More details on assignments and absences on the Grading link)

English 570 Books at the N.A.U. Bookstore

The following books are required for the course. There are also online articles at the Cline Reserves.

Ball, Cheryl and Kristin Arola. ix visual exercises for tech comm. (CD-ROM) (2005)

Collopy, Michael. Architects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and Images. (2002).

Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture.

Williams, Robyn. The Non-Designer's WebBook. 3rd edition. 2005.

Zinn, Howard (ed.) The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace