e-Portfolio
Theoretical Justification
Linda
Gupta
MATX offers me the opportunity to integrate my career paths as a
psychotherapist, social work educator, and writer in the creation of products
and processes that are more compelling than those created from the study of one
discipline alone. I want to use story, images, sound and film in my work with
persons who, like me, are creating a vision of who they want to be or gathering
the skills they need to move toward change. We will be able then to mine our psyches
- in the words of the narrative therapists, to “rewrite our stories.”
My previous work on an online
course illuminated
for me the potential inherent in utilizing components of new media to improve
accessibility of training and professional social work education and to engage
large numbers of people in learning. The theoretical
foundation provided by the Ph.D. Program in Media, Art, and Text enables me to
consciously use multiple mediums and genres to develop products and modalities
that engage students and stimulate learning on many levels, both conscious and
unconscious.
I am
specifically interested in the potential of hypertext to demonstrate in depth
intrapsychic and interpersonal processes and to offer students the opportunity
to draw parallels between the experiences of characters in narratives and those
of clients in the therapy room. I have begun to develop a structure that will
utilize hypertext with embedded hypermedia to engage students in learning key
concepts in psychotherapy. I expect that my students will be
intrigued by the novelty of the study of archetypes in narratives and the
fertile possibilities inherent in lexias enriched with images, sound, video,
and animation. I expect this to be a more powerful medium than a lecture or a
role-play that by nature limits participation to only a few students. I hope to
find students who will accept this invitation to self-discovery and the
opportunity for reflection, sharing, and participation in an interactive
creative work. I have recently become interested also in the use of avatars to
teach interviewing skills in psychotherapy. Both mediums would make practice
classes, traditionally thought to necessitate classroom instruction, available
through distance learning.
Four theoretical constructs have guided the development of my thinking
around the use of hypertext and avatars. These are the use of role-taking and
simulation from game theory, the use of hypertext as a narrative medium, the
use of hypermedia, and the use of hypertext/avatars as instructional
strategies. For purposes of this
first draft of my e-portfolio, I have concentrated on my beginning uses of
hypermedia. The content of my pieces is not related to my hypertext structure.
However, the skills I have begun to develop in photography, sound recording and
sound editing, video production and editing, animation, and web authoring
are essential to the hypertext
structures I hope to produce.
Hypermedia – text, sound, song,
illustrations, color, and typography—will be used to increase the
affective impact of narratives, to mimic intrapsychic and interpersonal
ambivalence, and to illustrate meaning making and choice. Though my authorial
intent may be to accomplish these objectives, what I actually do communicate to
the viewer has to do with his apprehension and reception of my signifiers,
whether they are text, images, or sound. Barthes notes that the “variation in
readings . . . depends on the different kinds of knowledge” available to the
reader/observer; “[i]t is as though the image presented itself to the reading
of several different people who can perfectly well co-exist in a single
individual” (Barthes 160). At
times an image, sound, or song stirs the viewer/listener at a level that is not
always conscious to him/her. S/he comes away with a deep knowing, having been
profoundly impacted, sometimes at an unconscious level, that then seeks to
inform his/her cognitions.
My first link is to the text I have created in the MATX
program. Here I have my Theoretical Justification as well as links to a number
of papers I have written. I have also added an additional section called
Essays. These papers were written as response papers to readings for MATX 690:
Documentary, but because they call forth deeply personal responses, I created a
special section for them. They foreshadow a type of writing I hope to create
which I will call “therapeutic essays.”
When
I began the MATX program, I thought of images as a way to augment a written narrative
by broadening perspective or deepening affect. I shot my first picture with my
eyes closed as part of an assignment for MATX 600. I chose to display it
because the textures and the symbols spoke to me, called me to the freedom
promised on the other side. The linguistic component of this
image is in the caption – Caged Abandon. If I accept Mitchell’s assertion that pictures
want something, I hear the cage say, “Look past me, look through me!” (73). And
I do. Parts of this image serve a relay function, not between text and image
(Barthes, 155-157) but between parts of the image. The vitality of the liriope,
quickened by the cage’s invitation, gathers force. It serves as a signifier of
an iconic message – strength, resilience, hope. The image juxtaposes the
flowering grass and the metal cage, thus, coding the image in such a way as to
augment the narrative (or the narrative, to augment it). Mitchell asks, “What do the images want from us? Where are they
leading us? What is it they lack? That they are inviting us to fill in? What
desires have we projected onto them, and what form do those desires take as
they are projected back at us, making demands upon us, seducing us to feel and
act in a specific way?” (Mitchell 25). My answer to the image is a new mantra, “Break free, break free, break
free!
Now I understand that images
can be the narrative. My first effort
at this is Doors: A Photo
Essay. This is a story of pain, capture, choice
and healing, a story I am compelled to repeat over and over again as if to
expunge the pain of the therapy room. Someone else might rearrange these doors
to tell a completely different story. Barthes
notes that the “variation in readings . . . depends on the different kinds of
knowledge” available to the reader/observer (160). If I were using this
with clients or with students, I would ask, “What is your journey?
Choose a door and listen. What does it say to you? Dialogue with it. What do
you need to say to it?” The artist codes his images in
order to communicate his intent (“utterances emitted”) but the beholder brings
his/her own perspectives, which filter the “utterances received” (Barthes 160).
As Barthes notes, the “image is penetrated through and through by the system of
meaning” and “the language of the image is not merely the totality of
utterances emitted . . ., it is also the totality of utterances received: the
language must include the ‘surprises of meaning’” (Barthes 160). I would say to
clients/students, “Spend some time with one of these images to discover your
own “surprise of meaning.”
According to Emme and
Kirova, “interactive” meanings are those conveyed through “contact,”
“distance,” and “point of view” experienced by the viewer that become part of
the image’s meaning (qtd. In Lynch 1). Barthes notes that “framing, distance,
lighting, focus, speed” create an opportunity to code the message (158). I have
coded these messages using distance, perspective, and light. For example, I
chose two images, Light and Safety, to represent different stages of coming out
of darkness into light. I chose a close-up of the lock on one door to punctuate
the notion of being locked in or out depending on one’s perspective. Emme
and Kirova also discuss “representational meaning” or
“meanings conveyed through the ‘narrative’ and ‘conceptual structure’ in the
content of an image” (qtd. in Lynch 1). Wounded is an example of an image that
conveys narrative. Clearly the photo is of a structure that has received some
care; however, upon close examination, one determines that there is a wound, a
missing panel of glass.
The sequence of the images is important. First, they can
serve as a hypertext (albeit unlinked to each other) in that they do not require
viewing in the order in which I put them. If the viewer chooses to follow my
order, however, he reads a narrative that represents the spiral nature of
healing with regressions along the way. For example, Wounded comes after the
experience of Safety. That is because we may not recognize our woundedness
until we have had some time to reflect. Help! comes after freedom. Escape from
some traumatic event does not mean that the trauma is over. One may not have
the coping skills to deal with what has happened and with the challenges of
day-to-day life. Also, some images represent a developmental process. The four
images Cell1, Cell2, Jail, and Imprisoned are ordered to connote a gradual
recognition and change of perspective. Cell 1 has a small window; there is
still some remembrance of freedom. Cell 2 offers no way to see in/out. This
image is chilling in its representation of nothingness. As Mitchell says, “We
need to reckon with not just the meaning of images but their silence, their
reticence, their wildness . . . ” (10). The ornate decoration on the door of
Jail represents the comfort that some of us develop with being imprisoned in
order to cope with being locked up. Imprisoned represents a deepening
recognition that this is unacceptable, being locked up at the bottom of a
stairwell. The prisoner’s vision is clouded and one senses that crisis or doom
is near. This anxiety then births a change in perspective leading to a
recognition of Choices.
Next I debated whether to caption the photos. I chose to
use descriptive titles that serve an anchoring function. Barthes notes that
“all images are polysemous [with multiple meanings]; they imply, underlying
their signifiers, a ‘floating chain’ of signifieds” (156). However, he goes on
to say that a caption is a denotational message that serves the function of
anchoring and focusing our attention. For this reason I chose to add
descriptive captions as opposed to Door 1, 2, 3, etc. He notes the linguistic or
literal message present when there is an illustration of text. Barthes suggests
that we ask, “Does the image duplicate certain of the informations given in the
text . . . or does the text add fresh information to the image?” (155). In this
case, the message functions to relay information back and forth between the text
and itself (Barthes 155-157). “Here text (most often a snatch of dialogue) and
image stand in a complementary relationship . . . and the unity of the message
is realized at a higher level, that of the story,” producing a message that neither
of them communicate alone (157). One
example of such a message here is Choices. The image is a different perspective
of the same door shown in Imprisoned, but the attention here is on the four
different paths in view from a different perspective. The image of the barred
door dialogues with the caption to create a unity of the two messages. Even
when trapped, there are always choices; one only needs the perspective to see
them.
I Really Miss
You is the audio recording of a story told
by my MATX colleague Lulu Panbehchi. I am drawn to the recording because of the
depth of emotion conveyed in her voice and in the content of story. She
utilized humor to relieve the pathos inherent in the judgment and
discrimination faced at times by immigrants to our country. Seemingly small
challenges, such as pumping gas, can quickly become significant stressors.
Lulu used humor to alleviate the anxiety that surfaced as
she recounted the memory. I edited out some of her laughter in order to deepen
the emotional impact of the story. I spontaneously responded to her emotion and
I can hear myself on tape. I was not able to edit out my voice. I think it
detracts from her story. I have since learned that some sounds cannot be edited
out and that it is necessary to re-record during the sitting.
Wild Sounds is a recording I made of the birds in the forest at sunrise. At this
point it is an asset, not a product as it is not completely edited. I offer it
here as a respite for someone journeying through this website. It will probably
end up as background in a video or lexia.
I did learn about recording ambient sound through this
project. I used the Edirol R-09 recorder with an external microphone. In order
to pick up the trills of the birds deep in the woods, I had to maximize the
input. At first I thought that this maximized the electronic noise of the
recorder. I made seven different files but was never able to eliminate the
noise completely. Eventually I learned that the interference was coming from
the microphone. Recently I recorded three hours of interviews for MATX 690:
Documentary, using the same recorder with no external microphone and the sound
is crystal clear. I did learn from my original project that it may be necessary
to record ambient sound using a boom microphone.
Breathe . . .is a story of consumption . . . of holding too much and the process of
change. Another MATX colleague Eric Wilson and I collaborated on this project.
First we brainstormed ideas about themes. The result was an adaptation of
Eric’s idea of consumption preventing change. In the video, he is holding onto
too many things, literally and figuratively, which get in the way of his
accomplishing various tasks. We storyboarded several narratives before settling
on this one. Time, weather, and access were factors in the location and
sequencing. This was my first attempt at filming. Eric seemed to be a natural
at acting. I did a fairly decent job of capturing various angles but I did
learn that one must be careful to not film the bench on which one is standing.
I also shot the nature scenes and edited the video. The biggest challenge in
editing is that the video was limited to 30 seconds in length. The content of
the video then was at odds with the time constraints. I felt that the fade in
and outs of the nature scenes needed to be much slower in order to portray the
process of relaxing and centering, of regaining control. It feels rushed to me
and we need to correct that at some point. I worked hard to synchronize the
sound of the narrator telling Eric to breathe with his actual breaths. The idea
of inserting this sound was not planned but occurred during the editing. The
sounds of the birds and the wind are intended to be calming and to
usher the listener into a transformative space. When we showed this video in
class, some viewers did not understand why we juxtaposed nature scenes with
those in the cluttered office. Some understood it immediately.
I have
captured four audio clips from Jimi Hendrix’ “All Along the Watchtower” from
his album Electric Ladyland. My
intent is to insert these into the video, beginning with the scene where Eric
sees that he has 616 messages. The words are particularly appropriate –
“There must be someway outta’ here,” says the joker to the thief. There’s too
much confusion. I can’t get no relief.” The plan is to set up a battle between
the guitar interludes and the sound of the birds with the guitar gradually
fading out. Reynolds notes that noise is “interference, something which blocks
transmission, jams the code, prevents sense being made” (55). Later he notes
that the “guitar is still privileged as the source of noise” (58) This
particular recording of Jimi Hendrix is not uncontrolled noise. But he teeters
on the verge of noise throughout, thus exhibiting a tension that mirrors the character’s (Eric) state of
mind.
Another piece of this project
was learning to forward video to the video server. I had a lot of difficulty
with this as I had to download software from the VCU site. After following the
directions exactly several times, I still could not see it on the server. I
finally called Technology Services and discovered that I had capitalized
Breathe in one place and not in another! It was there all the time. A final
piece of this project was learning (after all that work) that our .wmv file
could not be viewed by persons working from a Mac. In order to improve
accessibility, I had to encode the video in a Flash file and was initially told
by Adobe that the Flash video encoder was not included with CS4. I did this in
the lab and then linked to the file from Dreamweaver. Later I learned that the
Adobe Media Encoder performs the same function in CS4.
Simplicity was inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem about a “little stone” with a
“coat of elemental brown” that fulfills “absolute decrees in casual
simplicity.” Here the brown stone is what Barthes would call a “literal
message,” i.e. it conveys that it is a stone. But it is also an “iconic
message” (150). It signifies contentment to be what it is, to follow its own
path, to abandon the trap of approval-seeking. I live a complex life with
numerous responsibilities across multiple areas. The stone is who I would like
to be, at least consciously (although something unconscious and at present
uncontrollable tethers me to complexity).
I completed four versions of this piece and will link to
each of them here. In Simplicity Version 1, I was pleased with the choice of poem and with the fact that I
finally got that stone to roll across the screen. However, the background image
was not my own. I cited it beneath the image. The black text running across the
page destroys the image. And the animation is a simple illustration that does
not add to the piece. At this point I was concentrating on learning Flash. True
to form for me, my initial attempt at this animation was tedious. I manually
animated the stone and it jerked across the screen. I understood tweening but I
could not believe that it would accomplish the numerous turns I wanted to see.
With the instructor’s assistance, I was able to insert the correct tween and
the stone rolled smoothly across the stage.
In Simplicity
Version 2, I inserted my own photograph.
This time I decided to construct a piece that would illustrate Dickinson’s tribute
to simplicity – one simple brown stone on a brown background with the
word simplicity coming to the fore.
In Simplicity
Version 3, I decided to experiment with the
alpha feature on an entire layer. Although I liked the effect, the result began
to look decidedly unsimple, layered, complex. I felt that it was antithetical
to the message and I found myself waiting for it to complete itself.
In Simplicity
Version 4, I modified Version 3 to make the
presentation simpler (although the construction was more complex). Eventually
the stone fades to the word “simplicity” against a tan background. This is the
version I eventually chose to put up on the web.
CSS and Dreamweaver
Learning CSS has been a challenging and exhausting process
for me. I have spent many hours working my way through tutorials, only to find
that I had missed some simple step that the tutorial authors apparently assumed
their readers would know. There continue to be gaping holes in m knowledge of
CSS. In reading the Adobe Help forums, I discovered that I am not alone. I have
worked my way through most of The
Non-Designer’s Web Book and want to make changes in my typeface. Yet I have
not found a suitable replacement. However, I have learned a lot, much of it by
trial and error, and my e-portfolio is up!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barthes, Roland. “Rhetoric of the Image.” Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: A
Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s,
2004. 152-163.
Print.
Lynch, Kathryn. “Photoshop Semiotics: Research in
the Age of Digital Manipulation.: Class Presentation Handout. Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. 11 October 2007. Print.
Mitchell, W.J.T. What Do Pictures Want: The Lives and Loves of Images. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 2005. Print.
Reynolds,
Simon. “Noise.” In Audio Culture:
Readings in Modern Music. Eds. Christoph Cox and Daniel Warner. New York:
Continuum, 2004. 55-58. Print.
Williams,
Robin and Tollett, John. The Non-Designer’s Web Book. 3rd. ed.
Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2006. Print.