Amanda Chandler

Dr. Martin
Tutoring Writing
11 March 2014
New Media
Readers no longer want to be feed information, they want to draw their own conclusions
and meaning to text. Incorporating New Media, to utilize semiotics into writing opens greater
potential opportunities for change, in comparison to Old Media mediums.
Semiotics, which researches the affect visuals and images play in communication, has the
ability to combine several media elements. Old or traditional media restricts the writer to white
paper and black fonts. As Seller states in The St. Martins Sourcebook for Writing Tutors that
new media texts that juxtapose semiotic break away from print traditions so that written text
is not the primary rhetorical means (347). Using a diverse community of media elements allows
the creator more freedom when creating. Assignments are brought to life with a conglomeration
of audio, video, and text.
The actual term of writer can enhance, since traditional writing is no longer the main
aspect of creating. In my own writing, I have often thought about how a video or image could
help emphasize my idea. Old media only uses texts to convey idea but with new media, all
media elements are seen as contributing to the overall rhetorical effect (Sellers 343). Unleashing
all medias, working together for an idea, an emotion, opens up the possibilities for creators. By
incorporating different mediums they can draw inspiration and others in a collaborative form.
Often texts become overwhelming and quotes, rather than an individuals own ideas, drive the
paper. Instead, using semiotics gives your idea unlimited resources to drink from, a nectar
developing with the technological culture.
Semiotics allows creators and viewers the ability to unleash and recall upon emotions and
ideas without necessarily writing or reading a single letter. All senses used; memories evoked
upon. Viewers are able to use new media elements to come up with our own ideas to infer what
the crafter is intending. Semiotics enables viewers to make inferences and decide their own
meaning for an individuals work. Inference work is the perseverance, in my opinion, of writing.
While the creator creates the work, it is up to the readers to make meaning of it. The original
purpose of the crafter can be manipulated by the viewers. Meaning can develop with the viewer.
With new media the inference and critical thinking work is put back onto the viewer. We get to
think for ourselves instead of being spoon-feed words.
Allowing this expansion will create creators and reviewers the chance to explore new
mediums, new ways of communications, and new ways to think. These spaces have the ability to
change the way we think about writing and communicate with another. Using new media in
creating combines all elements to allow the reader to find their own meanings in text.

References
Murphy, Christina, and Steve Sherwood. The St. Martin's Sourcebook for Writing Tutors.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.