viz.

Image Credit: Adriana Cervantes, created as final presentation for my RHE 306 class

Particularly in technology-based classrooms like we have here in the DWRL, instructors are always looking for new ways to teach students non-traditional forms of writing. A few weeks back, Ashley wrote a viz. post about the on-line animation program, Xtranormal, whose motto is “if you can type, you can make movies.”  Her post inspired/challenged me to give it a try with my students. It's extremely user-friendly, and we were able to create animations in a single class period. Users enter text, and the program animates the dialogue for them. Above and after the jump are examples of my students' work, and I'll talk more about pedagogical value of the program.

In addition to viz., the DWRL hosts Blogging Pedagogy, a blog that each of the instructors contribute to each semester.  I already blogged there about my first classroom experience with Xtranormal, and you can view that post here.  It explains the premise behind the video below.  To avoid repeating myself, I'd like to use this viz. post to approach the program from a more theoretical standpoint.

In his seminal work, Understanding Comics, cartoon theorist Scott McCloud posits that “cartooning isn’t just a way of drawing, it’s a way of seeing.” He argues that cartoons are uniquely poised to amplify arguments through simplification.  He explains that the less representational the figure, the more likely we are to identify with it, and this abstraction makes viewers more receptive to the message – less apt to focus on who is saying than what is said. This can be particularly useful with students - asking them to focus more on the argument itself than the person making the argument.

Image credit: Loraine Ng and Leticia Garcia, created in class

As you've probably noticed, because Xtranormal uses mechanized and predetermined voices for the characters, the emphasis can end up on the wrong syllable, and the resulting animation often makes familiar language sound foreign.  In theories of performance, intentional distancing (or alienation), prevents audiences from identifying too closely with characters, and consequently encourages more critical observation.  Here, this distancing can be useful to call attention to the soundness of an argument, especially because we have to listen carefully to follow what the characters are saying.

This combination of identification and alienation produced by Xtranormal animations is often both funny and informative.  As Megan pointed out in her viz. post about the TSA, Xtranormal can potentially be used to depersonalize sensitive or inflammatory issues.  It also encourages students to translate arguments across media, and to think critically about the substance of arguments without focusing so closely on the players involved.  And while, like Megan, I find the robotic voices particularly irritating after about 2 minutes, my students loved the exercise.