Text Visualization
Speaker
David Kaufer and Suguru Ishizaki
Carnegie Mellon University
When
-
Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)
Description
In their studies of writing development, Bereiter and Scardamalia (1987; The Psychology of Written Communication, Erlbaum & Associates) observe that writing skill takes place across what they call two “problem spaces.” The first is a content space. The second is what they call a “rhetorical” or what we prefer to call a “representational” space. The content space determines what the writing is about (topic, subject matter). The representational space determines the kind of interactive experience the writer prepares for the reader through a text (e.g., first person, neutral or emphatic tone, level of description, inclusiveness, interactivity, etc.). In their studies, Bereiter and Scardemalia found that skilled writers work across these spaces seamlessly. Developing writers do not have fluid links across these spaces. In this talk, we present an interactive tool we have been developing that lets student writers “visualize” their content decisions and their representational actions from a variety of related views. They can take these views from the perspective of either a single text or from the vantage of a text collection (such as a classroom of texts). We will briefly introduce the ideas behind the tool, demo it, discuss the work behind its development, including current challenges and loose ends, the evolving process of its development, and future extensions and applications.
Speaker's Bio
David Kaufer is Professor and Head of the Department of English at CMU. He is also co-director (with Dan Boyarski) of the masters program in communication planning and design, a joint venture between the Department of English and the School of Design. His areas of interest are rhetorical theory and theories of written composition. His most recent book, Principles of Writing as Representational Composition (Erlbaum, 2000; with Brian Butler), provides some ideas for the text visualization tool we will be discussing.
Suguru Ishizaki is an Associate Professor of Communication Design at the School of Design, CMU. His areas of interest are kinetic typography and interactive/intelligent visualization. His professional work includes interaction design and early-stage digital-product development.