Kress (1997) points to the way in which written texts and language have been privileged in communication studies in an almost invisible way, and the implications for this in a multi-modal arena. The immediacy of imagery in electronic culture has a significance, which Kress suggest, has not yet been adequately theorised.
KressâÃÂÃÂs claim is a valid one. The purpose of this essay is to argue as such and prove the validity of KressâÃÂÃÂs claim. This paper will examine the current communication landscape, focusing on the implications, needs and potentials of verbal and visual forms of representation in electronically mediated communication.
It seems clear there is a direct link between advances in modern information technologies as communicational tools and the need to move beyond narrowly defined accounts of literacy, to ones that capture the complexity of real literacy practices in contemporary society. Literacy needs to be conceived within a broader social order, what Street and others have called a âÃÂÃÂnew communicative orderâÃÂà(Street, 1998; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996; Lankshear, 1997).
The nature of communication has and is changing; the following quote by Kress (1997) describes the nature of this change.
âÃÂÃÂâÃÂæthe landscape of communication and representation, the semiotic landscape, is indeed being remade. Where before there was the single, central mountain range of written language, now another alpine system is being thrust up by forces of a complex kind: in part, social, political, technological, and as yet less recognised, by economic forces as wellâÃÂàIt is the use of multimedia in this âÃÂÃÂnew communicative orderâÃÂàthat permits characteristics such as âÃÂÃÂâÃÂæglobal reach, its integration of all communication media, and its potential interactivityâÃÂà(Castells, 1996: 329). The potential to combine visual, verbal and written forms of representation in this multi-modal arena has meant that all kinds of messages can be communicated using...