WRITING < posted November 15, 2001 >

Thesis Document Outline | version 1.0 | 11.10.01

Disclaimer: This is a very rough first step, so please read it as a draft and a work in progress, not as a fixed outline. Thank you.

Introduction
Lots of people are looking at the media coverage of the events of 9/11/2001 and their aftermath.

Its fertile ground for investegation and critical analysis because its been a major turing point in the history of our country and in the history of our country's mass media and especially our countries news media.

My Contribution
(not sure this is the proper location for this section...Maybe it should go later with case study?)
In realtion to this, what I'm interested in looking at how the visual design of news mediums effects the presentation of news and information from those sources.
(i.e: By deconstructing news layouts from visual mediums including television, newspapers, news magazines and the internet, is it possible to help consumers of the news separate more direct representations of information from editorial design treatments that are used to package the presentation of that information?

If it is possible, then perhaps such a process could help to clarify the cumulative effects of design on the presentation of news.

Hopefully, making this process accessible to users could become one method for helping to create a better informed, more critical viewing public.)

Also interested in mapping some of the language of design onto the field of comparative media studies as a way to structure my investegation. To combine/interweave the tools of design criticism/discourse and comparative media theory into one another to better understand and talk about the role and the relevance of the designer in presenting, packaging and shaping the news coverage of and around 9/11.

Why am I trying to bring together these two strands of critical thinking? A response to media convergence. (We're in the midst of a period of swiftly converging media on both technical and corporate fronts. The mass media has an immense impact on our culture. In order to understand this convergence in media, it is necessary to bring together multiple disciplines/discourses to talk about what is happening in our changing media landscape and in particular, its important to bring together multiple disciplines in order to talk about the role of the designer within that landscape.)

Cite Current Work
(Who else is talking about the media's coverage of the events of 9/11, and what are they saying?)
Media theorists have focused a lot on the use of language (ie. MIT's re:constructions site), etc. (this will need to be flushed out A LOT more, but this will be a place to discuss media theorists work in the area.)

The news media and journalists themselves have been very self-reflective, what have they been saying? (Seems to be a lot about how news sources did when faced with the challenge of reporting on the events of 9/11, how news web sites held up under the pressure, where people went to get information, etc. but not as much critical commentary on the content itself.)

Talk about design discouse surrounding the events of 9/11. (Not a lot, that I've found, but some interesting commentary on the AIGA's Design Forum Section, "Design Responds to Disaster," a big part of which is comprised of designer's visual expressions in response to the tragedy. Steven Heller had some interesting critical commentary.)


Cite Historically Relevant Work
(Talk about relevant critical reflection/criticism/theorizing/discourse.)
Important contributors from the field of media studies include:
John Hartley, John Fiske, Stuart Hall, Greg Philo (media effects research), Pierrre Bourdieu, Pierre Levy (possibly), etc. Need to discuss their work and its relevance.

In terms of convergence, some important sources to cite include: Noam Chomsky and Ben Bagdikian, certainly others... Need to discuss their work and its relevance.

Present My Case Study
My case study focuses on deconstructing design interfaces in visual news mediums to try to parse out the impact of design and the elements/tools of the designer on the news coverage of 9/11 and its aftermath. Talk about how I've tried to do that, what I've found in the investegation, what questions it raises, etc...

Conclusion
Not trying to provide answers, but to provide a forum for questioning the role of the designer in the packaging of the news. More to come when I'm ready to wrap it up, I'm sure...