Blog #5 Wysocki-awaywithwords

Wysocki, Anne. “awaywithwords: On the possibilities in unavailable designs.” Computers and Composition. 22(2005): 55–62. 10 Oct. 2011. Web. <10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.011>

In this article, Anne Frances Wysocki argues that there is a need to rethink the limits that the field has placed on the use of materials we use to communicate in order to make unavailable means available. The argument begins by claiming to be “pushing at the edges” of Gunther Kress’s division of word and image by “question [ing] what becomes unavailable when we think of word and image as Kress has suggested we do, as bound logically and respectively with time and with space.” She encourages the reader to question the how and the why of the constraints placed on the materials we use to communicate. This is followed by an examination of the use of space in text, specifically in relation to her title: does it read “a way with words” or “away with words”? In order to compose texts that function as intended, we need to teach our students to consider space not only as they use it in a given time, but also how they came to understand space and how it can be used. Wysocki then addresses the treatment of the divide of the image and text thus far in the field and argues that the two are indivisible. The text has a visual aspect (even if it’s just space) that is necessary for communication. It is argued that we need to expand our conception of what an image is beyond the traditional photograph because the time, place and social function of each image is different. We need to be aware of what our readers don’t expect to see in addition to being aware of what they expect to see.

Wysocki’s article is important because it extends the discussion of word and image present in the field at the time. By asking the reader to consider the fluidity of the materials we use to communicate, she is encouraging an expanded view of our composition practices. It is important to consider how our use of materials changes based on time, place, and context because those things ultimately change how the message is being communicated. Her example of our uses of water helped to drive home this point in particular. The article is useful because it asks questions that have yet to be asked. It asks us to consider what we have made “unavailable” to communicative practices by putting “word” and “image” into constrained boxes of usage. In addition to expanding the types of alphabetic composition possible, it’s particularly useful to arguments for an expanded definition of composition to include images as just as valid as alphabetic. It’s one more step to a broader acceptance of these types of composition.