Useful Fictions: How Popular Mechanics Builds Technological Literacy through Magazine Cover Illustra by Tom Burns

Useful Fictions: How Popular Mechanics Builds Technological Literacy through Magazine Cover Illustration by Thomas Burns, MS A Dissertation In Technical Communication and Rhetoric Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Dr. Kelli Cargile Cook Chair of Committee Dr. Rich Rice Dr. Miles Kimball Dr. Craig Baehr Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School June, 2015

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As I finish this dissertation I am reminded of the many people who have generously helped me arrive at this point. It has been a long journey, which the late Dr. Kenneth Rainey helped me start. The direction of this path has changed, and I am grateful to Dr. David Dayton, Dr. Betty Oliver, and Dr. Carol Barnum who all helped my recalibrate my notion of technical communication; to Dr. Fred Kemp, who gave me an appreciation of the rich, universal power of rhetoric; and to Dr. Letitia Harding, who provided me with generous advice at a significant point on the path. Thanks to all the folks, both students and staff who make up the TCR program, for the warm embrace and the considerable help and support I received during this journey. Special thanks are extended to my employer, AutomationDirect; Company Captain, Tim Hohmann; Team Captain, Andy Tipton; Team Leads, Steve Cleary, and Keri Schieber; and the entire group of wonderful team members who, with benevolence and patience, generously supported and underwrote my PhD program. I am most grateful to my committee for their extraordinary support and guidance during the process of crafting my dissertation. Dr. Rich Riceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s valuable advice moved this dissertation forward and provided me with an appreciation for the prospects of new (and old) media to expand the role technical communication. In a similar fashion, Dr. Miles Kimball gave me an appreciation for the value embedded within the rich traditions of past technology and also of the wide variety of artifacts that may be included in the domain we call technical communication. I am particularly grateful for Dr. Craig Baehrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s readiness to provide valuable feedback on short notice at a critical juncture during the creation of this work. The Chair of my committee, Dr. Kelli Cargile Cook recognized how my ideas could make a contribution to technical communication, and with great patience and perseverance, gave me the tools I sorely lacked to put pen to paper and finish this dissertation. She provided an excellent sounding board with her uncanny ability to entertain rough ideas and later respond with insight coupled with practical advice that showed me how to bring this idea to life. ii

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 I would like to thank the following professionals for their assistance with the collection of my data. Thanks to the founder of Make magazine, Dale Dougherty, who was able to provide a valuable perspective on the development and design of a magazine; to Popular Mechanics cover illustrators, Jeremy Cook and Vladimir Shelest for the valuable insights into the practice of their craft; and to Popular Mechanics Art Director, Bryan Canniff, who shared valuable insider information about the complex procedures associated with cover design. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Popular Mechanics writer and historian, Mary Seelhorst who provided the artifacts I needed to complete my corpus sample and patiently answered my many emails about the history of the publication. Finally, my family has provided emotional support and great help during my frequent travels to Texas. My significant-other and best friend, Caroni, has patiently supported me from the very beginning of this long journey, and without the generous help of her, my daughter Rachel, my brother Jack, and my sister Pat the completion of this work would not be possible.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... ....LL TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... .... LY ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... .. YLLL LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... [ LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. . [L CHAPTER I - POPULAR MECHANICS: A CONVERGENCE OF CULTURAL IMPERATIVES, VISUAL RHETORIC, USEFUL FICTIONS, AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION........................................................................... 1 Visual Rhetoric.......................................................................................................... 5 Semiotics ............................................................................................................. 8 Useful Fictions ........................................................................................................ 18 Useful Fictions as Tactics ................................................................................. 19 Useful Fictions as Strategies ............................................................................. 20 Useful Fiction as Conscription Devices and Boundary Objects ....................... 21 Useful Fiction as Genre ..................................................................................... 22 Useful Fictions as Postmodern Composition .................................................... 25 Popular Mechanics as Technical Communication ................................................. 31 Statement of Problem Requiring Research ............................................................. 35 Overview of chapters ........................................................................................ 37 CHAPTER II - A REVIEW OF IMAGES AS USEFUL FICTION: FROM PREHISTORIC ARTIFACTS TO POPULAR MECHANICS COVERS .............. 41 Early Examples of Images as Useful Fictions......................................................... 41 The Classical Perspectives on Images and Their Rhetorical Power ....................... 45 The Impact of Visual Rhetoric on the Developing Conventions of Technical Communication and Illustrated Journals During the Medieval and Early Renaissance Eras ..................................................................................................... 49 Emergence of the How-To Genre as Popular Literature and the Establishment of Multimodal Reproduction in the Renaissance and Modern Eras ............................ 52 The Development of Illustrated Journals in the Modern Era and the Emergence of Popular Mechanics Magazine................................................................................. 55 The Historical Evolution of the Illustrated Magazine Cover .................................. 58 Definition and Purpose of Frontispiece ............................................................ 59 iv

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Demonstration of Technical Concepts .............................................................. 61 The Frontispiece as Visual Argument ............................................................... 63 An Appeal to Ethos ........................................................................................... 64 The Development of the Illustrated Magazine Cover ....................................... 66 Magazine Covers as Vehicles to Study the Movement to Multimodality .............. 70 A Continuing Trend .......................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER III - HYBRID METHODOLOGY FOR THE ARCHEOLOGICAL STUDY OF HOW ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE COVERS CONVEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS ........................................................................................ 74 Review of Methodological Approaches .................................................................. 78 Content analysis ................................................................................................ 78 Compositional/Rhetorical Analysis .................................................................. 79 Rhetorical History Analysis .............................................................................. 80 Critical Discourse Analysis, Visual Social Semiotics, and Multimodal Discourse Analysis ............................................................................................ 81 GeM .................................................................................................................. 83 GeM Analysis of the Popular Mechanics December 1935 Magazine Cover ......... 86 The Three Constraints of GeM Analysis .......................................................... 87 The Five Steps of GeM Analysis ....................................................................... 88 An Extension of the GeM Analysis .................................................................. 93 O’Toole’s Adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s Functional Grammar for Compositional Analysis .......................................................................................... 96 Researching online archives of historical magazine covers .................................. 100 Sample Size and Technique .................................................................................. 101 Software Analysis ................................................................................................. 102 CHAPTER IV - A REVIEW OF IMAGES AS USEFUL FICTION: FROM THE GEM ANALYSIS: TRENDS OF INNOVATION AND INTEGRATION .......... 105 The Three Constraints ........................................................................................... 107 Production Constraints .................................................................................... 107 Canvas Constraints .......................................................................................... 117 Folded Cover Strategy..................................................................................... 120 Consumption Constraints ................................................................................ 123 Representational Levels of Multimodal Structure ................................................ 128 Layout Structure .............................................................................................. 128 Content Structure ............................................................................................ 135 Rhetorical Structure ........................................................................................ 139 Linguistic Structure ......................................................................................... 140 Navigational Structure .................................................................................... 143 v

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 GeM Analysis Conclusion .................................................................................... 146 CHAPTER V - O’TOOLE’S SEMIOTIC FRAMEWORK: TRENDS OF CULTURE EXPRESSED THROUGH TECHNOLOGY..................................... 151 Pictures as Short Stories ........................................................................................ 152 Decomposition First, Then Analysis ............................................................... 154 Notes on my Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator fragmentation and revisualizing technique.................................................................................... 157 The Exploratory Period ......................................................................................... 158 March 1902: A Celebration Technology ........................................................ 159 August 1911: Technology as an Adventure .................................................... 162 September 1916: A Jukebox Image – Hero or Monster? ................................ 164 The Classic Poster Cover Period ........................................................................... 168 February 1918: Technology vs. Nature ........................................................... 168 May 1919: The Old vs. The New .................................................................... 171 December 1935: A Technological Vision for the Future ................................ 174 July 1936: A Myth of Power ........................................................................... 178 September 1945: Normalization of Mass Destruction .................................... 180 January 1954: Technology as a Mediator of Culture ...................................... 182 The Postmodern Period ......................................................................................... 185 January 1969: Technology as a Mediator of War ........................................... 186 February 2005: A Shift in Genre and Production Methods ............................ 190 November 2011: An Explosion of Technology Mediated Through Digital Publication ...................................................................................................... 195 A Trajectory of Three Periods............................................................................... 200 CHAPTER VI - HYBRID GENRE AND USEFUL FICTION AS A VALUE PROPOSITION ......................................................................................................... 202 Blended Methodology Provides an Useful Excavational Tool. ............................ 205 Trajectory of the Popular Mechanics Corpus ................................................. 208 Cover Line Trajectory ..................................................................................... 210 Masthead Trajectory........................................................................................ 210 Illustration Style and Genre Trajectory ........................................................... 211 How Popular Mechanics Explains Technology ................................................... 212 Explanation through Visual Appeal ................................................................ 213 Explanation with Boundary Objects ............................................................... 214 How Popular Mechanics Popularizes Technology ............................................... 215 Popularization through Genre and Style ......................................................... 216 Popularization through Convention ................................................................ 217 vi

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Popularization through Technological Affordance and Function ................... 218 Popularization through the Z-axis and 3D Simulation .................................... 219 How Popular Mechanics Promotes Technology .................................................. 220 Promotion of Technology as Cultural Imperative ........................................... 221 Promotion of Technology through Simulation ............................................... 222 Promotion of Technology through Mash-up ................................................... 222 Theoretical and methodological contributions to the study of multimodal expressions used in the practice of technical communication. ............................. 224 A New Genre of Configuration for Technical Communication............................ 229 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 231 Implications of this Study ..................................................................................... 232 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 238

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ABSTRACT Rapidly evolving technology and cultural convention is changing the practice of technical communication and pushing it further into a “pictorial turn” (Mitchell, 1994, p. 11). Simultaneously, changing circumstances such as globalization and the proliferation of user-generated YouTube video has diminished the opportunity for traditional technical communication. To learn how to best embrace the use of imagery and harness it for the advancement of our profession in a user-directed environment, this dissertation examines technical communication as it has been historically expressed in illustrated do-it-yourself magazine covers. To this end, my dissertation examines a random sample cover from each year of the 1902-2011 Popular Mechanics corpus to study how the evolving cultural, commercial, and technological developments seen over the life of the publication can be harnessed for the practice of technical communication. For the purpose of this dissertation, the process of explaining technology through the illusion of artful illustration is categorized as a useful fiction, and to establish context for the analysis, the historical development of illustrated useful fiction in terms of technical communication is reviewed. A novel approach addresses the multimodal relationships between the image/text and image/image assemblages and the grammatical associations that articulate these assemblages. To account for these relationships, two methodologies, GeM and O’Toole’s semiotic framework were adapted in a unique fashion as a hybrid to examine and account for the entire array of meaning-making components seen in multimodal composition. GeM allows the genre space of a multimodal composition containing text and image to be systematically decomposed into its fundamental elements. It also provides a mechanism to recognize and account for the variety of meaning-making structures seen in the composition and the constraints that provide definition to the genre space. GeM is used to examine 110 covers drawn randomly from each year of the corpus. On the other hand, O’Toole’s semiotic framework, which is deployed as an overlay to GeM for 12 purposefully selected covers, provides a way to decompose the image itself into fundamental meaning-making elements. Once these elements are identified, image-editing software viii

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 is used to fragment the composition and isolate the fundamental elements. These are rearranged into hierarchical diagrams, which allow the examination, in a serial fashion, of the features, which grammatically connect the fundamental elements together. Finally as the Popular Mechanics magazine corpus reveals a rapid movement to electronic publication expressed in a postmodern manner, which deploys content derived from 3D models, this dissertation proposes an approach to technical communication that better integrates the skills of practitioners into enterprise resources and emphasizes the potential opportunities in the configurable nature of future documentation.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. The analytic framework (reproduced from Delin, Bateman, & Allen, 2002, p. 52). ................................................................... 84 Table 3.2. The primary sources of constraints adopted by the Genre and Multimodality framework (reproduced from Bateman 2008, p. 18). .................................................................................. 84 Table 3.3. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Base Units. ................................ 89 Table 3.4. Comparison of Ranking Concepts ....................................................... 96 Table 3.5. December 1935 Base Units Derived from Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tooleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Method. ......................................................................................... 97 Table 3.6. Comparison of Metafunction Concepts. .............................................. 98 Table 4.1. Cover Types seen in the Popular Mechanics corpus. ........................ 130 Table 4.2. Cover Types Distribution. .................................................................. 130 Table 4.3. Content elements eeen in Popular Mechanics corpus sample sorted from most frequent to least frequent. ............................... 136 Table 4.4. Cover Themes. ................................................................................... 138 Table 4.5. Text Forms listed by order of frequency. ........................................... 141 Table 4.6. Text Types listed by order of frequency. ........................................... 141 Table 4.7. Use of superlatives in 1902-2011 Popular Mechanics corpus sample trajectory. ........................................................................ 142 Table 5.1. O'Toole's Semiotic Framework .......................................................... 155

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Adapted from Kress and van Leeuwen, (1996) page 208. ................. 13 Figure 1.2. Popular Mechanics April 1935 cutaway. ........................................... 19 Figure 2.1. Hunting scene from the Cova del Cavalls. Copyright by DigitalNatura.org. (DigitalNatura.org., n.d.) ................................ 42 Figure 2.2. X-Ray Fish image published in McCormick (2013). ......................... 44 Figure 2.3. Late Geometric krater from Thebes 735 BC (circa). from www.BritishMuseum.org (British Museum, n.d.) ........................ 44 Figure 2.4. Exploded view of Pilgrim’s Cart, published in Hofer (1978). ........................................................................................... 51 Figure 2.5. “Treatise on the Astrolabe 4” by Walter W. Skeat - The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Vol. III.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. ..................................................................................... 52 Figure 2.6. Cross-section drawing of mining operation. Published in Agricola, Hoover, and Hoover (1950). ......................................... 53 Figure 2.7. Renaissance woodcut positioned as rhetorical cluster. Published in Tebeaux (1997). ....................................................... 55 Figure 2.8. Popular Mechanics Cover, Vol. 1, Issue 1, January 11, 1902. .............................................................................................. 56 Figure 2.9. Oscillation between illustration and photography. ............................. 57 Figure 2.10. Mechanischer Kunst-Kammer Erster Theil. Published in Popplow (2013). ............................................................................ 61 Figure 2.11. Dialogi, tam eos quos edidit systemate mundi quam de motu locali.Published in Remmert (2006). ................................... 63 Figure 2.12. Chirologia. Published in Corbett and Lightbown (1979) ................. 65 Figure 2.13. First five pages of the first issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine. Published by the Oxford Archives, Vol. 1. ................. 66 Figure 2.14. The Gentleman's Magazine Cover Page. Published by the Oxford Archives, Vol. 1. ............................................................... 67 Figure 2.15. The London Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer. Published by The Online Books Page. OBP (n.d.). .................................................................................... 68 Figure 2.16. Multimodal expression of image, text and gesture in Popular Mechanics Cover, October, 1923. ................................... 71 Figure 3.1. Flowchart of GeM Analysis of Popular Magazine Covers. ............... 85 Figure 3.2. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Poster Cover. ............................ 86 xi

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Figure 3.3. Area Model Diagram. ......................................................................... 88 Figure 3.4. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Layout Hierarchy Diagram. ........................................................................................ 89 Figure 3.5. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Rhetorical Structure Theory Diagram. ........................................................................... 90 Figure 3.6. December 1935 Layout Hierarchy Derived From O’Toole’s Semiotic Framework. .................................................................... 97 Figure 3.7. Rhetorical Structure Diagram derived from O’Toole Analysis. ........................................................................................ 99 Figure 4.1. Genre space facilitated by technological affordance revealed by GeM analysis. .......................................................... 106 Figure 4.2. Dimension of color space for Popular Mechanics magazine covers. ......................................................................................... 108 Figure 4.3. Enlargement of text from letterpress cover. ..................................... 108 Figure 4.4. Tooling marks left by engraver’s burin. ........................................... 110 Figure 4.5. June 1910 photomechanically created cover. ................................... 112 Figure 4.6. August 1911 comic book style cover................................................ 114 Figure 4.7. Comparison of Popular Mechanics Nov. 2011 iPad and print editions. .............................................................................. 117 Figure 4.8. National Lampoon reinterpretation of Popular Mechanics cover published in Kaplan (1973). .............................................. 117 Figure 4.9. Canvas size from 1902 to 2011. ....................................................... 118 Figure 4.10. September 1961 Popular Mechanics folded cover example. .......... 121 Figure 4.11. November 2011 Popular Mechanics, sequence from the animated “Splash Page”. ............................................................. 127 Figure 4.12. Real/Ideal Composition in September 1909 Popular Mechanics. .................................................................................. 131 Figure 4.13. Masthead Trajectory Elements. ..................................................... 132 Figure 4.14. Percentage of Coverline Coverage. ................................................ 135 Figure 4.15. Comparison of Photography, Illustrations, and Hybrid Imagery. ...................................................................................... 137 Figure 4.16. Photography Branded Vehicle. ....................................................... 138 Figure 4.17. Illustration of Non-Branded Vehicle. ............................................. 138 Figure 4.18. Cover Line Word Use and Frequency. ........................................... 139

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Figure 4.19. Patriotic Seals from WWI and WWII Popular Mechanics magazines .................................................................................... 140 Figure 4.20. Popular Mechanics June 1982. ...................................................... 140 Figure 4.21. Superlatives found in the Popular Mechanics sample. ................... 142 Figure 4.22. Words with gerunds to indicate activity. ........................................ 143 Figure 4.23. Distribution of Navigational Elements over the Timeline. ............. 144 Figure 4.24. Mastheads with Overlapping Artwork. .......................................... 145 Figure 4.25. Popular Mechanics February 2005 Gaussian blur integrates masthead with background. ........................................ 146 Figure 5.1. March 15, 1902 Popular Mechanics Newspaper Style. .................... 159 Figure 5.2. March 1902 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 160 Figure 5.4. August 1911 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 163 Figure 5.3. August 1911 Popular Mechanics three-color comic book style. ............................................................................................ 162 Figure 5.5. September 1916 Popular Mechanics useful fiction reveals truth. ............................................................................................ 164 Figure 5.6. September 1916 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 166 Figure 5.7. February 1918 Popular Mechanics demonstration of procedure. .................................................................................... 168 Figure 5.8. February 1918 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 169 Figure 5.9. May 1919 Popular Mechanics visual argument. ............................. 171 Figure 5.10. February 1918 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 172 Figure 5.11. December 1935 Popular Mechanics metaphor for a bright future. .......................................................................................... 174 Figure 5.12. December 1935 Popular Mechanics layout hierarchy diagram derived with O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework. .................................................................................. 175 Figure 5.13. July 1936 Popular Mechanics promoting a myth of power. .......... 178 Figure 5.14. July 1936 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 179

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Figure 5.15. September 1945 Popular Mechanics normalized technology. .................................................................................. 180 Figure 5.16. Reference photo for September 1945 Popular Mechanics cover illustration.......................................................................... 180 Figure 5.17. September 1945 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic. ......................................................... 181 Figure 5.18. January 1954 Popular Mechanics birth of color TV. ...................... 183 Figure 5.19. January 1954 Popular Mechanics birth of color TV. ...................... 184 Figure 5.20. January 1954 Popular Mechanics birth of color TV. ..................... 185 Figure 5.21. October 1959 Popular Mechanics, first postmodern cover. ........... 185 Figure 5.22. January 1969 Popular Mechanics Starlight Scope Cover ............. 186 Figure 5.23. January 1969 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework........................................ 188 Figure 5.24. Examples of cover design consistency over three decades. ........... 189 Figure 5.25. February 2005 Popular Mechanics drone image............................ 190 Figure 5.26. Popular Mechanics February 2005 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework. .................................................................................. 192 Figure 5.27. November 2011 Popular Mechanics explosion of imagery. ....................................................................................... 195 Figure 5.28. November 2011 Popular Mechanics locative relations.................. 197 Figure 5.29. Compositional flow forms the hierarchical structure in November 2011 Popular Mechanics cover................................. 199

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CHAPTER I POPULAR MECHANICS: A CONVERGENCE OF CULTURAL IMPERATIVES, VISUAL RHETORIC, USEFUL FICTIONS, AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION Over history it may be seen that culture drives technology, and in turn technologies may drive culture. This reciprocal motivating force is guided by conventions that simplify technical concepts for cultural consumption. Examples of this reciprocal force may be seen in conventions in artifacts of the popular media domain such as books, magazines, photographs, illustrations, videos, and movies, and, as Johnson (1998) notes in his discussion of technological determinism, “it is difficult to deny the role that artifacts and systems play in the determination of agency” (p. 87). My research focuses on how these conventions are systematically materialized in Do-ItYourself (DIY) magazine covers positioned in the popular domain and how they operate as cultural agents. For example, Schiffer (1993) describes the “cultural imperative” of the “shirt-pocket radio” as a concept initially developed in the popular imagination and promoted by DIY media over many decades until the transistor radio was finally brought to practical fruition by industry. He defines these imperatives as “a product fervently believed by a group – its constituency – to be desirable and inevitable, merely awaiting technological means for its realization” (p. 99). Popular media, including that positioned in the DIY and science fiction genre space, infuse this constituency and their visionary efforts with cachet by “glamorizing their activities and bestowing prestige […] to popularize the vision and recruit new members to the constituency” (Schiffer, 1993, pp. 99-100). A more recognizable example of the influence of media in the promotion of a cultural imperative is the January 1975 Popular Electronics cover portraying the Altair 8800 which launched the personal computer into public consciousness (Isaacson, 2014). Thus, these imperatives, when featured on magazine covers, are primarily communicated to the general public through visual means.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Cultural imperatives can also have a profound effect on the combination of conventions, genre, methods of production, and modes of expression, which define the mediascape in which these artifacts are delivered. For example, technical communication has been directly influenced by cultural developments that moved its practice. As Brockmann (1998) notes, in response to the rapid acceptance of the personal computer by the general public in the late 20th century, the emphasis of documentation shifted to “what readers need to know in order to perform the task rather than focusing on the internal workings of the tools used to perform the task – built on a tradition of American instruction manuals reaching back to at least the 1850s” (p. 378). The tradition described by Brockman, which focused on “task orientation” (p. 378) and the rapid development of the computer screen as an interface to technology, later gave way to Carroll’s (1998) “Minimalism,” an anti-intuitive style of “less is more” (p. 2) documentation, which fundamentally changed the established culture of practicing technical communicators. In addition to a shift in consumption, the well-established production techniques in workplace culture were also changed by the appearance of Postscript page description software and desktop publishing technology. The appearance of these technological affordances shifted the professional culture by marginalizing craft workers such as typographers and production artists, who were bound by tradition and obsolete hardware, as it empowered other workers such as technical communicators who then became responsible for layout and design, typography, and technical illustration (O’Hara, 2001; Dicks, 2009) and thus became more involved with the techniques of visual expression. Technology, like culture, continues to evolve. As it affords more capability to the practice of technical communication, the specific role of technical communicators in the creation of visual expressions, dependent as it is on its application, will continue to evolve. The process of evolution is often blurred by the passage of time, and as Finnegan (2004) has noted, a historical perspective will provide some clarity. For this reason, as a historical study grounded in technical communication, this examination focuses on how material characteristics, compositional strategies, and rhetorical

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 techniques deployed in the 110-year corpus of Popular Mechanics function to popularize, promote, and explain technology. The technical communication field continues to change and adapt to a shifting cultural landscape. During the last two decades of the 20th century, most computers and software shipped with a set of printed documentation. With the wide acceptance by the public of the Internet, webbased publishing, help files embedded into software, and the Portable Document Format (PDF), this practice of including physical manuals has all but disappeared, and technical communicators have struggled to accommodate and absorb these technological developments. Unfortunately, for those technical communicators who are accustomed to working with conventional printed manuals, cultural developments such as globalization, off-shoring, and open-source, user-generated content published on YouTube have created conditions of diminishing opportunity. For practitioners, these new management practices and distribution channels introduce challenges for our profession that are difficult to solve. One thing is certain for technical communication: change is inevitable, and to sustain our profession, we must find ways to accommodate these changes. Brumberger (2007) recognizes the evolving nature of technical communication in her observation that technical writers are now responsible for the creating of visual artifacts and incorporating them into visual compositions (p. 377). According to Johnson-Sheehan and Baehr (2001), “[n]ot only does new technology require us to do our jobs differently; it also urges us to think differently about the nature and use of texts” (p. 30). How can we, as technical communicators, learn from the symbiotic process demonstrated by cultural, commercial, and technological developments, and how can this evolving process be harnessed for the advancement of our profession? As culture and technologies evolve, so too must the role of the technical communicator change. Johnson-Eilola, Selber, and Selfe (1999) consider it “crucial that technical communicators [… ] gain the ability to think critically, multiply, historically, and contextually about the way the computer technologies are developed and used within our culture and how such use, in turn, intersects with the practice of

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 technical communication” (p. 198). Although they specifically address the use of the computer, the ubiquity of this technology in nearly all manufactured products, i.e. the “Internet of Things” (Ashton, 2009), suggests that in the future their recommendation could be applied to all products. In that spirit, practitioners of technical communication have developed strategies of finding ways to better embed and become integrated into the culture of the business enterprise they serve. Writing in the online publication, Tech Writer Today Magazine, Giordano (2011), has formally defined this process as “integrated technical communications (ITC) […] the coordination and integration of all technical communication processes, tools, functions, and sources within an organization to convey information and knowledge relevant to optimizing the users’ product experience.” According to Giordano’s (2011) model, the technical communicator must become involved in the development and manufacturing of the product, its sales and marketing effort, and the continuing service relationship with the owner of the product. To become engaged in this integrative process, as suggested by Johnson-Sheehan and Baehr (2001) and Giordano (2011), technical communicators may have to enlarge their scope to include documents, which are not typically associated with our profession. Similarly, Longo (2000) notes we need to “look beyond technical communication textbooks and instead look to mass media to learn about cultural debates and issues that will modify our practices” (p. 168). DIY magazines that promote the cultural imperatives described above by Schiffer (1993) and Isaacson (2014) may serve the role Longo (2000) describes. The covers seen on these magazines can provide insight into how technical communicators can better accommodate the needs of their audience by tapping into the dynamism associated with the reciprocal relationship engendered by technological and cultural imperatives. An examination of Popular Mechanics covers from 1902 to 2011 reveals many aspects of this dynamic fusion of technology, practice, and popular culture. At the inception of Popular Mechanics in 1902, Seelhorst (1992a) notes, “[m]ost magazines of the day were sparsely illustrated, but Popular Mechanics featured a large photograph or illustration on every cover, plus numerous photos and diagrams

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 throughout” (p. 83). These covers often simplify and generalize technology in a fantastic and compelling fashion that feature rhetorical flair and whimsy in the stead of an accurate reflection of reality. Considering the history of Popular Mechanics over the past century, my dissertation research analyzes the ways in which these illustrated cover compositions, as fanciful, illustrated representations that are useful fictions, act as a conveyance mechanism to popularize, explain, and promote science and technology to the general public. It also considers how this mechanism may be adapted to the service of technical communication. Before beginning my exploration of this corpus, it is important to introduce and discuss the scholarship surrounding the two key topics of visual rhetoric and useful fiction at play in this dissertation. Because the concept of a field of visual rhetoric plays a major part in my analysis, I begin with this concept and follow with the techniques and terminology developed by researchers that I adapt and use to read images throughout this analysis. Visual Rhetoric Although visual rhetoric is a relatively new field, there is a wide variety of scholarship encompassing a great scope of thought, and before proceeding I’ll review some of the relevant scholarship and terminology. My review of visual rhetoric scholarship concentrates on an overview of visual rhetoric, the definition I have chosen for my use of this term, the signs that formulate its expression, the characteristics that define these signs, and the compositions that organize them into meaningful expression. Visual rhetoric in contrast to written text is based on perception and the power of sight. Hobbs (2004) notes that visual perception “is holistic and is seen instantaneously as a picture. Verbal language [conversely] is linear, occurring sequentially in units over time” (p. 65). According to Kenney (2004), the process of the instantaneous comprehension of a visual “follows a ‘mosaic model’ with massive parallel processing that creates chains of reaction with other stored memories” (p. 333). When combined with abundant technology, engagement with cultural memory, and ease of distribution, visual rhetoric supplies an added dimension that crosses 5

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 domains and can be used in all forms of expression to address the viewer. It is used by governments to legislate, by advertisers to promote and celebrate, and by lawyers to argue cases. It has an impact that is unique, which cannot be duplicated by verbal rhetoric, and visual expression is often more effective in communicating certain types of human experience (Foss, 1994). Additionally, it is particularly powerful as an aid in the navigation of complex technical concepts, and, as a result, should be considered to be a fundamental characteristic of technical communication. Many scholars have ventured to provide definition to the field of visual rhetoric. In their edited compilation, Defining Visual Rhetorics, Helmers and Hill (2004) begin their “study [of] the relationship of visual images to persuasion [... and how ...] images act rhetorically upon viewers” (p. 1) by noting that images have functioned in this manner since the beginning of recorded time. In addition to this rhetorical function, visuals are often used to logically explain a concept, maintain credibility in the promotion of that idea, and generate an emotional response that serves to popularize that conception by targeting “layers of cultural consciousness” (Kenney, 2004, p. 323). Culture plays an important role in how images are perceived. In Scott’s (1994) theory of visual rhetoric for advertising, images are not reflections of reality, but instead they are cultural constructions. She frames visual rhetoric in play as an argument (p. 252). Rampley (2005) associates visual rhetoric with “the strategic nature of both visual communication and representation [along with] the ways in which the practices of visual culture are intertwined with mechanisms of social power and ideology” (p. 135). In describing this term, Goggin (2004) writes that, we must “consider not only distinctions but convergences between word and image, [...]. We must flip the term, visual rhetoric, to rhetoric of the visual to signify that meaningmaking material practices and artifacts that engage in graphic representation are visual” (p. 106). Foss (2004) defines visual rhetoric in two ways. First, she writes, it is the “product individuals create as they use visual symbols for the purpose of communicating.” Second, she writes, it is the “perspective scholars apply that focuses 6

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 on the symbolic processes by which visual artifacts perform communication” (p. 304). Foss’s (2004) definition, focused on the application of visual symbols, encompasses any meaning that is perceived visually. On the other hand, Finnegan (2004) initially defines visual rhetoric “as a category of rhetorical discourse that relies on something other than words or text for the construction of its meaning” (p. 198). Finnegan (2004), recognizing the difficulty of excluding “words or text,” which are elements often seen in exemplars identified by other scholars as visual rhetoric, later questions why verbal and visual rhetoric “need to be separated in the first place” (p. 198). To accommodate this need, Finnegan (2004) modifies her definition to consider visual rhetoric as a mode of inquiry, “defined as a critical and theoretical orientation that makes issues of visuality relevant to rhetorical theory” (p. 198). My review of these definitions reveals the difficulties encountered when defining a subject with such wide scope. Finnegan’s (2004) reluctance to categorically define visual rhetoric is instructive to any effort that seeks to include all of the expressive elements that combine to form an illustrated magazine cover in an integrated analysis. As Barthes (1977) explains, “[r]hetorics inevitably vary by their substance (here articulated sounds, there image, gesture or whatever) but not necessarily by their form” (p. 49). Visual meaning is influenced by its material expression and cultural deployment, and it is often difficult to establish a point where the expression of visual rhetoric begins and ends. The range of expression available through visual means is enormous, and I realize each of these authors is defining visual rhetoric in terms of the expression they are analyzing. For the purpose of focusing my analysis of Popular Mechanics covers in terms of technical communication, I have adopted Foss’ (2004) definition of visual rhetoric. She notes that visual rhetoric is the process of creating of artifacts that are “symbolic, involve human intervention, and [will] be presented to an audience for the purpose of communicating” (pp. 304-305). I also use Finnegan’s (2004) construction of visual rhetoric as a mode of inquiry, in particular the “rhetorical history that accounts systematically for the ways in which images become inventional resources in the public sphere” (p. 198). Finally, I contend, visual rhetoric lacks a clear boundary

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 that distinguishes its domain and warrants a singular definition. It is part of an overarching continuum of rhetoric, and its definition is dependent on continuously evolving taste, genre, context, material necessity, and deployment that is molded by technology and culture. As a continuum, it should be viewed through the lens of history, technology, and culture as a shifting and evolving concept. The imagery seen on Popular Mechanics covers is arranged in compositions of elemental signs expressed in a variety of modalities, which use graphic effects grammatically arranged in a purposeful manner. To explain how these signs work in magazine covers, I next review the scholarship of semiotics.

Semiotics Many scholars begin their explanation of visual rhetoric by describing the process of meaningful communication through the lens of semiotics, the study of signs. Semiotics, when used to analyze visual compositions, produces “precise accounts of how the meanings of particular images are made” (Rose, 2001, p. 96), and for this study, “Peirce’s theory is particularly appropriate to technical communication because it is based on philosophical pragmatism” (Killingsworth and Gilbertson, 1992, p. 6). Peirce developed the “triadic theory of icon, index, and symbol” (Helmers & Hill, 2004, p. 15). A sign that refers to the object portrayed in an expression is called the “referent” (p. 15). With an iconic representation, “[t]he [referent] Object does not have to exist” (p. 15). In a magazine cover, the iconic representation would resemble the referent, which could be (and often is) an imagined concept. “The index…depends on the existence of the Object” (p. 16), and it serves as a pointer to the referent. In a magazine cover, an index could be an arrow or some other graphic feature that serves to point to the referent. “The symbolic image holds a conventional relationship to its Object [the referent]” (p. 16). A symbol does not resemble the Object. It could be a logotype in the magazine masthead or text of some sort that symbolizes the referent in an abstract fashion. In this way, these three signs account for images that range from “representational, through diagrammatical, to allegorical” (Helmers & Hill, 2004, p. 15). The magazine covers analyzed in this study deploy signs in a wide variety of 8

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 ways to serve different functions, and these deployments have different effects on viewers. The variety of signs used in Popular Mechanics imagery are a full range of symbols and icons, which are articulated with indexical signs in a way that provides functionality, credibility, and emotional impact to explain, promote, and popularize technology. The following three continuums derived from the scholarship describe this variety and range from the standpoint of functionality, believability, and emotional response as these signs may be portrayed in magazine covers. Signs, such as icons, that portray technology realistically and those that portray it through abstraction, such as symbols; have important functional roles to play in conveying information about the use that technology. For example, in their exploration of 3D objects used for rhetorical purposes in collaborative engineering, Hisarcikilar and Boujut (2008) mapped the differences between icons and symbols in terms of engineering expressions based on Pierce’s typology of signs. To illustrate their hypothesis, they developed a continuum model that showed representational differences between icons and symbols. In this model, Pierce’s definition of icon and symbol form opposing poles in their continuum. The 3DCAD representation resides in the iconic side of the continuum because it has a significant resemblance to the referent. The textual annotation, which is an abstract representation of the referant, resides in the symbolic side of the continuum. Intermittent expressions included on Hisarcikilar and Boujut’s (2008) continuum include a dimensional sketch of the object and a more abstract schematic symbol which represents the object. On this continuum between icon and symbol, the 3DCAD model and its textual equivalent, although expressing similar information about the function of a technical concept, serve radically different purposes in an engineering culture. As a continuum, Hisarcikilar and Boujut’s (2008) model, which measures the nature of representation, is reminiscent of Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) modality of representation markers, which measures, as a viewer may perceive it, the truthfulness of an expression. Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) “theory of modality” (p. 160) is founded on how an image functions to convey credibility for a variety of social situations. 9

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Modality markers are expressions drawn from a common societal experience, which reinforce the veracity of a communication and promote its plausibility. To account for the level of believability or veracity in an image, Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) provide a set of “eight modality markers” (p. 165) that assign a value to visual characteristics in terms of magnitude on a scale that indicates the realistic nature or believability of a given image and thus the level of modality:        

Color saturation Color differentiation Color modulation Contextualization Representation Depth Illumination Brightness (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 165-167)

Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) note that 35 MM color photography is the technological mediation that currently provides the general definition for the modality, which represents reality in today's culture. They contend that a realistic image is positioned on a scale at some point between two extremes. Ultra-realistic, colorsaturated, or brightly illuminated images are positioned at the edge of the continuum because they are perceived by the viewer as unnatural and artificial. An image rendered to express a reality that resides at some point in the middle of these scales will be the most believable by the user. The ranges of visual persuasion afforded by images developed from this continuum have a corresponding range of rhetorical potential. In addition to their ability to convey a sense of believability, images can also generate an emotional response or have a psychological impact that works to persuade and influence an audience, and to categorize this impact, Hill (2004) has proposed a “comprehensive continuum of vividness” (p. 31). His continuum recognizes some “images tend to elicit more emotional responses while print messages tend to elicit

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 more analytical responses” (p. 30). On the other hand he continues, “[s]ome visual appeals are highly rational” (p. 30). I have reproduced Hill’s (2004) continuum below. Most Vivid Information

Least Vivid Information

actual experience moving images with sound static photograph realistic painting line drawing narrative, descriptive account descriptive account abstract, impersonal analysis statistics (p. 31)

Hill (2004) explains that “to instantiate values and stir up strong emotions, actual images tend to be more efficient” (p. 32). Thus, vivid depictions in Popular Mechanics magazine covers may make effective appeals because they are emotionally resonate when they are expressed in a manner that is easily understood, and in this way serve to popularize a technical concept. According to Blair (2004), vivid imagery also argues effectively because of “the sense of realism that the visual conveys” (p. 51), and “[t]he advantage of visual arguments [...] lies in their evocative power” (p. 51). Images on magazine covers may be quite evocative because they make a more direct appeal to the viewer, are usually less abstract than a verbal argument, and can “be used to convey a narrative in a short time” (Blair, 2004, p. 51). The rhetorical power of visual arguments using evocative imagery to form a narrative is much greater than that afforded by verbal arguments expressed in typeset text. Blair (2004) demonstrates this power by describing the famous “Daisy” (p. 50) ad from the Johnson/Goldwater presidential election as a persuasive argument and visual enthymeme, which infers or implies a concept that is consequently provided by the viewer. In this case the vivid and evocative image of the iconic mushroom cloud implies that a vote for Goldwater is tantamount to inviting nuclear holocaust. In addition to having the power to evoke emotion, images also appeal to a viewer. Magazine covers use compelling depictions to attract viewers. According to Foss’s (1993) hypothesis, viewers are attracted to and develop a positive response to

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 images, which have visual appeal, and a response is triggered by some compelling and novel technical characteristic that draws attention to the image. Foss (1993) suggests these compelling characteristics, noticeable because of their “technical novelty,” could describe a “form, structure, or construction technique of the image [that] stands out as exceptional or extraordinary” (p. 215). Visual surprise generated by the technical novelty disrupts the viewer’s sense of context and normalcy and prompts her desire to recontextualize the image into an understandable context. The disruption caused by technical novelty thus provides an opportunity for the more familiar aspects of the image to flow into the consciousness of the viewer. The process of recontextualization described by Foss’s (1993) creates a “positive association” that also bestows “a degree of credibility to the image” (p. 216). The continuum of signs described above is used on Popular Mechanics cover compositions to explain a technical concept using a realistic icon or a symbolic diagram. This technical concept could be promoted using an appropriate modality that has credibility with an intended audience. Finally, the technical concept could be popularized by using a vivid image that attracts the viewer’s attention and conscripts them into accepting the technical concept. In their contribution to visual rhetoric, Gestalt psychologists explored this perceptual focus and sought to “explain why the world looks the way it does to ordinary people in natural settings” (Schriver, 1997, p. 302). They developed a set of principles that designers use to attract users and express meaning with visual elements. The principles that are relevant to my analysis of Popular Mechanics covers are the “figure-ground principle” (Schriver, 1997, p. 307), which explains the organization of foreground and background elements, and the principle of “good continuation” that causes to viewer to perceive that a visual element in a composition arranged as a pattern “continues beyond the end of the pattern itself” (Schriver, 1997, p. 313). In this way, the continuum of visual rhetoric serves to attract viewers, support a conceptual premise with believable imagery, and explain that concept with appropriate signs.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 If a viewer’s attention is properly focused, an intended association is often directed by a caption or some other textual device. According to Barthes (1977), “all images are polysemous” (pp. 38-39) and the text isolates and provides “anchorage” (p. 38) that fixes an intended meaning of the polysemic image. The relationship between the text and image may also function to serve as a “relay” (p. 38) in that the text serves as a narrative to “advance the action by setting out in the sequence of messages, meanings that are not to be found in the image itself” (p. 41). When describing the relationship of signs in a composition, many scholars of visual rhetoric cite Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), and much of my analysis is dependent on concepts derived from their seminal work. Their work analyzes the structures of grammatical representation that have evolved in the formation of visual literacy, and they have developed a foundational vocabulary and collection of techniques that serves this analysis, which I will review in the next few pages. They contend there are three “interrelated systems” of composition called “information value, salience and framing” (p. 194) that interact to create meaning in an image. An interaction of systems may occur in a composition that has a singular, nature, such as an isolated photograph, or a multimodal nature, such as a magazine cover that combines multiple forms of code (p. 183). To generate information value, a composition may be arranged in a linear fashion to suggest a narrative created by combining the image “participants” (p. 46) with contextual imagery or adding a subjective twist by suggesting an imaginary viewer with the inclusion of hands or other body parts within the image frame. A hierarchy may be implied by the “salience” (p. 212) of an image and indicate its position in the order of importance in an arrangement of visual elements. The most salient element might be the “hook” (p. 213) that draws a viewer to the image.

Figure 1.1. Adapted from Kress and van Leeuwen, (1996) page 208.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 A composition that uses strong framing elements intends to portray those elements as separate while the use of weak or implicit framing elements indicates weaker salience and stronger integration into the larger composition. According to Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), framing leads into the phenomena of a “Given [and] New” (p. 187) arrangement. Compositional participants placed in the left side of the frame provide Given information. Participants placed near the right side of the frame provide New information. In addition to the placement of participants, lighting effects can be arranged to suggest a Given and New relationship. Information placed at the top of an image tends to be perceived as “Ideal” (p. 193) and information placed at the bottom of an image tends to be perceived as “Real” (p. 193). As shown in Figure 1.1, the center of a composition and its relationship to images at the edge of the frame conveys meaning. In some cases, the left side is the New and the right side is the Given while the center acts as a “Mediator” (p. 208) between the two. Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) note that “modern magazines and newspaper layouts are generally polarized with a ‘Given’ left, a ‘New’ right, and a centre which bridges the two and acts as a ‘Mediator’” (p. 208). The mediation effect may also be seen in the center element of a vertical structure of Ideal and Real and these features will be examined closely in the analysis which follows in Chapter 4 and 5. Cross (2010) notes in her study of 3D compositions that Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) Given/New, Real/Ideal scheme is “not quite sufficient for a comprehensive analysis of the screen and page or the images they contain” (p. 340). To remedy this deficiency, Cross (2010) has adapted some of Wierzbicka’s (1972) “semantic primes” (p. 341) that linguistically define ‘spatial’ characteristics with terminology that serves to describe areas on the z-axis of a composition. Cross (2010) draws from sixty semantic primes described by Wierzbika (1972), but adapts only those nine semantic primes having properties that describe space to describe all of the relative positions that exist within the concept of space. In this way, 3D positioning creates meaning and these properties have the potential to be adapted for my Popular Mechanics cover analysis. For example, the primes ‘where’ and ‘place’ would refer to 14

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 a position in the frame of the composition. The primes “here, above, below, far, near, [and] side” (Cross, 2010, p. 341) refer to positions on the z-axis, and the prime “inside” (Cross, 2010, p. 341) could refer to a cutaway or section view of a machine. Some magazine cover compositions resemble a diagram or info-graphic, and Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) provide terminology to address and evaluate this type of image. They contend that a diagram with multiple participants represents either some form of “transport, [... or ... ] transformation” (p. 60). As transport the image depicts a change in location. As a transformation it depicts a change from one form into a different form. A diagram consisting of one participant is considered to be “nontransactional” (p. 61) and may also be considered to be “analogous to the intransitive verb” (p. 61). These participants could be associated with vectors that guide the viewer. In a narrative process the source of the vector is the action and the recipient is the goal. Vectors are seen to depart from one participant to imply some action on another participant. A “locative relation is realized in pictures by the formal characteristics that create the contrast between foreground and background” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 44). In the Popular Mechanics covers, an image might use the contrast between field and ground to represent locative propositions on the z-axis. According to Kress and van Leeuween (1996), image structure may be analyzed as either “subordinate” or “superordinate” (p. 81). Some images may be considered to be “carriers” (p. 108) of component elements or “possessive attributes” (p. 116) that can be identified and analyzed. The carrier concept portrays a system in a way that reveals associated parts and invites their inspection. These components may be arranged as an “exhaustive and inclusive analytic processes” (p. 90) such as an assembly diagram. Additionally, these image participants may be configured in an arrangement that has both narrative and analytical characteristics to suggest a passing of time (p. 96). Images may be classified as “topographical [... or ...] topological” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 101). Topographical structures are detailed representations of the component parts showing their relative position in an assembled image. A 15

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 topological structure on the other hand is a representation that shows the logic controlling the arrangement of the component parts. These “carrier” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 108) structures become symbolic through attributes or suggestions invoked when some form of emphasis creates meaning. An emphasis or salience could be generated through graphic techniques, vectors or an unusual juxtaposition of components. In the case of an illustrated Popular Mechanics cover, a rocket could be posed as if in flight, but in a useful fiction manner to full inform the viewer, all of its stages are slightly separated to show the complete system. In the transaction between an image and its viewer, Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) note there are three characteristics found in images. First there is the characteristic of “image act and gaze” (p. 121), which describes how an image addresses the viewer through an “offer” (p. 124) or “demand” (p. 122). The second characteristic is framing size and the implication of personal space (p. 130). Finally, the third characteristic is the objective and subjective implications suggested by perspective (p. 135). A demand image generates an imaginary interaction with the viewer, and this interaction could be generated by a portrait gazing out at the viewer with an engaging expression or with a pointed gesture that directly addresses the viewer and demands a response. The offer image offers information to the viewer and is more dispassionate and objective such as diagrams, maps, and charts. The nature of the demand/offer image is determined by the personal space or what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) call “social-distance” (p. 130) portrayed by the framing of the image. A close-up view provides detail that suggests an intimacy available only in the personal space. A medium shot is typically used as a beauty shot, and the image, framed as a participant, is available and within reach of the viewer. The long shot is an overview that appears out of reach and suggests an objective detachment. Kenney (2009) notes the expressive power of framing and describes “how a wide-angle view sets the scene; how a medium shot tells the story; and how close-ups add drama” (p. 106). Perspective is related to framing because it establishes the point-of-view of an image, and because its perception is socially constructed, this point-of-view could be 16

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 characterized as either objective or subjective. These drawings are typically used to explain structures or procedures to end-users, and they “can be seen as a visual ideal influencing the conception of physical spaces, enabling countless forays into rational understanding of the world” (Brassure, 2003, p. 57). The vanishing point defines the position of the viewer, and thus this point-of-view defines the context of presentation into what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) could consider to be a “subjective view” (p. 136). On the other hand, the objective perspective view is constructed by an image that “reveals everything there is to know (or that the image produced has judged to be so) about the represented participants.” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 136). The images on Popular Mechanics magazine covers are often heroically posed. Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) have categorized the variety of image views and the rhetorical effect generated by these views. The objectivity or subjectivity of the image is influenced by the angle of viewing. A cross-section view, because it penetrates the participant, is also an objective view with power implications, and an “oblique angle” (p. 143) is more detailed and objective while a “horizontal angle” (p. 143) is more engaged and involved. Power relationships are suggested by the “vertical angle” (p. 146), and an angle that looks up to an image confers power to the image over the viewer. An angle that looks down on an image confers power to the viewer over that image. A viewer looking at an image directly from the top down at a maximum perpendicular angle is perceived to have “maximum power” (p. 149) over the image. At eye level, this power is neutralized and arbitrary. On the other hand, some images do not encode in this manner. A “frontal or perpendicular top-down angle” (p. 149) in a diagram is more engaging and conveys power because it shows “how it works” (p. 149), and the top-down perspective is a more theoretical and objective view of an object because it invites analysis. Although a frontal view suggests the greatest involvement within an image, this involvement wanes as the viewing angle becomes more oblique. (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 152). In this way, a point-of-view frames a context mediated by a composition of image icons and

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 symbols that are articulated with vectors serving as indexes to guide the narrative and form a useful fiction. Useful Fictions Useful fiction is a term that has multiple meanings. For example, Eklund (2011) notes Nolan, Restall, and West’s (2005) description of the philosophical understanding of the term by writing: “[t]he simplest fictionalist approach to a discourse takes certain claims in that discourse to be literally false, but nevertheless worth uttering in certain contexts, since the pretence that such claims are true is worthwhile for various theoretical purposes” (Eklund, 2011). An example of the application of this term used in technical communication discourse would be JohnsonSheehan and Baehr’s (2001) description of the Platonic split between thinking and perception as a “useful fiction” (p. 23). “Useful fiction” is also used in the literary domain. Austin (2011) defines it as “any statement, proposition, narrative, or piece of information whose adaptive function does not require it to be true” (p, xiii). Illustrations are favored as useful fictions in magazines because they “were lifelike but not real; entertaining but not threatening. They provided a buffer between fantasy and fact” (Janello & Jones, 1991, p. 184). Tufte (1997) uses the analogous term of “visual confection [that is] an assembly of many visual events [that] combine the real and the imagined, and tell yet another story” (p. 121). In this study, I adapt Austin’s usage to refer to the illustrated simplifications used by Popular Mechanics for two reasons: 1) because these conventions serve to create an embellished scenario purposely contrived to communicate useful technical information to the lay user, and 2) because they describe the illusionary power of illustrations and the rhetorical strategy deployed by the artist. I include Kostelnick and Hasset’s (2003) observations about illustrated propositions, which I describe in the next section, that normalize an impossible viewpoint to advance a technical concept. Thus, useful fiction is a graphic illusion or contrivance that acts in the service of some end while also providing a useful benefit to the viewer. I hypothesize that these

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 productive fantasies serve a useful purpose in advancing technical communication and the technology it promotes.

Useful Fictions as Tactics Useful fictions appear in two forms. The first is more of a tactic or technique. An example is the cutaway application or sectioned view, such as a Popular Mechanics cover illustration of an oceanliner or airplane such as that seen in Figure 1.2. Portions of the fuselage or hull are removed in an artificial contrivance to show how the plane flies or how the ship floats despite the obvious impossibility of accomplishing this task without the missing features. The reader interprets the illusion by supplying missing information cognitively through a process McCloud (1994) calls “closure [, …] mentally

Figure 1.2. Popular Mechanics April 1935 cutaway.

completing that which is incomplete based on past experience” (p. 63). Although the image portrays a falsehood or impossibility, it also provides information that popularizes, explains, or promotes a particular technology. In this way, useful fictions are conventions that are accepted as truth because they are so widely used. Another example of a useful fiction of this type often used in technical illustration is the exploded view, which Kostelnick and Hasset (2003) considers to be a coded convention. They write that readers “know that this technique of visualizing the parts is a fiction – parts don't float in space, and certainly not along a straight line – but readers suspend their disbelief so they can learn how to assemble them” (p. 14). Because they are so useful, these fictions often appear in documents intended for technical communication and “have been so fully naturalized that any lay person that uses illustrations to assemble a product, maintain a car or a home, or visualize how something works understands them” (Kostelnick and Hasset, 2003, p. 36). Thus, a useful fiction expresses an abstract, complex, or vague conception in a comprehensible 19

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 concrete form, and this comprehension is possible because the fiction has become conventionalized.

Useful Fictions as Strategies In addition to serving a tactical role, images that portray useful fictions can also advance strategies to normalize technology and naturalize the overall ideology of a technological culture. A normalization is often accomplished through an oversimplification making a claim of truthfulness or credibility through the use of compelling imagery. A Popular Mechanics cover image typically serves to advance an agenda of power that is consistent with a reiterating vision of technological triumph forming the groundwork for advancing the dominant discourse. For example, a cover created in 1935 during the Great Depression shows an image depicting a streamlined locomotive breaking out of a dark tunnel into bright sunshine as it travels through a dazzling metropolis. In contrast to the bleak reality of the day, this composition serves up technology as a metaphorical engine of impending prosperity and signals better times ahead. According to Barton and Barton (1993b), visuals are an expression of conventions that are socially constructed by cultures, and images are arranged and composed to support ideology in a manner that sustains domination of one group over another group. In describing the implications of visual power expressed with an institutional bias, Rose (2001) notes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;[a] specific visuality will make certain things visible in particular and other things unseeableâ&#x20AC;? (p. 137). Discourse that is not visible because of institutional constraints has no opportunity to make a claim for truth. For the purpose of my dissertation, institutional power is perhaps best described by Barthes (1973). To define it and provide an example channeled through cultural discourse, he analyzed a Paris Match magazine cover to reveal how the myth of French imperial power is personified by a photograph, which depicts a colonial African soldier saluting the tricolor (pp. 116-117). In this way, the photographic image works to support the desired concept of benevolent colonialism in the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind. In combination, this imagery associates French patriotism and colonialist self-esteem 20

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 with the concept of imperialism. In this case, the image becomes a myth that serves to naturalize the French colonial establishment as the domineering institution. By mythologizing these properties, they become normalized and accepted as natural. In the case of Popular Mechanics, the magazine illustrations introduce and normalize technology to the general public through artwork that projects truthfulness and credibility. In this way, the power of the dominant culture is normalized through the use of a variety of conventions that support a favored mythology, which also evolves over time in response to cultural imperatives. As a mythologizing power it is often presented in a compelling fashion designed to build consensus and attract supporters such as the imagery in Popular Mechanics described by Smith (1992), which “tried to make space travel and atomic power seem as accessible to its readers as the family car” (p. 112).

Useful Fiction as Conscription Devices and Boundary Objects Useful fictions are often conveyed by conscription devices and boundary objects. “Conscription device” is a term coined by Henderson (1999) to describe graphic devices used by engineers to develop support for their designs. She writes these visual or textual elements “enlist group participation and are receptacles of knowledge that is created and adjusted through group interaction with the common goal” (p. 53). In other words, they are used to generate consensus among a discourse group. A conscription device may serve to normalize an otherwise unfamiliar subject. These devices could range from a sketch on a napkin shared between two colleagues at lunch to an animation demonstrating possible product performance scenarios to a far-flung engineering group connected over the Internet. Conscription devices also serve the process of engineering promotion. “Marketing departments distribute illustrations with a high-tech look... [and] … [this] practice is not unlike the historical use of perspective in detailed renderings of ships and machines in order to attract investors” (Henderson, 1999, p. 12). A boundary object is an artifact used to transmit information across professional domains. The concept was first introduced by Star and Griesemer (1989); 21

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 they describe it as a document that “can be interpreted in a tightly focused way by specialists while being simultaneously readable by generalists” (quoted in, Henderson, 1999, p. 5). Wilson and Herndl (2007) have revised Star and Griesemer’s (1989) conception in their argument “that a boundary object can also function as a rhetorical construct that encourages an integrative rather than a demarcation exigence” (p. 132). In the case of Popular Mechanics, the deployment of a boundary object framed as a useful fiction is accomplished by integrating technical and popular genres with imagery to create a hybrid that appeals to an audience ranging from specialist to average user. An example of this deployment may be seen those magazine covers, which feature imaginary airliners with cutaway views revealing the interior of aircraft to expose internal mechanisms while also showing the activities of passengers in a depiction of the artist’s vision of the future of commercial air travel. Although frequently present in contemporary Popular Mechanics covers, technical drawings have long functioned in this way (Baynes & Pugh, 1981).

Useful Fiction as Genre Is useful fiction a genre? Because of its fluidity and overlapping contexts, “[d]efining a genre becomes a struggle to capture a multitude of physical, verbal, and spatial features under the umbrella of a social context” (Brasseur, 2003, p. 8). Killingsworth and Gilbertson (1992) define genre as “a way of classifying and predicting types of action by determining the rhetoric of documents most closely associated with those actions. It is coded way of suggesting appropriate roles for authors, audiences, and their mutual actions” (p. 73). How does useful fiction, as a synthesis of persuasive imagery that mythologizes cultural imperatives address a particular audience with popular expression while promoting and explaining technology? Foss (1994) provides the most appropriate answer for useful fictions in her argument that genre is best defined not by the designer’s intention but how the artifact is used and its eventual function, and this view coincides with the idea that the definition of a genre is ultimately determined by its function in a social context

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 (Kostelnick & Hasset, 2003), which also forms what Russell (1997) calls a “tool-inuse” (cited in Spinuzzi, 2003, p. 44). Useful fiction as they are used repeatedly in combination with a given context, gel into a convention and, with continued use, eventually become a commonplace of a given genre. My historical review is geared to theorize the functionality of this combination of context, convention, and genre. Paretti (2008) writes that genre theory reveals “the work that documents, presentations, and other text do, and thus more fully understand the nature of the situated activity to which texts respond” (p. 493). In my analysis of Popular Mechanics covers, I will examine the activity portrayed and promoted. Clark (2010) also recommends genre theory “because it focuses so closely on the rhetorical construction of the writing produced and encouraged by particular tools, can be invaluable to gaining new understandings” (p. 96). It will be important in my Popular Mechanics analysis to evaluate the tools and conventions used to produce the cover artwork. Brasseur (2003) uses “genre theory” (p. 5) to explore a variety of technical illustrations and visuals that pertain to technical communication. She presents Swales’ (1990) “four analytical benchmarks” that define a genre. A genre must have “1) a communicative purpose; 2) form, 3) structure; and 4) audience expectations” (pp. 6-7). In this way, an understanding of the parameters of genre provides a framework to analyze the continuing evolution of the conventions used in Popular Mechanics covers and the impact they may have on technical communication. In the case of Popular Mechanics, the composition and publication schema are drawn from the illustrated magazine genre with strong attributes of the miscellany tradition. The DIY illustrated cover is a genre familiar to all who peruse grocery store or airport magazine racks. The genre draws from a variety of conventions that compose the structure of the cover, and the conventions are especially reliant on visual rhetoric. These conventions are building blocks that designers use to communicate information through visual commonplaces shared in a manner that resonates with the audience. Our ability to know and communicate information is influenced by conventions we already use and the culture in which we reside. 23

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Conventions provide a framework that is shared by creator and viewer who are endowed with common cultural values that facilitate the communication. As technology develops over a trajectory of time and cultural shifts occur, those conventions and previously held conceptual frameworks may be disrupted. These conventions are formed by three rhetorical factors; “genre, the visual templates used in certain types of documents; pragmatic functions, such as stock structural and stylistic cues; and imitation of certain visual elements” (Kostelnick & Hasset, 2003, p. 96). In Popular Mechanics, “genre” is seen in the pervasive masthead and great variety of cover illustrations. The “pragmatic functions” are both the “structural cues” (p. 100) seen in the arrangement of masthead, cover lines, and the composition of cover imagery and the “stylistic cues” (p. 100) that provide ethos, guide viewer attention, and set the appropriate register and tone. The “imitation of certain visual elements” described above by Kostelnick and Hasset (2003) may be seen in the ways Popular Mechanics draws from other genre such as technical journals and science fiction. In Popular Mechanics, the makeup of an audience will inevitably change, and the contexts in which they view documents will shift; thus, conventions and genre are modified to accommodate these changing circumstances. In response to these changes, “[t]he designer can rhetorically tailor pictures to a given situation by selecting certain information to represent, using an appropriate style, and deploying drawing conventions” (Kostelnick, 2004, p. 215). When designers encounter greater capability in material expression such as when the production capability leaps from two-color to four-color, they look to and borrow from the past to refashion a hybrid to accommodate conventional circumstances. Johnson (1998) explains that many genres, such as newspapers, “have a historically established context of use [and when the] traditional genres are resituated within a new context [such as publication on the Internet] the revised use and purpose of the text can be the cause of a reformulation of the genre itself” (p. 139). By studying, as technical communicators, how genre evolves in response to developments in technology and popular demand, we can be prepared to respond in an 24

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 informed fashion to the rapidly developing technological environment and shifting public taste we are now encountering on a regular basis. The modification of existing genre to accommodate emerging circumstance creates what Spinuzzi (2003) calls a “hybrid genre” (p. 49), which exists in a space containing a “genre ecology” where “genres interact as they jointly mediate an activity” (p.54). Experience with genre builds literacy, and according to Lemke (2004), when analyzing literacy we need to look at “the total environment” or system that forms an “eco-social” system of “links and networks of interdependence” (p. 75). Additionally, to fully understand genre one must be aware of the relevant style, convention, and subject matter as well as cost and distribution constraints, which are also influenced by production methods. Often the genre is identified by the production method as in “pulp fiction” or “yellow journalism.” This material form also acts as a “signifier of the pretense of value.” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 232). In any case, it can be very difficult to pigeonhole. My research examines the flow of multiple activities and material forms that produce various expressions of genre directed towards a popular audience as it evolves over the life of the Popular Mechanics corpus and as it interacts within the unique useful fiction expressions developed for the DIY magazine cover genre.

Useful Fictions as Postmodern Composition Engineers can deploy iterations of a 3DCAD object to express genre ranging from blueprint drawings to near-photographic imagery at a touch of a button. Furthermore, this information may be expressed in a useful fiction fashion as a cutaway to serve one stakeholder or as an exploded diagram to serve another. The ability to change genre and rhetorical effect on the fly is a process that Manovich (2002) calls “transcoding” (p.63), and it provides this 3D object with significant power and range for the communication of technical information. This rhetorical effect seen in engineering parallels what is happening in popular consumer applications. According to Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), choice of material is a style statement, and the material used to form an inscription has important meaning. The technology available today makes it a simple matter to transcode a material expression from something such 25

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 as a photograph to a watercolor with a mouse click to restyle the expression. Transcoding such as this allows digital imagery to be remediated in a wide variety of material form that carries different meaning. For example, from a technical communication perspective, a line drawing signifies to the viewer a more objective, explanatory concept while a photographic-like rendering of the same subject suggests instead a more subjective, promotional expression. The ability to rapidly restyle and transcode, also possible with text, is a characteristic of the postmodern era. Barton and Barton (1990) take a “post modern approach to the relation of word and image” [to explore] “the relation of word and image on the level of both theory and practice” (p. 256). Noting the “unprecedented integration of word and image” (p. 257), they cite the advance of desktop publishing as one factor which has contributed to this trend. To further explore this trend, they compare the “positivist and postmodernist” characteristics that may be seen in the work of Edward Tufte’s (1983) The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. In their comparison, Barton and Barton (1990) describe Tufte’s reliance on Strunk’s The Elements of Style. A positivist adherence to style lends cohesion to a composition. As Scott (1994) writes, [s]tyle is valuable in imagery because it “resist[s] fragmentation”, On the other hand this fragmentation is a hallmark of the postmodern era. (p. 268). In plumbing Tufte’s (1983) work, Barton and Barton (1990) describe three characteristic of what they call the “strand” (p. 258) of postmodernism. First they describe the characteristic of “Equality” (p. 258), which invokes the “postmodern principle of non-hierarchy” (p. 258). This characteristic allows the semiotic power of images to be analyzed on equal terms with that of verbal text. The next characteristic is the “Breakdown of Distinctions” (p. 260), which removes the “sharp text/image distinction characteristic of traditional publications” (p. 260), and this characteristic may be seen in magazine covers that show a headline placed atop a blurry drop-shadow that provides a transition between the headline and the underlying background. In this way, the dropshadow creates a relationship between the text and the background. The third characteristic is “eclecticism” (p. 262), and this characteristic is built of “fragments”

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 (p. 263) composed into a “collage effect of post modernism eclecticism” (p. 262). It may be seen in compositions combining artwork from a variety of genre and production methods in a singular, stylized composition. Tufte (1997) calls this collage-type composition a “Visual Confection” (p. 121) to describe a composition compounded of multiple visual elements. According to Tufte (1997), the “confection [...] is an assembly of many visual events selected from various streams of story, then brought together and juxtaposed [...to] illustrate an argument, [and] present and enforce visual comparisons” (p. 121). Visual confections “combine assorted images of real objects into concocted universes, showing all at once what never has been together” (p. 127). These images “may contribute fresh insights, and make visible what is textually invisible, obscure, or beyond words” (p. 135), and they also “illustrate an argument, make a point, explain a task, show how something works, list possibilities, [and] narrate a story” (p. 138). In a useful fiction fashion, visual confections are a form of collage that “can present multiple and cut-away views, sequences of actions, focused annotation” (p. 145). According to McQuarrie and Mick (1996), images do not always reflect reality, and to create a rhetorical effect “[p]ictorial elements may be fragmented, combined, or altered” (p. 436). In the current parlance this is called a “mash-up.” Strope (2004) provides his sense of the “constitutive process” (p. 243) of the mash-up when he examines the visual language used to create meaning and project an ideology. He describes what he calls the “rhetoric of irritation” (p. 251), which juxtaposes two mutually abrasive images that are seemingly at odds with each other. To demonstrate his concept, he presents the “dialogical” or “ideologically expressive dialogue” (p. 245) of an artist who creates a mash-up of a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald’s murder and converts it into cover art for the Dead Kennedy punk rock band. The mashup concept, of the non-irritating form, is an important development in the evolution of the Popular Mechanics corpus. Developments in engineering and consumer culture indicate that we are at a nexus of converging phenomena of mashup such as that described by Strope (2004). 27

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 As Sheridan (2010) notes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;[t]hree-dimensional rhetoric is increasingly accessible to non-specialistsâ&#x20AC;? (p. 261). Opportunities allowed by these affordances are moving across popular and professional domains, and this capability for expression presents an opportunity for technical communication. Engineers are using 3DCAD to create promotional artwork that is designed for public consumption, while the engineering process itself is becoming more democratic with downstream users designing their own products in a DIY fashion with assets that support 3D printing and demand manufacturing (von Hippel, 2005). In that way, 3D objects as a form of technical communication circulate today within a variety of specialized discourse communities such as engineering and are also eventually repurposed for rhetorical appeal to a greater public audience who are becoming increasingly fluent in this visual language expressed in three-dimensions. These 3D objects, initially developed for the purpose of design and manufacturing in the hands of engineers, have become converted into marketing and distribution assets. In this way they serve as a form of boundary object in that they are useful in multiple domains. According to Star and Griesemer (1998), in order to exist, a boundary object must be useful in different communities, and this dissertation is premised on the existence of these graphical expressions shared over domains by engineers, technical communicators, and end-users. As technical communicators, we mediate boundaries and translate information between knowledge domains, but we also cross boundaries as we articulate or connect technical concepts across these domains (Slack, Miller, & Doak, 1993). To keep abreast of changes in the wide variety of domains we encounter in our work, we must be skilled in navigating these evolving boundaries. How do these remediations of engineering information work in a rhetorical fashion as they cross domains as boundary objects to explain technology to a variety of stakeholders? Pondering this question has led me to an exploration of technical documents intended for a public audience such as those from the patent library, a collection of military comic books explaining maintenance procedures that were created by Will Eisner and published by the Department of Defense, and finally to the

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Google archive of Popular Mechanics magazine. As I examined these collections, I was struck by the variety of conventions and ways these conventions are expressed across domains, and through my research, I marveled at how Popular Mechanics applies reproduction technology in a manner that uses the rhetorical strategy of visual appeal to communicate a technical concept in a memorable, boundary-crossing fashion. It appears to be effective because it attracts a wider audience by blending genres of popular media with technical illustration presented with compelling 3D imagery. In this fashion, the covers seen on Popular Mechanics â&#x20AC;&#x153;present images of changing technology in a graphic style that reflects currents trends in magazine designâ&#x20AC;? (Seelhorst, 1992a, p. 64). In choosing to conduct my research on these magazine covers, I have been able to study how this form of information technology works and the genres that are employed within its domain. I have also able to expand my understanding of how it deployed visual language to persuade viewers. A study of a genre prevalent in this area of popular discourse is important to technical communication because currently as a profession we are in a period of great change where technology is expanding our role as communicators in many overlapping domains (Carliner, 2010, p. 45), and a mastery of these evolving genres would be useful. A magazine cover displays skills of typographers, photographers, illustrators, 3D artists, and layout designers. The DIY magazine cover, in particular, is a mechanism that incorporates many of the techniques of technical communication. An examination of how this mechanism has evolved over time to convey technical information to a lay audience will inform our practice and help to anticipate emerging opportunities for technical communicators. This DIY cultural phenomenon associated with the public acceptance of technology has recently attracted the attention of technical communication scholars. For example, Kimball (2006) examined how technical communication, expressed though cultural artifacts produced outside conventional institutions, acts to empower users with communally generated tactical skill through a do-it-yourself narrative; Hallenbeck (2012) investigated user-produced bicycle manuals; Van Ittersum (2014) 29

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 surveyed the power of narrative in DIY tutorials; and Tange (2004) examined verbal and visual aspects of Victorian housekeeping guides. On the other hand, with only a few exceptions, such as Kimball’s (2006) article, which acknowledges the cultural significance of a heavily illustrated Volkswagen repair manual as it serves to empower individuals and Karlsson’s (2004) comparison of intergenerational lore with the howto magazine genre, visually-oriented popular literature, such as service and DIY magazines, has not been extensively studied from a technical communication viewpoint. The predominant scholarship from the perspective of technical communication on the use of technical graphics seems to focus instead on the variety of conventional genres used by practitioners for technical documentation (Brasseur 2003; Hickman, 1985), and engineering documentation (Henderson, 1999), or on practical advice for their effective use (Horton, 1991). There is abundant research describing the history of magazines as may be seen in the work of Wolseley (1951) Sumner (2010), and especially Mott (1930). These histories concentrate on short accounts of individual publications. Janello and Jones (1991) describe a timeline spanning 250 years of American magazine covers with emphasis of selected characteristics such as the magazine cover, illustrations, advertising, variety of content, graphic design, and photography. Crowley (2003) provides a short illustrated account of selected magazine covers as does Heller and Fili (1996) who specifically lament the lack of “serious discussion of the magazine industry’s other principle legacy–its art. Specifically its cover art, which at times has influenced the styles and fashions and perpetuated the stereotypes and myths of American life” (p. 7). As indicated earlier, Johnson (2002), Holmes (2007), and Held (2005) also note that magazine covers in general are not well researched, and this is true for Popular Mechanics also. Other than the companion book edited by Wright (1992) and published by the Henry Ford Museum in conjunction with an exhibit of artifacts and self referential books such as the 100-year version edited by Seelhorst (2002a) and the 50-year version edited by Throm (1951), my review of the literature has failed to find scholarship that specifically addresses the combination of marketing

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 and technical communication as it is used by Popular Mechanics to influence viewers with its heavily illustrated and culturally significant covers. Perhaps in response to this gap in the study of technical communication expressed in popular media, Kimball (2006) wrote that, “[t]echnical documents build from and contribute to communal narratives and cultural myths” (p. 73), and he calls for research of “the cultural significance of technical documentation” (p. 84). My dissertation research responds to this call with the perspective that our culture is rapidly changing, but is still under the influence of conventions dictated by cultures of the past that are mediated through a continuous evolution of technology. Because Popular Mechanics provides an overarching narrative for the implications of technological development on the lives of lay users, it is a strong reflector of cultural imperatives. The magazine began in a time when steam was the primary source of mechanical power, and human interaction with technology was quite different. It continues publication today. As will be seen in the analysis that follows, my review of Popular Mechanics over the life of its publication provides an insight into the dynamic relationship of popular culture as it continues to interact with an increasingly pervasive technology. Popular Mechanics cover illustrations are a unique expression reflecting this interaction, and my goal in this research, at least in part, has been to describe the function of the magazine covers in terms of what they are, what they do, and how they do it. Upon completion of this research, I have provided a description of the magazine cover genre used by this periodical in terms of its value to technical communication. In the next section I establish my rationale for why Popular Mechanics serves its readers as a credible form of technical communication. Popular Mechanics as Technical Communication Because of its long record of using rhetorical strategies to promulgate technical information to the lay community, Popular Mechanics has an important role to play in the scholarship of technical communication. In 1902, nine years before Samuel Chandler Earle published the first textbook on technical writing (Connors, 1999, p. 176), Henry Windsor published the first issue of Popular Mechanics. Purposely 31

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 written in clear language and profusely illustrated with compelling images of technology, his magazine anticipated what was later formalized into the structure we now call “technical communication.” These magazines were positioned at the nexus of technology and popular culture, and the editors and artists carefully balanced each of these domains with an overarching style that combined the conventions of each. As noted previously in this chapter, Spinuzzi (2003) calls this combination, which retains recognizable characteristics of the donors, a “hybrid genre” (p. 49). He notes they “emerge from the unification of two or more disparate activities” (p. 160). In the case of Popular Mechanics, these “disparate activities” are the transmission of knowledge conveyed by a mashup of engineering discourse, useful fictions, and the multitude of conventions employed by popular media. Flipping through a sample of the Popular Mechanics corpus reveals the techniques borrowed from popular and technical illustration by the publishers to create this genre and present the avalanche of novel and paradigm-changing inventions such as powered flight and recorded sound introduced at the dawn of 20th century. The magazine’s covers and content contributed to the public’s understanding of technology, and there should be no question that popular media such as Popular Mechanics magazine helped frame the popular conception and consumption of technology and its accompanying technical communication. Technical communication is typically associated with commercial, industrial, and medical documents along with governmental imperatives and workplace activity. As a result, and as noted above, identifying the potential of the “how-to” genre in popular media to serve as technical communication is in many cases undertheorized, but a study of Popular Mechanics magazine can help fill this gap. The “how-to” genre is defined by Harris (1983) as “discourse consisting of whole pieces of writing that exist to instruct readers in the performance of some physical or intellectual task [and,] [m]ore often it conserves and disseminates knowledge, rather than extending it in any absolute sense” (p. 139). Karlsson (2004) compares the “how-to” genre to methods, which conveyed practical technology through lore passed down from one generation

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 to the next. She notes that the “how-to” genre acts as a substitute for the familial enculturation, and to be effective as a substitute, it must “function as a story for entertainment, the drawings, the photos, and the written text must contain great naturalistic detail” (p. 277). While the Popular Mechanics cover artwork contains naturalistic detail, it also often displays the characteristics of technical illustration. These characteristics are often overlooked as a form of technical communication principally because they employ a register and tone that resonates in the popular media domain. However, popular media, as a form of technical communication has continuously developed in parallel to the more formalized forms such as owner’s manuals, and some scholars recognize and support it as a viable form of technical discourse that resides in the “extra-institutional” (Kimball, 2006, p. 67), “extraorganizational” (Hallenbeck, 2012, p. 293), or “vernacular” (Swarts, 2012, p. 195) domains. The cover illustrations of Popular Mechanics should be studied as technical communication because the artwork is contrived to communicate technical information to a variety of stakeholders through a variety of rhetorical strategies. The function of these images aligns with Markel’s (1996) definition of technical communication as “the process of creating, designing, and transmitting technical information so that people can understand it easily and use it safely, effectively, and efficiently” (p. 2). Additionally, because technical communication is concerned with “solving problems and compelling readers to act” (Dobrin, Keller, & Weisser, 2008), the field is usually associated with rhetoric (p. 10). Images function rhetorically because they explain how to solve problems, serve to compel the reader’s attention, and may have a psychological effect on how the information is received. Rhetoric, as historically defined by Aristotle is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion” (Bizzell & Herzberg, 1990, p. 153), and imagery is one of these available means. In that rhetorical sense, Popular Mechanics cover illustrations are persuasive devices that function first and foremost to sell magazines

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 but also to normalize technology and show readers how to manipulate that technology in a manner that improves their lives. A longitudinal study of these covers as they are expressed in the multimodal compositions seen in Popular Mechanics magazine will help scholars understand how this information is communicated to lay readers. Goggin (2004) notes the importance of researching the historical timeline of a genre or form of artifact to discover how it adjusts over time in response to a changing cultural and technological landscape. Foss (1993) agrees and suggests that compelling imagery used as visual rhetoric is best understood by comparing images over a trajectory of time, and calls for an “exploration of the history and sources of the features that [...] characterize [her hypothesis of] visual appeal” (p. 224). In a description of the scholarship, which focuses on the mechanical aspects of the production site and its effect on style, Scott (1994) notes, “[t]he meaning of visual style is a historical construct. Yet the changing ground of printing technology, photographic conventions, and illustrative styles within which mechanical elements must compete for attention and memory is not considered by these research designs" (p. 258). A longitudinal study of these covers as they are expressed in the multimodal compositions seen in Popular Mechanics magazine will help scholars understand how this information is communicated to lay readers. As Carliner (2010) notes, this type of history can “provide a springboard for predicting how technology might affect the field in the years to come” (p. 48). Rapid technological development has changed the practice of professions such as technical communication. Because “rhetorical strategies are easier to implement than in the past because of the contemporary technology of design software, laser printers, and computer network” (Kostelnick & Hassert, 2003, p. 215). Additionally, as reproduction technology continues to evolve and new mechanisms for the delivery of information such as the iPad emerges, it will help us as technical communicators to better anticipate how to communicate with lay users, who are increasingly becoming 3D natives. In his discussion of the potential 3D objects have for rhetorical expression, Sheridan (2010) writes that some have “dismissed it as unfit for serious 34

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 communication” (p. 261). I echo Sheridan’s (2010) assertion, which states instead that it is “a legitimate and indispensible set of cultural practices” (p. 261). In this way, my study responds to Carter’s (2005) call for our profession to seize “the opportunity to help craft this new age, [and avoid being] relegated to sitting on the sidelines while other disciplines step in to fill the void” (p. 5). Statement of Problem Requiring Research As this dissertation demonstrates, there is limited scholarship exploring this symbiotic relationship of popular DIY media and technical communication, and my research seeks to help fill this gap. To fill this gap, a theory of how this genre develops and how it operates in practice must be built. According to Kostelnick and Hassett (2003), this theory must be developed with careful attention to past practice (p. 7), and consideration to how genre evolves in response to changes in culture and reproduction capability (p. 125). Tebeaux and Killingsworth (1992) demonstrate how to make this connection by examining the content, organizational style, and material form of utilitarian documents produced during a given historical period. In their recognition of the paucity of historical research on technical writing, they “offer an approach designed to illuminate the nature of technical writing and illustrate its application to documents of a specific period” (p. 6). Popular Mechanics, with its one hundred and twelve year history of publication, has generated an impressive collection of cover artwork dedicated to promoting technology organized in an evolving structure such as those described by Tebeaux and Killingsworth (1992). Typically, the cover illustrations of the “how-to,” DIY genre, such as that seen in Popular Mechanics, have evolved to accommodate what Fahnestock (1986) calls the “noninitiated audience” (p. 276). Although designed primarily to attract buyers of the magazine, as a technique to promote technological culture, these cover illustrations often appeal to this noninitiated lay audience using artwork that borrows the conventions of technical illustration and combines them with other popular conventions. The corpus demonstrates visual techniques that spawned the cultural phenomena of DIY evident in publications such as Popular Science, Mechanix Illustrated, Modern Mechanics,

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The Whole Earth Catalog, Computer Lib, Byte, and Make. The Popular Mechanics corpus, of which a large portion is available on the Google Internet archive, reflects the historical evolution of this type of technical magazine cover illustration as it responded to new developments in reproduction technology and social convention. As Clark (2010) contends, â&#x20AC;&#x153;technologies are inseparable from the rhetorics that describe, promote, and of course document them, and are also themselves tools with theoretical constructions and implicationsâ&#x20AC;? (p. 85), and these magazine covers reflect a genre that relied heavily on technical development for its evolution. My study of Popular Mechanics cover compositions drawn from this corpus is based on an overarching assumption that magazine cover illustrations, prepared for a popular audience of the DIY format, form a uniquely empowering genre that serves to enculturate viewers to the acceptance and use of technology. Designed as useful fictions to attract consumers and preview the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s content, the cover compositions also explicate technology with boundary objects and build credibility to conscript lay audiences into agreement with a cultural imperative. The result is a hybrid genre that responds to changing technological affordance and popular cultural convention, and these hybrids may be traced over the life of the magazine as it forms a trajectory, which evolves from a one-color pamphlet to a suite of print and digital media. An examination of the corpus of Popular Mechanics magazine will reveal the evolutionary trajectory of this genre and help to anticipate and influence the development and delivery of future technical documentation. With this developmental path in mind, my research explores the following question: How does the trajectory of changing genre shown in the corpus of Popular Mechanics magazine covers function to explain, popularize, and promote science and technology while delivering technical communication to lay users?

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

Overview of chapters As this introductory chapter has shown, useful fictions are conventions residing in both professional and popular domains. My study pursues this theme of useful fiction as a domain-crossing hybridized convention to show why Popular Mechanics magazine, because of its emphasis on the clarification of scientific and technological concepts, qualifies as technical communication. I have provided some definition to key concepts that are used throughout this study, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve described the cultural imperatives that are expressed through imagery in popular magazines of the do-it-yourself domain. To provide a foundation for my study of the imagery contained in Popular Mechanics magazine covers, I reviewed the scholarship on visual rhetoric and discussed some of the terminology and techniques that have been developed by scholars for its analysis. I then reviewed the concept of useful fiction and how it is used in both tactical and strategic deployments to conscript the interest of users. Finally, I argued that these conventions, which have emerged from the engineering design space to combine with popular expression in the formation of a hybrid genre to promote technology and advance its explanation to the lay public, retain great potential for the practice of technical communication. In Chapter 2, to establish the historical relationship of illustration with technical communication, I survey the literature, review some early examples of historical multimodal discourse, and examine the rhetorical impact of these illustrated conventions, which promote and explain technology through imagery. To this end, I review the classical perspective on rhetoric in terms of visual illusion. That perspective is followed with a discussion of research focusing on the influence of visual rhetoric seen in Medieval and early Renaissance periods and the subsequent shift away from the classical viewpoint as technical expression begins to target a more general audience. Following this is a discussion of the how-to genre, which emerged during this period framed in terms of the research conducted by scholars who have focused on the historical development of technical communication. Next the development of illustrated journals following this period along with the production

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 strategies controlling their rhetorical effect are surveyed, and the success of this rhetorical effect is tied to the appearance of Popular Mechanics. A discussion of the historical evolution and research of genre that I believe contributed to the design of first magazine covers follows. Finally, I discuss the scholarship, which analyzes multimodal expression and connect it to the hybrid compositions found in Popular Mechanics illustrated covers After setting the stage in Chapters Two, I detail my methodological approach in Chapter 3. The historical nature of the multimodal genre expressed by Popular Mechanics covers requires careful attention, and to be thorough my methodology includes multiple methods. Contained in this section is an explanation detailing why I have used Bateman’s (2008) description of Genre and Multimodal analysis (GeM) as a template to guide my primary research method. The GeM model is a tool designed to comprehensively account for the variety of expression found in multimodal documents in a coherent manner. It is valuable because it provides a framework to “decompose” (Bateman, 2008, p. 23) the multimodal structure of a document into distinct elements, but it also allows the genre used by recurring documents to be analyzed as a corpus and tracked over time using a top-down, longitudinal, macro-analysis that traces the evolution of the genre. I also explain my decision to extend the capabilities of GeM with O’Toole’s (2011) adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) functional grammar as an overlay analysis for a purposeful selection of a portion of the corpus. O’Toole’s (2011) metafunctions and ranking, when seen in terms of functional grammar, simplify and clarify compositional elements in preparation for an analysis of the visual rhetoric expressed by an image. The isolation of elements in this microanalysis is advantageous because it allows a more complete bottom-up investigation of the illustrated artwork embedded in the magazine cover composition and solves the problem of decomposing embedded images inherent in the current version of GeM. I deployed these two methods in a staged fashion depending on the artifact under examination to resolve a variety of problems presented by a particular type of artifact

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 encountered in my archival research. These two methods combine to provide the best approach to answer my research question. Chapter 3 also describes my sampling strategy. I show how my GeM analysis randomly selects an issue from each year of publication, how this resulting sample forms a representative slice of the entire corpus, and how this sample reveals the evolution of the DIY magazine cover genre and its relationship with technology over 110 years. I detail how and why my collection of research samples incorporates library resources, digital archives, and private sources to compile a selection of covers from each year of the 110-year corpus. The process for coding the information gathered in the GeM analysis, the Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Toole overlay, and the procedure for collecting it in an NVivo database for further analysis are all also presented in Chapter 3. To provide valuable insight into the historical strategies that have previously proven to be successful in the promotion and explanation of technology, Chapter 4 provides a foundation to explain how the developmental process of conventions and material expressions seen in Popular Mechanics reveals a trajectory that becomes apparent when viewed from the first issues to the most current. To this end, Chapter 4 reports findings from my GeM analysis and examines the rhetorical strategies used in 110 years of Popular Mechanics covers. It presents the results of the GeM method, which will compare the frequency of use, the usage of illustration vs. photography, the use of superlatives, questions, commands, the relationships of imagery with cover lines, and an examination of cultural themes. Chapter 4 demonstrates how these covers have been designed as an appeal to target lay users and how they are structured (or arranged) with a visual grammar to guide those viewing the covers of this magazine to accept the premise being proffered. Many of these strategies seen in the magazine covers are typically illustrated multimodal combinations that explore a variety of genre. As they evolve with developments in reproduction technology, they serve to attract attention and project a more powerful impression on the psyche of their audience.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Chapter 5 presents the results afforded by the “drill-down” capability of O’Toole’s adaptation of functional grammar, which decomposes the image, identifies and ranks the compositional elements, isolates the meta-functions, and analyzes the narrative imagery, technical description, and visual argument contained within each illustration. Finally, based on these analyses, in Chapter 6, I sum up the answers to my research questions revealed by the layered analysis. Additionally, I review the theoretical and methodological contributions, which are offered by this dissertation, and I reflect on the implications of the increasing popularity of multimodal expression and its impact on technical communication and technical communication instruction. I demonstrate how strategies and techniques once used primarily in the popular domain with magazine cover illustration may be adapted to more conventional forms that currently dominate technical communication practice, and I argue that technical communicators should use these strategies to avail themselves of opportunities currently emerging in digital publishing and 3DCAD.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

CHAPTER II A REVIEW OF IMAGES AS USEFUL FICTION: FROM PREHISTORIC ARTIFACTS TO POPULAR MECHANICS COVERS In the preceding chapter, I explained how illustrations, as useful fictions, borrow conventions to reveal information through simplification and narration to serve popularization, promotion, and explanation of complex technical concepts. I also noted the importance Carliner (2010), Goggin (2004), and Scott (1994) placed on a historical perspective in the analysis of the rhetorical power projected by these artifacts. Useful fictions may use diverse rhetorical strategies expressed in a variety of material forms, and, as a convention, they have existed throughout history. Over time these conventions have evolved to become increasingly multimodal to accommodate cultural progress and adapt to more expressive and powerful technology such as the printing press. To this end, in this chapter I first review historical examples of discourse that share this common thread of exerting persuasive power through useful fictions. As part of this historical review, I explore the historical evolution of the magazine genre and examine a donor genre, the frontispiece, which potentially contributed to the development of the DIY illustrated magazine cover. The chapter ends with a discussion of the value of magazines as a vehicle for research into the continuing trend toward multimodality in technical communication. Early Examples of Images as Useful Fictions Useful fictions are ancient. They may be seen depicting an event to tell a story while also advancing a useful procedure in early cave paintings. The technical meaning conveyed as narratives through visually expressed cultural artifacts, such as the graphically inscribed depictions of hunting in culturally significant cave paintings produced 22,000 years ago, pre-dates recorded history (Robin, 1992, p. 54). Craig and Barton (1987) note â&#x20AC;&#x153;the history of both the fine and graphic arts starts with the creation of these imagesâ&#x20AC;? (p. 11). Some of the earliest surviving examples of technical

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 communication may be found among the Paleolithic Era cave paintings of Cova del Cavalls such as those seen in Figure 2.1, which were drawn between 8000 and 3500 BC in Eastern Spain. Although many scholars might consider this form of artwork to be of a ceremonial or celebratory nature, I take a more pragmatic and utilitarian approach to the interpretation of this evidence. An analysis of the content and visual grammar suggests this prehistoric Figure 2.1. Hunting scene from the Cova del Cavalls. Copyright by DigitalNatura.org. (DigitalNatura.org., n.d.)

painting shows instead an emergence of early technical communication deploying a rhetorical strategy to demonstrate a

procedure or strategy for hunting and promote it as a practice. Conkey (1987) advocates an interpretation that technology, and the behavior associated with it in upper Paleolithic art, should be “viewed as ideology” (p. 424). She notes that Abbe Henri Breuil found the cave images “to be situated in sacred locales – in areas of the caves that were not normally inhabited – and perhaps visited only by certain person for ritual or religious person” (p. 7). The Abbe interpreted the purpose of the hunting paintings as expressions of “[a]nxiety over the search for food, the dynamism of the chase, and the confrontation between hunter and prey” (Conkey, 1994, p. 8). Breuil’s sense of the “sacred locale” could also be seen as an early form of genre. The isolated location of the painting in the Cova del Cavalls forms a convention that in part added meaning to the image. Heller and Fili (1996) extend that concept to call these cave paintings the cultural equivalent of the modern magazine. Although Breuil hypothesizes these cave paintings served as a form of “sympathetic magic” (p. 8) to somehow bless the hunt, I argue that the image in Figure 2.1 from the caves of the Spanish Levantine, which portrays hunters using bow and arrow

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 technology is a form of indoctrination that promotes a technology of use in an ideological fashion while simultaneously demonstrating a recommended procedure for hunting animals. Thus, ideology is expressed through artistic techniques establishing relationships between compositional elements using “vectors” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 44) that guide the user’s attention and an organization that emphasizes a hierarchy. Imagine this cave drawing as the equivalent of Paleolithic chalk-talk or white board presentation displaying what Kenney (2009) calls a vignette, “a focused description of a series of events, with a narrative structure [...] often limited to a few key actors in a bounded space and a brief time span” (p. 189). An older, more experienced hunter would use this illustration to instruct novices in the finer points of this food gathering procedure. The early artist responsible for this artwork used a rhetorical strategy to present a narrative describing the hunt procedure, which also conveys the desired ideology. First, to establish the ethos of one figure, the artist exaggerated it and made it larger perhaps signifying this figure as the leader. Pathos was invoked by the diagonal composition of the rushing herd and the tension of the drawn bows. Logos may be seen in details such as the formation taken by the hunters, their attention to the ”easy-pickins” offered by the cows, and their avoidance of the larger more dangerous bull. The logos also argues for the prudence of the hunters keeping extra arrows by their side at the ready.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 There are other early examples of artwork, which served as a useful fiction to advance a technological ideology. For example, approximately 2000 years ago in Australia, aboriginal cave inscriptions popularly known as “X-Ray Fish” were created to show a sectioned view, which located organs and skeletal features in a fashion that resembles the cut-away view seen in modern technical illustration (Wagelie, 2002). Because of the pressing requirement for sustenance in these hunter-

Figure 2.2. X-Ray Fish image published in McCormick (2013).

gathering cultures, the creation of this form of artwork served a valuable and practical purpose. For example, Tacon (1989) relates Tindale’s observation that the Bushmen suffered from “fat-hunger” (p. 29), and the fat-containing bodies were prominently identified in a cutaway application of sectioned fish such as that seen in Figure 2.2. I interpret this type of composition not only as a celebration of nature’s bounty but also as a promotion and “how-to” explanation of the procedures and technology required for the effective exploitation of that bounty. In another example, the Greek krater art from the Geometric period seen in Figure 2.3, appears to portray the abduction of Helen by Paris in this image of the couple boarding a large ship. The ship image is notable in terms of

Figure 2.3. Late Geometric krater from Thebes 735 BC (circa). from www.BritishMuseum.org (British Museum, n.d.)

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 technical communication because it is posed and sectioned to emphasize the great number of rowers located within the ship’s hull in a manner that anticipates the cutaway views of transatlantic steamship promotions seen in late nineteenth century. The mediascape of early man’s expression began in the cave but then evolved technically to overcome constraint of pigment on a stone surface. In their portrayal of technology, these early artists used the materials they had at hand to employ many of the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos first identified by Aristotle (Kimball & Hawkins, 2008, pp. 65-66), and because of the great value of these appeals and their utility to communicate important concepts and influence viewers, these rhetorical strategies codified in the Classical period are visually adapted by today’s artists to new forms of material expression in a continuously evolving mediascape. The Classical Perspectives on Images and Their Rhetorical Power The persuasive nature of imagery was recognized at an early point in our rhetorical history. Although Aristotle did not specifically define visual rhetoric, he described its fundamental components. In The Art of Rhetoric he defines his subject by writing “[l]et rhetoric be the power to observe the persuasiveness of which any particular matter admits” (Aristotle & Lawson-Tancred, 1991, p. 74), and “persuasion can have only three objectives: the establishment of the justice of its given subjectmatter, the establishment of its admirability or the establishment of its advisability” (p. 17). Aristotle also acknowledges the unique power of visuality, when he wrote in his Metaphysics, “of all the sensations, seeing makes us know in the highest degree and makes clear many differences in things” (Aristotle, 1966, p. 12). In addition to Aristotle’s observations about the power of visual perception and the utility of persuasion, ancient Greek literature and Roman handbooks of rhetoric also mention the persuasive nature of visual expression. For example, the sophist Gorgias lauded the visual in his Encomium of Helen. [W]henever pictures perfectly create a single figure and form from many colors and figures, they delight the sight, while the creation of statues and the product of works of art furnish a pleasant sight to the eyes. Thus it is 45

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 natural for the sight to grieve for some things and to long for others, and much love and desire for many objects and figures is engraved in many men. (Bizzell & Herzberg, 1990, p. 42) A review of the scholarship shows the power of delightful sights was recognized and applied by the ancients. According to Kennedy (1999), “Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and other ancient writers sometimes drew analogies between oratory, painting, and sculpture” (p. 240). In some cases imagery was seen to be rhetorically superior to other means of expression. For example, Quintilian wrote, “pictures, which are silent and motionless, penetrate into our innermost feelings with such power that at times they seem more eloquent than language itself” (Quintilian, Book XI Chapter 3, Line 67). Such handbooks collected and explained the wide variety of rhetorical figures still in use today, and these figures are also useful for framing the purpose and application of visual devices. For example, Barthes (1977) noted that we may apply many of the Classical figures such as metonymy and asyndeton to imagery. In addition to these figures, Dormann (1999) includes anacoluthon, comprobatio, hyperbole, metaphor, personification, pun, and significatio in her Taxonomy of Visual Metaphors. The influence and utility of rhetorical techniques established during the classical period has been cited by many other scholars. Kenney (2004) explains his sense of visual rhetoric using the terminology of classical rhetoric in his analysis of the field. Brumberger (2007) suggests that visual thinking benefits from the classical canons of rhetoric (p. 392) and, Scott (1994) also bases her theory of visual rhetoric for advertising on the canons of invention, arrangement, style, and delivery. In this manner, the ancients applied visual strategies to all forms of rhetoric. For example, according to Hobbs (2004), they made use of visual imagery in their forensic oratory. She notes that Greek and Roman judicial proceedings “made heavy use of actual visual presentations – the showing of a scar, a wound, a bloody weapon, or a toga” (p. 58). Additionally, van Eck (2007) provides a well-known example of this type of appeal with her description of the Marc Antony’s epideictic oration and display of Julius Caesar’s bloodied toga along with a wax effigy complete with wounds that 46

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 reportedly drove his audience to frenzied action (p. 4). When used in Popular Mechanics cover illustrations, rhetorical appeals using logos, ethos, and pathos are often accomplished through the use of images that form commonplaces, which are easily recognized and digested by viewers. This type of rash collective action, where a group is driven to irrational ends, reminiscent of the trial of Socrates, is perhaps a reason Plato disliked compelling imagery. He did not consider images or even writing to be “true” forms of rhetoric. In his view, visually inscribed expression did not convey his ideal of truth. In his cave allegory, images were simply dim shadows cast upon the walls of the dark cave of human perception. Viewers are unable to see truth because they are prisoners constrained by the chains of material circumstance (Plato, 360 B.C.E). As may be seen in his dialogs, he questioned the honesty of images. Plato disliked persuasive images because they were too compelling. For example in the Gorgias, Socrates, while pondering characteristics of persuasion brought about through rhetoric, asks about the artist Zeuxis and the figures he paints (Bizzell & Herzberg, 1990, p. 65). Zeuxis had a well-known reputation as an artist, and he is said to have mastered his art so well that his pictures caused hoodwinked birds to fly down and attempt to eat his painted grapes (Gombrich, 1986). For Plato, the painted image constitutes a visual enargia, a “visually powerful, vivid description, that recreates something or someone” (Lanham, 1991, pg. 64,), which effectively draws the gullible to a misinterpretation of reality through the illusion of image. Thus Plato implies, through his mention of Zeuxis, that the painted image is an illusion that should not be trusted. Plato expanded on the characteristics of perception and the deceptiveness of visual illusion in his Theory of Art. So also a stick will look bent if you put it in the water, straight when you take it out, and differences of shading can make the same surface seem to the eye concave or convex and it’s clearly all a matter of our mind being confused. It is on this natural weakness of ours that the scene-painter and conjuror and their fellows rely when they deceive us with their tricks. (Plato, 1965, p. 379)

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Because artwork projects an illusion, Plato discounts its value and disparages its power to convey his conception of the ideal. Conversely, there are instances in the ancient world where this concept of the ideal was materially expressed through visual means. A well-known example is the Parthenon, which was specifically designed to express a sense of absolute beauty and perfection. Its creators used their architectural and engineering expertise to create the illusion of a straight line (Haselberger 2005). They deliberately curved the stylobate or floor-level platform of the Parthenon by creating it with a higher middle sloping to the ends. Additionally, the Doric columns have a slight entasic bulge (Carpenter, 1970). In this way, the Greek architects, in a useful fiction fashion, used a sort of remediation in stone to overcome the natural distortion caused by the curved surface of the eye and simulate the abstract concept of perfection (Panofsky, 1991, p. 33). Plato may have honored the sentiment behind the Parthenon illusion, but he considered artwork to be simply a reflection, similar to using a mirror to recreate the world. The craftsman (or artist) cannot make “the ultimate reality, but something that resembles that reality” (Plato, 1965, p. 372). Plato’s observation is noteworthy because it directly addresses what Sophist rhetoric works to accomplish, which is the modification of the audience’s perception of reality. Visual rhetoric also works to influence this perception. Just as persuasive words can bring about beneficial results, a persuasive illusion can bring beneficial results. For example, an image contrived through some form of perspective may produce an illusion of depth and space, but it also holds and engages the viewer, directs her eye, establishes a hierarchy, and develops the narrative. In this way, those illusions distrusted and disparaged by Plato become useful fictions when communicating complex technical concepts. Understanding Plato’s bias in my comparison of illustrated discursive practice through history seems key to understanding the development of visual expression over the last 2400 years. According to Zwijnenberg (1999), “Plato made a distinction that was epistemologically motivated. The lowest form of knowledge (doxa) was connected to our daily physical world; the highest form of knowledge (epistèmè) took 48

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 as its object Ideas” (p. 36). In describing this split between perception and reason identified by Plato and the effect it has had on later visual culture, Arnheim (1997) noted that because perception is not based on a mathematical order, it is considered to be illusionary, and therefore the tradition of inferiority of visual imagery began because “[p]ainting and sculpture were among the Mechanical Arts, which required labor and craftsmanship” (p. 2). The tradition continued up to the dawn of the Renaissance. Johnson-Sheehan and Baehr (2001) cite Arnheim’s description of this Platonic split between “seeing and thinking” and note that today it still serves as a “useful fiction” (p. 24) or simplification for how this process occurs in “paper-based texts” (p. 24) for technical communicators. The Impact of Visual Rhetoric on the Developing Conventions of Technical Communication and Illustrated Journals During the Medieval and Early Renaissance Eras Useful fictions continued to be present in publications in the Renaissance. The following section provides a brief history of useful fictions in technical publications, particularly in how-to or instructional documents, from the Renaissance to the Modern era. In providing this perspective, this section also surveys the history of how technical content was conveyed to an audience using illustrated texts, in the form of magazines. Twelfth-century practitioners began to question the Platonic split between the liberal arts and mechanical arts because of a shift in theological imperatives, which had previously controlled practice. At this point in time, visual imagery in the form of stained-glass cathedral windows produced by workers considered to be craftsmen served to persuade and educate peasants representing the lay public during the Middle Ages (Hill & Helmers, 2004, p. 1). The late Middle Ages and early Renaissance saw the emergence of “a group of artist-engineers who by their involvement in both the practical and theoretical aspects of science changed ideas about the status of the liberal and mechanical arts” (Zwijnenberg, 1999, p. 36). These artist-engineers were a prominent force driving the Renaissance, and according to Zwijnenberg (1999),

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 “[b]ecause of the growing demand for new technology in every field practitioners of the artes mechanicae, in particular engineers and architects, became more valued members of society” (p. 38). Their tools of communication also become more prominent. For example, technical drawing in the form of architectural plans for Gothic cathedrals first made their appearance toward the end of the Middle Ages (Lefèvre, 2004). Additionally, during this period, master gun makers created illustrated compilations that served as a storehouse for technical specifications and manufacturing procedures while also serving as a catalog or portfolio for these travelling craftsmen (Leng, 2004, p. 89). These portable forms of technical communication that served to explain a manufacturing process anticipated the “howto” genre. During this period artists were tasked to create visual representations that conveyed the feasibility and importance of engineering projects to civic authorities. The result was a convention of promotion that combined the graphic language of engineers with that of artists to create “drawings [that] are not simply visualizations of ideas [but also] function as material means that shape ideas” (Lefèvre, 2004, p. 7). As technical illustrations, these images were a compromise that synthesized a hybrid of engineering conceptualization and artistic imagination into drawings created for a defined audience and purpose. As an appeal to specific stakeholders of a deliberative body who controlled the purse-strings, this promotion of technological detail demonstrates the integration of visual rhetoric into technical communication for civic and industrial progress in the Middle Ages. It is a visual promotional process that is not unlike the pitch through a conscription device that today’s engineer might make to upper management while garnering support for a design project. One of these engineer-artists engaged in this work was Taccola, who created technical descriptions focused on illustrations. He treated printed annotations as an afterthought, sometimes dispensing with them completely (Zwijnenberg, 1999, p. 39), and he applied geometry to his explication of the real world in a manner that echoes Plato’s advice to use measurement and the calculation of reality to avoid illusion in the 50

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 material world. Conversely, his classification of machinery and promotion of technology through artwork showed the influence of Aristotle and Quintilian. Taccola is best known for his innovative exploded-view illustrations (Christianson, 2012, p. 71) portraying what Kostelnick and Hassett (2003) call an “artificial construction” (p. 64), which depicts an impossible and fictional view that none-the-less served to communicate useful concepts founded in reality. By basing his artwork on geometry, Taccola began a reconciliation of the separation between the liberal and mechanical arts. According to Zwijnenberg (1999), “the relation between theory and practice lost its traditional hierarchical structure [and Taccola] began a process that characterized Renaissance technology and science, a process whereby practical developments resulted in new theoretical approaches” (p. 40). Drawings created by this combination of artist and engineer served to educate patrons in the operation of the technology. For example, Taccola's student, Francesco di Giorgia Martini, a master of three-point perspective, used the graphic application of the exploded view to supply stakeholders with an idea of a machine’s inner structure and working mechanism (Zwijnenberg, 1999, p. 42). Notable examples of this form of document include hand-drawn machine books from the late Middle Ages and the drawings from da VincI’s many notebooks in the early Renaissance (Popplow, 2004, p. 19). Additionally, examples of mingling text with illustration in the creation of multimodal constructs to better explain a concept to the lay audience may be traced back to publications produced in the early Renaissance. The ability to create exploded views was seen in the earliest printed books as depicted in Jean Figure 2.4. Exploded view of Pilgrim’s Cart, published in Hofer (1978).

Pélerin’s (1505) examination (Figure 2.4) of the

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 components making up a “Carreta Pelegrina” or pilgrim’s cart. With the invention of the printing press, images in the form of woodcuts or engraving were combined with movable type to create multiple copies of the “Theatres of Machines” genre with publications such as Toccala’s De Machinis, which anticipated the later illustrated expositions of technology such as Diderot and d’Alembert’s 18th century Encyclopédie, a compendium designed for distribution to a general audience (Kostelnick and Hasset, 2003). The nascent multimodal genre introduced by the Encyclopédie often included examinations of the potential of technology with speculative designs deployed as useful fictions that were intended to popularize and inspire novel applications (Popplow, 2004) and served as precursors of the budding “how-to” genre. Emergence of the How-To Genre as Popular Literature and the Establishment of Multimodal Reproduction in the Renaissance and Modern Eras The “how-to” handbook genre that incorporates some form of technical drawing (Figure 2.5) as a convention for technical communication is longstanding, and this long history of combining text with illustration to better explain a concept to the layaudience may be traced back to publications produced in the early Renaissance. Tebeaux (1997) notes that the artist Leonardo da Vinci made “[t]he greatest strides in technical description” (p. 185) through his use in part of illustrative techniques in three-dimensional drawings such as the cross-section and exploded views, two types of useful fictions. She also describes Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe, written in 1391, which incorporated

Figure 2.5. “Treatise on the Astrolabe 4” by Walter W. Skeat - The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Vol. III.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

images of the celestial mechanism, as the progenitor of the current technical description format. Significantly, according to Tebeaux (1997), in addition to Chaucer’s development of the technical description, which used illustrations in 52

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 combination with verbal procedural information, Chaucer also made a material decision to use the octavo page size to take advantage of the more compact and mobile format, a move that further conventionalized the handbook genre. The octavo format, formed by folding and cutting a printer’s broadsheet into eight pages, was a significant break from past printing practice because it created a publication that was less expensive and was easily carried by the user. During the Renaissance, this format was used to provide procedural information for a wide variety of subject matter considered important to lay readers seeking information on practical topics (Tebeaux, 1991), and as seen in the Popular Mechanics corpus, the octavo page size continued through the Modern era to serve as a characteristic of the DIY genre. Other illustrated utilitarian works provided a compendium of useful information offered to the general public for a price. Longo (2000) notes that Agricola’s De Re Metallica, originally published in 1556, was considered to be a “book of secrets” (p. 24), which revealed the mysteries of technology to the uninitiated with textual descriptions combined with fictionalized cross-sectioned views of hard-rock mining operations (Figure 2.6). In describing the production of his Figure 2.6. Cross-section drawing of mining operation. Published in Agricola, Hoover, and Hoover (1950). mining technology and techniques, Agricola

vast collection of illustrations and text demonstrating a wide variety of

acknowledged the power of visual rhetoric when he wrote, “I have hired illustrators to 53

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 delineate their forms, lest descriptions which are conveyed by words should either not be understood by men of our own times, or should cause difficulty to posterity” (Agricola, Hoover, & Hoover, 1950, p. xvi). Several of these illustrated publications from the early Renaissance anticipated the multimodal style and format that later, during the Industrial Revolution, developed into illustrated magazines serving the popular audience such as the London Mechanics’ Magazine and Penny Mechanic published in England, Journal des connaissances usuelles published in France (Sheets-Pyenson, 1985, p. 558), and the American Mechanics’ Magazine published in the United States (Mott, 1930, p. 557). It is important to note in this period the development of a popular appetite for technical, engineering, and scientific information and the rhetorical strategies and production methods used by publishers to satisfy that appetite. The material product, and its multimodal deployment, had a direct effect on shaping the rhetorical impact of this type of document. The material character of multimodal periodicals, which allowed the emergence of mechanics-style publications, was dependent on the evolving reproduction technology. According to Tebeaux (1991), intaglio printing emerged during the Renaissance. Intaglio uses a process that is fundamentally different from woodcuts. Gascoigne (2004) writes that a woodcut is a relief process where “ink was transferred under pressure from a raised surface to paper” (p. 1). On the other hand, he notes the intaglio process used a plate, which has engraved ink-holding recesses, and a dampened sheet of paper is forced into these recesses with great pressure (p. 1b). The high-quality copper engravings, unlike woodcuts, could not be reproduced at a stroke in the same impression with letterpress type. As noted above, this technological disconnect caused a loss in the contextual relationship previously possible with the cruder woodcuts, which could be placed inline with the text in a multimodal approach. According to Johnson (2008), the poor reproduction quality of wood cuts was somewhat ameliorated when in the last part of the 18th century, Thomas Bewick invented the simple expedient of turning harder wood on end and using metal engraving tools to scribe the image.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 This development allows the woodcut to be placed in position on the press in line with the typeset galley for the creation of multimodal units of text combined with high quality images (Figure 2.7), which then form rhetorical clusters for the effective demonstration and explanation of technology. Concurrently, in the fine art world, William Blake developed another notable technique called “Illuminated Printing” (Essick, 1985, p. 833), which combined poetry with compelling illustrations to create what Mitchell (1995) calls a “composite art” that is mediated by a “visible language” (p. 114). Thus emerging technology from a variety of areas drove a movement to multimodal documents while providing a fertile ground for the depiction of technology in later popular media such as that seen

Figure 2.7. Renaissance woodcut positioned as rhetorical cluster. Published in Tebeaux (1997).

in Popular Mechanics cover compositions. The Development of Illustrated Journals in the Modern Era and the Emergence of Popular Mechanics Magazine The “mechanic” type periodical described by Sheets Pyenson (1995), which leveraged developments in the printing craft while embracing the discursive practice of explaining technology through multimodal rhetorical clusters, became established as part of the mediascape and developed into a conveyance of technical communication. As Sheets-Pyenson (1985) noted, this genre soon moved across the Atlantic and was used in publications produced by Americans. The American Mechanic, published by the Franklin Institute in 1825 was modeled closely after the London Mechanic’s Magazine (Mott, 1930, p. 445), which had begun publication two years earlier. The early “mechanic” style magazine was a primary conduit in the United States for the publication of details about patent applications, and the genre certainly appealed to the great number of Americans engaged in technological

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 innovation and invention during this period. One of these inventors, Rufus Porter, began publication of the Scientific American in 1845 with the stated mission of being “The Advocate of Industry and Journal of Mechanical and Other Improvements” (Mott, 1930, p. 317) and concentrated his journalistic efforts covering this era of invention. In January 11, 1902, Popular Mechanics began its life as a black and white publication (Figure 2.8) reviewing novel technology and scientific progress while engaging readers into its “do-it-yourself” ethos (Seelhorst, 2002a, p. 2). Established during the period Brown (1998a) calls the “golden age of illustration” (p. 6), Popular Mechanics helped develop the illustrated how-to genre by publishing images on its cover depicting a wide variety of observed or imagined mechanical phenomena. Designed to entice a reader into further exploration of the content within the publication, the magazine’s illustrations mediated the cultural imperatives of the day while demonstrating and promoting novel technology with appealing imagery. According to the issue celebrating its 50th anniversary, it “was the first magazine to present mechanical and scientific material with a popular approach – in language that was easy to understand”

Figure 2.8. Popular Mechanics Cover, Vol. 1, Issue 1, January 11, 1902.

(Whittaker, 1952, p. 130). It began printing two-color covers in September 1903, and upgraded to multi-color covers in February 1910 (Seelhorst, 2002b, p. 95). The publisher, Henry Windsor, artfully applied this technology of reproduction to empower his readers with an appreciation of technology in general. The style of dramatically illustrating technology on the covers of magazines such as Popular Mechanics evolved in part as a useful fiction that emerged from a genre developed by fine-artists such as Joseph Wright of Derby whose 18th century paintings, directed

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 toward a popular audience, drew “on the legacy of theater and performance [and used] the spectacle of science […] to enlighten and entertain” (Helmers, 2004, p. 74).

Popular Mechanics February 21, 1903

Popular Mechanics October, 1904

Figure 2.9. Oscillation between illustration and photography.

To visually represent feature stories in our popular culture, Popular Mechanics initially oscillated between photography and illustration (Figure 2.9), but the magazine soon entered a long period where the editors, like other successful publishers of this period, commissioned artists to elaborately illustrate the covers. These images, with dramatic and compelling scenarios, are designed to engage potential readers. Although not specifically commenting on scientific magazine covers, Fahnestock (1986) notes, in her analysis of scientific reporting, a change in genre occurs when the audience becomes more general (p. 275). She maintains that to become more appealing to a popular audience, publications become more “accommodating” by evoking a sense of marvel with appeals to what she calls “wonder and application” (p. 279). The combination of wonderment and practicality, what I am calling “useful fictions,” may be seen expressed through the gee-whiz, how-to characteristics displayed by the marvelous illustrations used by Popular Mechanics that present a novel technology in a realistic and practical manner. While this section has provided a history of the illustrated DIY magazine covers, the next section looks more closely at the evolution of the covers of these magazines. 57

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The Historical Evolution of the Illustrated Magazine Cover The illustrated magazine cover as a genre in the United States most certainly developed from a combination of converging material and cultural circumstances such as the invention of the printing press, improved literacy, improvements in image reproduction technology, a more prosperous working class with money to spend, and an explosion of interest and curiosity on the part of the general public (Johnson & Prijatel, 1999). Although there is scholarship describing the appearance of the magazine genre in general (Johnson, 2002; Held, 2005; Holmes, 2007), questions remain about the factors, which contributed to the appearance of illustrated covers that were specifically created with the goal of explaining and promoting technology to a popular audience. Kostelnick and Hasset (2003) notes that “[s]ometimes conventions wander across genres” (p. 81), and the historical nature of magazine covers may be best understood by first examining its donor genre. In their call for an exploration of “Applied Discourse” (1992, p. 5), Tebeaux and Killingsworth explain that a “history of how-to writing seeks to follow the development of the genre as a means of social action, to demonstrate specific instances of interchange among various social groups as revealed in intrusions of genre upon genre and style upon style” (p. 28). In particular, to explore a publication, they examine its context of production and use (p. 6), while also evaluating its organizational structure through a review of its use of headings, lists, spatial diagrams, page design, and drawings (pp. 12-21). As an evaluative approach, this is also appropriate and useful for teasing out conventions that may have contributed to the development of multimodal illustrated documents used to promote and explain technology to a lay audience. With this approach in mind, I provide examples of some of these “intrusions of genre and style” that originated in a convention called the frontispiece brought to fruition by book publishers during the Renaissance. I argue this convention is part of the pre-existing donor genre that forms a hybrid of useful fiction from which the illustrated magazine cover evolved as a convention to serve as a mechanism for the promotion and explanation of technology.

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Definition and Purpose of Frontispiece “Frontispiece” is a French architectural term that describes the façade, which covers the main entrance of a building. When it first came to be applied to printing, the Oxford English Dictionary defined the term as “[t]he first page of a book or pamphlet, or what it printed on it; the title-page including illustrations and tables of contents: hence an introduction or preface” (OED, 1971, p. 1086; quoted in Smith, 2000, p. 13). According to Smith (2000), the term later came to mean the convention of text and illustration, which appeared on the verso leaf opposite the title page. The introduction of the printing press and mass-production techniques changed how the content of books was introduced. The previous manuscript form of a book did not have a title page, but circumstances brought by mass production encouraged its development, which Smith (2000) contends may be “the most prominent innovation in book design that is directly attributable to the printer” (p. 11). As Smith notes, title page and frontispiece are often used interchangeably in current scholarship. Tufte (1997) also conflates these two conventions into “[c]onfectionary images [that] are also notably enriched by the context (labels, captions, surrounding text)” (p. 135). I theorize these two conventions, title page and frontispiece, were merged as a production expediency into a “hybrid genre” (Spinuzzi, 2003, p. 160) that eventually became the illustrated magazine cover. For the purpose of this dissertation, and because I am focusing on the illustrated multimodal pages which preceded the primary content in many Renaissance books, I follow Remmert’s (2006) example and use the term “frontispiece” (p. 6) to signify those illustrated multimodal images which are designed to introduce the text of a book. Smith (2000) shows that the frontispiece and its title page counterpart appeared in many different forms as the convention developed (pp. 143-146). In particular, they served to advertise the skill of the printer and often previewed the content. According to Remmert (2006), frontispieces “were designed to persuade more than prove anything. And when it came to persuasion, frontispieces has an extremely significant function due to the difference between the audiences of text and of image” (p. 270).

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The compositional structure of the frontispiece was also designed to guide the users and attenuate their thoughts. It effectively nutshells the content and functions to provide “clear visual hints as to the contents of the books [and] the glorification of their associated patrons” (Remmert, 2006, p. 249). The frontispiece developed from the title page which itself developed as a printer’s expedient. During the early Renaissance, book printing and bookbinding were separate trades performed by independent craftsmen. To shield the collated output of the press, printers began using cover sheets to enclose the text, and these blank outer sheets of early books served primarily as a protective covering (Smith, 2000). The title page, containing much of the information we associate with the cover of a modern book (Genette, 1997), was initially developed as a label allowing the printer and the book dealer to conveniently identify and locate the unbound text (Smith, 2000). Once the text was identified and sold to a user, the bookbinder would include the title page in the bound volume. Eventually, the printers realized the opportunity to use the title page to advertise and promote their craft (Smith, 2000). Over time, the title page became a convention that expanded to include the illustrated frontispiece. In this way, Renaissance designers recognized and applied the power of multimodal composition to quickly disseminate complex topics. According to Remmert (2006), “frontispieces could easily and quickly convey more information and to a broader audience than could the medium of the printed word” (p. 256). The frontispiece became, along with the cover and title page, an entry point that is an important part of the book genre that Gennett (1997) calls the “paratext” (p. 2). Remmert (2006) extends the work of Genette (1997) to postulate that “[f]rontispieces can be considered as belonging to the ‘paratexts’ of books, i.e. those writings (dedications, prefaces), images (illustrations, diagrams), and characteristics (typography, formatting, binding) that convert texts into books” (p. 240). Thus, the Renaissance invention of the title page and frontispiece introduced multimodal rhetorical techniques, organizational style, content, and material that was applied as a visually rich device, which often deployed useful fictions or what Tufte (1997) calls

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 “visual confection” (p. 121) as a strategy to illustrate the primary arguments contained in the text. These strategies may be seen in the frontispiece examples that follow, which have served in the past as an expedient to demonstrate complex technical concepts, make compelling visual arguments, and invoke the credibility of high authority with an appeal to ethos. In the same manner, the significant work performed by the frontispiece convention as multimodal assemblages of image and text deployed as a useful fiction may also be seen in Popular Mechanics illustrated covers.

Demonstration of Technical Concepts The frontispiece as a convention appears to precede the illustrated magazine cover with design characteristics and rhetorical strategies that demonstrate procedures, advance visual arguments, and infuse practical techniques with mythological power. For example, the frontispiece of Daniel Mögling’s Mechanischer KunstKammer Erster Theil, printed in 1629, has several compositional features, which anticipate the mechanics-style magazine cover by portraying technology through illustrated fictions. Mögling’s lavishly executed engraving, shown in Figure 2.10, portrays imagery of the simple machines of lever, wedge, winch, screw, and pulley from ancient classical mechanics. Small vignettes Figure 2.10. Mechanischer Kunst-Kammer Erster Theil. Published in Popplow (2013).

portraying figures operating the machines and demonstrating the work activity are

distributed to each corner. At the top of the composition, Archimedes’ well-known quote about having a lever long enough to move the world is prominently illustrated with a useful fiction that, as the visual grammar of Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) 61

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 suggests, emphasizes the concept with an eye-directing vector and a prominent position on the Given/New, Real/Ideal grammatical grid. In Mögling’s (1629) frontispiece the title of the book, date and place of publication, and much other textual information is placed on a hanging drapery, and the salient concepts are arranged upon an architectural motif. The realistic images of simple machines, portrayed in use to attract the general reader, are echoed with more abstract companion diagrams, which, in a boundary-object manner, explain the operating principle associated with the depicted machine using geometric terms that appeal to a more sophisticated audience. According to Popplow (2013), this “illustration visualizes theory and practical application of mechanics, the fusion of which Mögling proposed as one of the aims of his publication” (p. 296). As an illustrated explanation of a mechanism with accompanying textual organization, diagrams, and page composition, this multimodal, arrangement responds well to Tebeaux and Killingsworth’s (1992) framework for identifying historical technical communication through an evaluation of its components and organizational structure.

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The Frontispiece as Visual Argument The frontispiece for Galileo’s Dialogi, tam eos quos edidit DE SYSTEMATE MUNDI quam quos DE MOTO LOCALI by Joseph Mulder seen in Figure 2.11 also uses a structure of visual grammar to make powerful visual arguments. Other elements contained in this composition appear contrived to add credibility to these arguments portrayed in the engraving. For example, the top section of the page contains a crowncapped shield encompassing a figure armed with a spear contained in an element that joins two sheaves of plant

Figure 2.11. Dialogi, tam eos quos edidit systemate mundi quam de motu locali.Published in Remmert (2006).

material. Placed in the compositional

space considered to be the ideal (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 193), this imagery in the upper central area contains elements that associate the overall composition with an ethos of royalty, power, and abundance. Occasionally used in modern magazine cover compositions, this type of rhetorical strategy associates the publication through symbols with an institution and draws credibility from that association. Also located in the ideal area of Mulder’s composition is a fringed drapery, which provides a text field containing the book title and author’s name. The arrangement of text field and royal crest provides a masthead of sorts to introduce the balance of the composition, which shows a gathering of three figures that together form the primary visual argument. The gathering is taking place in a hall rendered in a perspective view, which is suggested by columns receding to a centrally located vanishing point. The architectural rendering does not serve as a framework to organize concepts such as that seen previously in Mögling’s frontispiece. Instead it creates an environment that associates the overall

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 composition with institutional credibility with a background of receding columns leading to an archway, which frames a harbor filled with sailing ships. According to Corbett and Lightbown (1979), the archway image seen in frontispieces has a cultural significance that conveys a sense of triumph, and as a rhetorical device, the arch motif was carried over onto the first publication identified as a magazine. The nautical imagery seen beyond the arch adds credibility to the visual argument because it demonstrates the practical application of celestial science to navigation as the ships depart the harbor and underscores the importance of this argument to the commerce of the day. Additionally, this composition makes an argument through visual comparison (Blair 2004). The figures of Ptolemy, Aristotle, and Copernicus are arranged in the given/new pattern described by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) with the proponents of the older geocentric model, Ptolemy and Aristotle, positioned on the left side of the arch while the proponent of the newer heliocentric model, Copernicus, is positioned to the right side of the arch. The salient ideas argued in Mögling’s frontispiece are thus personified in this impossible congregation of historical figures who are arranged as if in conversation while holding mechanical models of the geocentric and heliocentric systems. In this way, in a useful fiction fashion, “the persuasive power of pictorial propaganda in frontispieces almost certainly promoted the Copernican cause” (Remmert, 2006, p. 270). Remmert (2006) suggests that scientists and mathematicians took advantage of frontispiece imagery to supplement the text as an “active encoding of ideas into iconographical signs” (p. 241), and this visual “encoding of ideas” helped proponents shape and frame their ideas in a way that conscripted interested parties and enhanced the credibility of their ideas.

An Appeal to Ethos As a rhetorical guide to hand gestures (another dimension of multimodality), the frontispiece entitled Chirologia seen in Figure 2.12 is filled with many other images that preview the guide’s content and symbolically infuse it with divine or

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 mythological credibility. It has a masthead-like framework and other features that also anticipate the conventions used later in magazine covers. For example, the figure of Mercury, which is also seen in later magazines including early issues of Popular Mechanics, is featured prominently above the title, and the small vignettes serve a function similar to the magazine coverline combined with inset illustrations. The figures of Nature on the left and Polyhymnia, muse of eloquence (Corbett & Lightbown, 1979), on the right invitingly engage the viewer with poses that “demand” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 126) attention in a manner that promotes a further examination of the contents within. The unabashed use of mythological imagery provides credibility and symbolic meaning to the text. For example, the figure of the hand holding a face, acts as a font for a metaphorical stream of expert advice to fill the cistern holding the “wisdom of the hand” (Corbett & Lightbown, 1979, p. 206). Fanciful promotion of this type is often deployed more subtly and cleverly in modern magazine covers by invoking the Figure 2.12. Chirologia. Published in Corbett and Lightbown (1979)

“image of myth” described by Barthes (1973). In this way, these book frontispieces

brought the rhetorical techniques of demonstrating procedures, making visual arguments, and invoking an institutional ethos from the interior of the text to the paratextural zone of the book through the application of multimodal combinations deployed as useful fictions. Later, magazine publishers refined this multimodal paratextual zone into the convention we now know as the magazine cover.

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The Development of the Illustrated Magazine Cover How then did publishers come to develop the illustrated magazine cover convention? Because The Gentleman’s Magazine, first published in 1731 (Carlson, 1938), is recognized as one of the earliest examples of magazine publication, it should also reveal how this prototypical document set the tone and established the genre for later publications. The historical record shows that Gentleman's Magazine was the first publication to self identify as a magazine. According to Johnson and Prijatel (1999), this word “magazine” means storehouse (p. 4); and in that sense, as the first of its kind, this publication adapted the miscellany genre, gathered a wide variety of content, and presented itself as a storehouse of general information. The first magazine also introduced the concept of the magazine cover. Did the publisher also borrow from other forms of genre such as the frontispiece? According to Carlson (1938), “models [of the developing magazine genre] were so few that borrowings of technique were almost inevitable” (p 65). By using Tebeaux and Killingsworth’s (1992) method of examining organizational structure, we can see how Edward Cave, publisher of The Gentleman’s Magazine, built on the book genre as he entered a transitional space to develop a magazine format that was sold in separate monthly issues but was also designed to be bound up as a book into yearly volumes.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Figure 2.13. First five pages of the first issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine. Published by the Oxford Archives, Vol. 1.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Figure 2.13 shows thumbnail images of the first five pages of the first issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine, published in January 1731, and it may be seen that the magazine cover is actually located on the Page 3. Page 1 contains the cover page of the yearly volume. Periodical readers from this era subscribed to the monthly issues and took their yearly collection to a bookbinder to be bound into a volume (Smith, 2002). A transitional book-like pattern of this type, also described by Grow (2002), was used for every January issue at the beginning of a yearly volume. Thereafter, the following monthly issues for the balance of the year began with the masthead, seen on page 3, featuring the illustration of St. John’s Gate (Figure 2.14). The gateway illustration became a recurring part of the masthead from the first issue, and a review of the digital archives indicates that it continued for over 200 years as part of the magazine’s identity. According to Carlson (1938), The Gentleman’s Magazine, with this illustration, was “the first monthly serial to appear with a cut on the title page” (p. 64). Although newspapers had previously experimented with the inclusion of illustrations on the front page, this practice was later discouraged by a tax policy that calculated a levy based on page count. The tax formulation, on the other hand, favored nonnewspaper type publications such as magazines, which could afford the space needed by illustrations because they were exempt from the per page tax (Carlson, 1938, p. 62). Thus, the magazine cover evolved from book printing practice in an environment Figure 2.14. The Gentleman's Magazine Cover Page. Published by the Oxford Archives, Vol. 1.

subsidized by a governmental tax break. In this way, one factor that influenced the

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 development of this genre was as an accommodation to administrative regulation that presented a financial opportunity. The elements contained in the Gentleman’s Magazine cover/title page composition include a title, and a list of contributing journals arranged in a multimodal synergy aligned in justified columns matching the walls depicted in the illustration of St. John’s Gate. It also includes the date of issue, a general preview of contents, a byline, information about place of publication, and an advertisement for the premium edition. The image of St. John’s Gate depicting an archway within a detailed architectural structure, which appears to be a woodcut, contains symbolism associated with the order of Knights Hospitallers who are renowned for the provision of succor to travelers in unknown territory. The Knights regalia may have also symbolically signaled a similar respite for travelers in a sea of hard-to-navigate information such as the miscellany presented in the Gentleman’s Magazine. Additionally, because London was known as a center of cosmopolitan activity for the surrounding area, the image of a landmark such as St. John’s gate may have served to invite readers to engage the discourse contained within this sophisticated city. Although this artwork portrays the place at which the magazine was originally published, it may also convey the sense of one of the “portals or triumphal arches” (Corbett & Lightbown, 1979, p. 6) often seen in frontispieces. An example how the magazine genre began to develop is an early imitator of The Gentleman’s Magazine called the The London Figure 2.15. The London Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer. Published by The Online Books Page. OBP (n.d.).

Magazine (Figure 2.15). The cover of this 1733 issue includes a copperplate engraving depicting

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 a “bird’s-eye” (Carlson, 1938, p. 65) view of London with Mercury flying overhead with a copy of this magazine. The elevated perspective provides the reader with a view of London that emphasizes the nautical traffic on the Thames and provides the viewer, as Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) might suggest, with a sense of power over the busy landscape below, which is mediated, as seen earlier in the Chirologia frontispiece, through the mythological assistance of Mercury who speedily delivers the magazine. The meme of Mercury became a standard item in the masthead and may also be seen in the masthead of early Popular Mechanics covers. These early magazine covers created a hybrid convention that borrowed from the book genre by experimenting with its already established paratextual zone. In Chapter 4, I will show how Popular Mechanics magazine experimented with the newspaper genre before it evolved with first a journal look and then experimented with many different design approaches that better accommodated the constantly changing general audience of the time. According to Gennett, (1997) the paratext is a sort of threshold that includes the region “between the inside and the outside, a zone without any hard and fast boundary” (p. 2). A paratext could include “titles, prefaces, interviews” (p. 7) and any device that serves to present the text proper to the reader such as genre indicators, illustrations, and comments by reviewers (pp. 7-8). Developers of the book genre over time have combined and experimented with these features of paratext by combining it into the cover page that anticipates later documents such as the modern magazine cover and the website home-page. The magazine cover, as it combines a wide variety of these functions into a hybrid, draws from the conventions used in book and pamphlet genre that answered the needs of both publisher and audience. As seen above in the examples of The Gentleman’s Magazine and The London Magazine, at times the magazine covers have included a variety of elements including a table of contents, a preface, a title page and many other paratextual features, which at various times were incorporated into its genre. From its inception as a genre, this continuous change implies the magazine cover is part of a continuum of evolving paratext. In these prototypical issues the illustrated covers contained artwork that emphasized the

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 publication and supported its identity. Additionally, the illustrations were not based on unique material relevant to the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s content, but instead served as identity markers. The artwork in later publications became more focused on attracting audience interest, and the resulting content became more contextual as will be seen in the analysis of Popular Mechanics covers that follows in Chapter 4 and 5. A comparison of the compositional characteristics of frontispieces and magazine cover pages show the two often use similar strategies and similar conventions to accomplish their objective such as selling the text, promoting technology, and announcing institutional credibility through the use of visual rhetoric. The frontispiece, as a convention, employed useful fiction to create narratives, advance a visual argument, portray technology as it is used, and associate a practice with mythological power in impossible or fanciful situations. When viewed through the lens of Tebeaux and Killingsworthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (1992) framework this convention appears to have had influence on the development of the illustrated magazine cover. Both conventions of magazines covers and frontispieces serve a similar purpose, use the same symbols, and present multimodal content. The compositional structure is similar, the graphical applications are similar, and, most importantly, the rhetorical goals are similar. On the other hand, these conventions have fundamental differences. The frontispiece serves as a paratext for the book, which stands as an isolated text. The magazine cover serves a continuous stream of discourse, often in an emblematic fashion. Parts of it such as the masthead are static and reused year after year, and other parts, such as illustration, cover lines, and publication date, are dynamic and change with each issue. The frontispiece and illustrated magazine cover are both multimodal compositions that serve as useful fictions. Magazine Covers as Vehicles to Study the Movement to Multimodality Many scholars have developed approaches to tease out meaning from multimodal compositions and artifacts. For example, Delin, Bateman, and Allen (2002) have created a framework for describing the genre formed by multimodal compositions. Multimodality is an approach for the â&#x20AC;&#x153;social interpretation of language 70

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 and its meanings to the whole range of representational and communicational modes or semiotic resources for making meanings that are employed in a culture – such as image, writing, gesture, gaze, speech, posture” (Jewitt, 2009, p. 1). For the purpose of this dissertation, I will employ Bateman’s (2008) definition of the “multimodal document” (p. 1) as a composition, which combines information expressed through modes of text and imagery into a single composition. The multimodal approach, in my opinion, is effective for the analysis of illustrated magazine covers. The Popular Mechanics magazine cover, because of the variety of production techniques, evolving cultural context, and methods of transmission seen in the life of a publication will respond well to multimodal analysis to reveal the rhetorical strategies used to convey technical information. The genre in which Popular Mechanics began publication is by nature multimodal, and the entire corpus demonstrates over time an increasing movement towards greater multimodality. The first issue of the publication (Figure 2.12) combines a few words of text with an illustration of the interior of a submarine. In this way, it serves to attract viewers and empower them with an insider view of an exotic mechanism. With this issue, the magazine established itself in the United States as part of a new DIY genre, incorporating characteristics of the popular illustrated press to reveal the mysteries of a burgeoning technology to a curious public. Later issues, such as that seen in Figure 2.16 from October 1923, show text

Figure 2.16. Multimodal expression of image, text and gesture in Popular Mechanics Cover, October, 1923.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 combined with elaborate artwork that uses gesture and engaging poses to convey subtle messages to the viewer. The magazine covers of the DIY genre are multimodal compositions that serve a variety of functions. As noted earlier, they sell the magazine while also promoting a set of ideas. Furthermore, they attract readers and viewers and act as an interface to the content within. The cover illustrations seen in Popular Mechanics combine the conventions of a wide variety of genre that can range from seemingly disparate sources such as engineering journals to adventure magazines, and these conventions are repurposed to serve technical communication. Spinuzzi (2003) writes, “[I]mporting genres entails more than simple reproduction: it entails developing hybrid genres that resemble parents from the different activities” (p. 160). Thus, in a given context, operating a bulldozer may be portrayed as a thrilling adventure. In other circumstances such a stylization may be detrimental to the desired outcome. An understanding of hybrid genre may allow us to avoid difficulty users may have with the mental model and anticipate their reactions to a given expression. Additionally, a better understanding of how these combinations arise will help to anticipate how innovative hybrid genre will engender what Spinuzzi (2003) calls “ecological niches” (p. 160). For example, a careful study can reveal how Popular Mechanics repurposes 3DCAD into illustrations for their covers and apply this technique to the practice technical communication. By studying how genre evolves, as practitioners in technical communication, we can better anticipate how genre will evolve in the future.

A Continuing Trend This chapter concludes this brief historical review of illustrations used to explain technology to a general audience with the assertion that all of expressions, whether painted on rock walls and clay pots, cut into woodblocks in the Renaissance woodcuts, engraved as frontispieces, or composed as four-color assemblages, share the common characteristic of deploying useful fiction to explain, promote and popularize technology. Although all of these examples are materially quite different, they share a common thread in their portrayal of some form of technology fulfilling a useful 72

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 purpose. They are designed to impress while also trading on an illusion that both attracts, instructs, and empowers lay viewers to make use of technology to carry on everyday activities. The next chapter will explain how I will explore this trend in Popular Mechanics magazines through a discussion of the methods and methodologies used in the analysis of magazine covers.

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CHAPTER III HYBRID METHODOLOGY FOR THE ARCHEOLOGICAL STUDY OF HOW ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE COVERS CONVEY TECHNICAL CONCEPTS My goal in this study is to show how Popular Mechanics magazine cover illustrations, prepared for popular audiences, achieve not only the purpose of attracting consumers and providing them with an interface to the magazine’s content using artwork and photography deployed in a compelling manner but also to demonstrate how the covers employ a variety of compositional strategies and graphic techniques, such as technical illustration, to add credibility to the image and explain the technology portrayed. An understanding of how these strategies function in a rhetorical manner will provide useful information for technical communicators as our practice becomes increasingly multimodal. These strategies may become visible in a variety of forms including spatial arrangement and graphical stylizations such as cut-away, cross-section, or exploded views. Additionally the magazine covers use visual grammar to construct a narrative or argument contrived to persuade viewers to accept a particular viewpoint. Popular Mechanics is located in a domain between popular media and professional discourse, and I consider its magazine cover artwork to be a compound of various elements in response to technical and cultural contingencies to form a “hybrid genre,” (Spinuzzi, 2003, p. 160), as discussed in Chapter 1. To further explore this artwork as a hybrid genre, I isolated and inventoried the elements of the magazine cover layout, described how these parts are formed, examined how they are used, and revealed how they are persuasive in their intended function. To accomplish this task, I undertook a multimodal discourse macro-analysis of a sampling of Popular Mechanics covers using an adaptation of the Genre and Multimodal (GeM) methodology developed at Bremen University by Bateman, Delin, and Henschel (2004). Among other features, the GeM methodology adds a layer of rhetorical analysis by adapting Mann and 74

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Thompson’s Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) for the evaluation of rhetorical relationships between images and text. Additionally, to extend the scope of GeM and reveal the rhetorical strategies seen in the covers, which are primarily illustrations, I further analyzed a more refined sample of at least 11% of the corpus using O’Toole’s (2011) adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) Functional Grammar. The following description of methodology establishes my theoretical stance, provides clarification to the methods I have used, details how I came to a decision to use a combination of methods, and explains how I accomplished the analysis. It also includes a sample analysis of the type of Popular Mechanics cover, which requires a reading guided by both methods. In addition to employing strategies and techniques of technical illustration to add credibility to the image and explain the technology portrayed, the publishers of Popular Mechanics magazine also quickly adapt reproduction technology to express these covers in a genre that is appropriate for their audience. To reveal the rhetorical strategies expressed in the evolving genre of this publication, my research asks the following question: How does the trajectory of changing genre shown in the corpus of Popular Mechanics magazine covers function to explain, popularize, and promote science and technology while delivering technical communication to lay users? Answering this question and understanding how these strategies function in a rhetorical manner provides useful information for technical communicators as our practice becomes increasingly multimodal. As will be seen in Chapters Four and Five, the magazine covers use visual grammar in a multimodal manner to construct a narrative or argument contrived to persuade viewers to accept a particular viewpoint. To further explore these strategies, after following the “decomposition process” (p. 22) outlined by Bateman (2008), I inventoried the elements of the magazine cover layout, described how these elemental parts are used, and revealed how these parts may be persuasive in their intended function. 75

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 To accomplish this set of tasks, First in Chapter 4, I undertook a multimodal discourse macro-analysis of a sampling of Popular Mechanics covers using an adaptation of the Genre and Multimodal (GeM) method developed at Bremen University by Bateman, Delin, and Henschel (2004). Among other features, the GeM method adds a layer of rhetorical analysis by adapting Mann and Thompson’s Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) for the evaluation of rhetorical relationships between images and text. Additionally in Chapter 5, to extend the scope of GeM and reveal the rhetorical strategies seen in these covers, which are primarily illustrations, I further analyzed a more refined sample of at least 11% of the corpus using O’Toole’s (2011) adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) Functional Grammar described in his book The Language of Displayed Art. The following description of methodology will detail how I came to a decision to use a combination of methodologies, provide clarification to the individual methods I have used, and explain how I accomplished the analysis overall. It also includes a sample analysis of the type of Popular Mechanics magazine cover, which requires a reading guided by both methodologies. I begin this section on methodology by referring to the philosophical structure underpinning Henry’s (2000) Writing Workplace Cultures because this perspective is an appropriate framework for my examination of the characterization of Popular Mechanics and the magazine’s appeal to a lay audience.. In this work, Henry (2000) used his experience as an archeologist’s assistant and his conversations with colleague and philosopher Debra Bergoffen to characterize the discursive practice of professional writers as “shards” (p. 24) of a larger discursive formation. He based this notion of shards on Foucault’s (1972) concept of archeology as a framework for research into the origins of knowledge. Others have used an archeological viewpoint for the examination of historically inscribed communication in terms of the factors surrounding its creation. For example, in a description of her methods for the study of Paleolithic cave

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 paintings, Conkey (1987) writes what about how researchers should account for information in artifacts: 1) the demonstration and comprehension of the diversity and range of imagery (and of all the associated techniques, production stations, media locales, associations, and uses) and 2) the pursuit of context; who was using the caves or other media, how, and why? (p. 417) Her methodology is echoed in Foucault’s Archeology of Knowledge (1972), which is summarized by Foss, Foss, and Trapp (1985), who isolate four principles that provide a foundation for Foucault’s archaeological method: First, it seeks to uncover the regularity of a discursive practice. Second, [it] seeks to discover and investigate […] disparities. Third, [it compares] descriptions of discursive practices with each other and of discursive practices with the elements surrounding them. Fourth, it focuses on distinct layers of succession and how these layers are possible (pp. 201-202). In this way, Henry’s (2000) concept of shards provides a framework of investigation to discover how Popular Mechanics over a trajectory of time explains, popularizes, and promotes technology. Guided by the principles espoused by Foucault’s (1972) archeological method as interpreted by Foss, Foss, and Trapp (1985), I examined a sample taken from each year over the complete span of Popular Mechanics publication to view the “regularity” (p. 201) of this publication. To reveal “disparities” (p. 201), I noted changes in the corpus, which have occurred and compared these changes in the context of an artifact’s creation with consideration to those artifacts preceding and succeeding it. Finally, after following this process, I was able to identify the “distinct layers of succession” (p. 202), which emerged from this study. Popular Mechanics magazine covers are continuously evolving multimodal documents, and to facilitate an understanding of the evolution of technological discourse targeting the lay community, a hybrid method that examines both compositional structure and the content elements

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 contained within that composition is required. In the section that follows, I describe the rationale for developing a hybrid that best fits this need. Review of Methodological Approaches To develop a sense of viable methods, I reviewed the relevant literature and discovered a variety of methods combined with theoretical stances, which form methodological approaches that are pertinent to an exploration of the content and imagery contained in the magazine covers published by Popular Mechanics. My review revealed several studies of magazines using methods such as Content Analysis, Genre Analysis, Rhetorical Analysis, Historical Analysis, Compositional Analysis, Visual Social Semiotics Analysis, and Multi-Modal Discourse Analysis. The next section provides a short review of these methods, describing how some scholars have applied them to the study of magazines and other related artifacts, and recounting why some of these methods, as applied by these researchers, are not appropriate for my examination. It also explains how these studies have influenced my final choice of method.

Content analysis I was initially drawn to Content Analysis as a method for inventorying the rhetorical elements contained in magazine covers. Content analysis, although primarily used for textual analysis has also been used to analyze imagery. For example, Shannon (2009) used content analysis to count the “appearance” (p. 322) of illustrated characters in a collection of comic strips. A notable example of magazine research using the content analysis method is that performed by Malkin, Wornian, and Chrisler (1999) who examined the cover imagery and text along with their compositional salience to reveal those messages being conveyed that touch on physical body appearance and explore how the media constructs gendered conventions of the ideal body appearance. Another example is Davalos, Davalos, and Layton (2007), who also use Content Analysis to examine a gendered theme that explores the “mentor-protégé relationship” (p. 250) suggested by the cover headlines of women’s magazines. Finally, I looked at Brown (1998b), 78

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 who developed a special technique he calls “analytic induction” (p. 72). To create categories for his Content Analysis and Historical Review of radio magazines, he developed a process to examine the published editorial policies, which promote technology. Upon further reflection, I decided to set aside Content Analysis as the primary method for my evaluation. Although this form of analysis does a good job providing a count of the compositional elements, exposing the narrative and the context which supports it, and revealing facets of useful information that might highlight themes and discursive formations, my research question begins with how, not what, and Content Analysis does not consider the production process or provide enough information about how magazine cover illustrations function rhetorically. It would not be effective as a standalone solution without an overlay of further analysis.

Compositional/Rhetorical Analysis Compositional/Rhetorical Analysis provides an overview that helps to make sense of the information supplied by the content analysis. Gigante (2012) uses this method to examine the winning entries of a competition designed to select the cover illustrations for special issues of Science magazine covers that are dedicated to explain science to the general reader. In her analysis, Gigante (2012) reveals what she calls a “disconnect between intention and practice” (p. 23) by first examining the compositional strategy used in producing the covers containing the images and then the techniques used in creating the images. She notes that other than a minor “About the Cover” blurb in the table-of-contents page, the cover is devoid of contextual information. In her evaluation of the composition, Gigante explains that Science magazine uses the “poster cover” (p. 24) design framework, which typically does not include cover lines. She argues that this lack of context does little to inform the non-scientist and notes instead that an image without supporting context is a generalization that acts as a “framing” (p. 25) device to capture attention under a general topic but does little to elaborate that topic.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Gigante’s (2012) Compositional/Rhetorical Analysis is a useful method for examining the relationship (or lack of it) between cover artwork and textual elements to reveal how, in this case, the material implementation of the cover artwork fails to accomplish the rhetorical goals established by the artwork competition. Her examination of the disconnect that may occur with the postercover, and her emphasis on accommodating the general user to expert knowledge, helps to inform my study of Popular Mechanics, which uses the poster-cover design framework over a period of several decades. Although my analysis of Popular Mechanics would benefit from the identification of modal disconnects between text and image, her method provides little analysis of the other structural characteristics such as composition that might also engender this type of miscommunication.

Rhetorical History Analysis To discover how to broaden the scope of my analysis, I also reviewed Rhetorical History Analysis. In her examination of a LOOK magazine article, Finnegan (2004) uses “Rhetorical History” (p. 199) framed as a technique of visual rhetoric to analyze the picture-story genre used by LOOK magazine. Because my study of Popular Mechanics explains the rhetorical strategies developed in an evolving genre over 110 years. I’m especially interested in what Finnegan (2004) calls the “three moments in the life of an image,” which she calls “production, reproduction, and circulation” (p. 199). Her description of the production moment, which accounts for the technology used in producing the artifact, the range of rhetorical choices provided by that technology, and the genre characteristics, which are afforded by that technology, is particularly interesting for my study of Popular Mechanics. She also ventures into multimodal analysis by exploring the relationship of the caption content to the photo content with speculation about how this combination works with cropping and framing to support the overall message expressed by the two-page spread. Finally, Finnegan’s (2004) analysis of the circulation moment focuses on the transmission of the desired message not only as 80

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 a picture-story in LOOK magazine but also through other discourse communities such as art galleries. Finnegan’s (2004) scheme of accounting for the three moments of production, reproduction, and circulation occurring in the life of an image has analytic viewpoints that are useful for my research because it examines vital facets associated with successful magazine publication in addition to the multimodal characteristics and compositional strategies used in LOOK magazine. On the other hand, this method is problematic for my purposes because it is conducted from a top-down perspective, and the image is considered in total without further decomposition. Finnegan’s (2004) top-down perspective makes it difficult to conceptualize the separate rhetorical decisions made by the editor, photographer, and compositor, and discern the conventions of genre guiding those decisions. Although I found the wide scope of Finnegan’s (2004) method attractive, it would not completely answer my research question. In particular, her analysis of the LOOK magazine picture-story, ideational concepts, combinations of picture elements, and interpersonal relationships all hold significant meaning that remains unrevealed in her examination, and it does not address the multimodal characteristics of the cover compositions that are typically seen in Popular Mechanics. These are important characteristics that must be analyzed and compared to provide clarity and reveal the rhetorical moves employed by the creators.

Critical Discourse Analysis, Visual Social Semiotics, and Multimodal Discourse Analysis Karlsson (2004) examines the conventions behind these rhetorical moves in her analysis and comparison of the characteristics of professional and popular media by framing her multimodal study of DIY magazines with Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Semiotics. Her analysis of professional-sector documentation is based on two “blueprint”-style engineering drawings, and popular-sector illustrated discourse drawn from three Swedish hobbyist magazines. In a significant observation, Karlsson (2004) calls popular media technical magazines 81

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 “‘quasi-vernacular’ craft discourses” (p. 253), that fulfill a function, which in previous years and generations was filled by older family members who passed on the lore of handicraft and technology of repair to their progeny. The traditional form of knowledge-passing is no longer used by contemporary culture, and the function instead is often fulfilled by popular media, which contains instructions about practical tasks. As Karlsson (2004) has observed, “one could say that the mass media has taken over much of the role once played by older relatives on the farms and in the villages” (p. 252). Karlsson (2004) deploys Multimodal Discourse Analysis in conjunction with social semiotics to expose the boundaries, which are implied by an implementation of genre. Additionally, her overlay of historical analysis provides an insight into the changing purposes of discourse and how this is reflected in social interaction. A particular strength of her methodology that might have proven useful for my study of Popular Mechanics covers is her analysis and comparison of drawings developed for professionals and hobbyists, which reveals relationships between these discourse communities as well as differences in their modes of expression. To familiarize practitioners with multimodal documents, Harrison (2003) provides a guide for technical communicators explaining how she uses a visual social semiotic framework as a practitioner to analyze and “better understand the rhetorical, meaning-making potential of still images in relationship to text” (p. 47). She provides an overview method that reveals the “negotiation between the producer and the viewer, reflecting their individual social/cultural/political beliefs, values, and attitudes” (p. 49). Her guide presents an introduction to the value of discerning meaning from multimodal compositions and informs any interpretation of Popular Mechanics cover compositions. Harrison’s multimodal analysis technique and her visual social semiotic framework provides another important component to evaluate a sample of over a hundred magazine covers, but my observations must be gathered through a more 82

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 encompassing, systematic and methodical analysis. Each of these offer a useful perspective of the data I needed to answer my research question, but I found that Genre and Multimodal Analysis (GeM) offered a way to combine strengths of each of these methods, Content Analysis, Genre Analysis, Rhetorical Analysis, Historical Analysis, Compositional Analysis, Visual Social Semiotics Analysis, and Multi-Modal Discourse Analysis, into a single organized effort that would best answer my research question.

GeM To analyze the multimodal expressions seen on Popular Mechanics covers, I envisioned a combination of methods that would identify components of the magazine cover, describe the rhetorical strategies used in used in combination with their deployment, and analyze that relationship as it occurred in this discourse area. GeM originally developed through a cooperative effort at the University of Stirling, the University of Bremen, and the University of Bradford to develop a scheme for XML annotation (see http://www.fb10.unibremen.de/anglistik/langpro/projects/gem/newframe.html) serves these purposes because it provides a way to systematically decompose a multimodal document into its fundamental elements and analyze their purpose. The GeM framework also provides a way to organize this type of research in a way that allows for the comparison of genre expressed through a corpus of similar documents as they evolve in response to technical and cultural developments. The GeM method analyzes a document by examining the framework of five dimensions that add meaning to a multimodal document. The dimensions consist of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;content structure, rhetorical structure, layout structure, navigational structure, and linguistic structureâ&#x20AC;? (Delin, Bateman, & Allen, 2002, p. 56). These structures are described in the framework which is reproduced below in Table 3.1.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Table 3.1. The analytic framework (reproduced from Delin, Bateman, & Allen, 2002, p. 52).

Content structure The structure of the information to be communicated: Rhetorical structure The rhetorical relationships between content elements; how the content is ‘argued’: Layout structure The nature, appearance and positon of communicative elements on the page; Navigation structure The ways in which the intended mode(s) of consumption of the document is/are supported; and Linguistic structure The structure of the language used to realize the layout elements.

Additionally, these structures, as a whole, are analyzed in terms of three types of constraints, the “Canvas constraints,” the “Production constraints,” and the “Consumption constraints” (pp. 56-57). These constraints as described by Bateman (2008) are reproduced in Table 3.2 below. Table 3.2. The primary sources of constraints adopted by the Genre and Multimodality framework (reproduced from Bateman 2008, p. 18).

Canvas constraints

Production constraints

Consumption Constraints

constraints arising out of the physical nature of the object being produced: paper or screen size; fold geometry such as for a leaflet constraints arising out of the production technology: limit on pages, colors, size of included graphics, availability of photographs; constraints arising from the micro- and macro economy of time or materials: e.g. deadlines; expense of using color; necessity of incorporating advertising constraints arising out of the time, place, and manner of acquiring and consuming the document, such as method of selection at purchase point

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The five levels of structure when defined by the three constraints form the “genre space” (Bateman, 2008, p. 10) that contains the document. Delin, Bateman, and Allen (2002) note, “that genres can move, and can hybridise with and colonise one another” (p. 55), and they design their method of analysis accordingly to consider the relationships between existing genre and their evolution into newer forms of genre. I found the GeM model attractive for my research because it is a tool that incorporates those aspects of analysis I have found useful in the methods I have described earlier, and because it is designed for the comprehensive accounting of the wide variety of expression of an evolving mediascape in a coherent manner. It serves to plumb the nature of Popular Mechanics covers as a hybrid genre. Figure 3.1 provides an overview of how my GeM analysis was conducted, including artifacts, their location, and the means of analysis.

Figure 3.1. Flowchart of GeM Analysis of Popular Magazine Covers.

The left section of the flow chart seen in Figure 3.1 shows the source of the artifacts, which were collected from a variety of libraries, microfilm assets provided by Mary Seelhorst, as well as digital sources. Once these artifacts were collected using the sampling procedure, which is described later in this chapter,

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 constraints forming the parameters of the document were analyzed. Each of the document structures were considered in terms of these constraints, and this combined analysis then provided insight into the composition of the genre space. The GeM model, which incorporates a form of content and rhetorical analysis into its five structures of meaning, provides a useful tool for this type of analysis and, as the name implies, it is designed to combine these analyses into an overall impression of genre that is collected from a corpus and traced over time. As a method, GeM is valuable because it attends to the multimodal aspects of a document but also because it allows the genre used by the document to be analyzed in its form as a corpus and tracked over time using a top-down, longitudinal, macro-analysis that traces its evolution. The following demonstration of my evaluation procedure using the GeM model on one of the Popular Mechanics covers demonstrate how it is applied to individual artifacts in my research project. It also reveals a shortcoming inherent in GeM, and in a later section I present my extension of GeM that increases it scope. GeM Analysis of the Popular Mechanics December 1935 Magazine Cover Magazine covers are complex documents, and to accommodate Popular Mechanics covers, which are printed (or digital) documents that combine illustrations or photos with textual elements, my analysis is grounded in an exploration of what Bateman (2008) calls â&#x20AC;&#x153;the interaction and combination of multiple modes within single artefactsâ&#x20AC;? (p. 1). GeM provides the framework that allows these characteristics to be arranged for analysis in an organized

Figure 3.2. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Poster Cover.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 manner, and to demonstrate how this method is applied in my project, I provide an analysis of the December 1935 Popular Mechanics cover seen in Figure 3.2.

The Three Constraints of GeM Analysis Before beginning a GeM analysis of this magazine cover, I first establish the foundation for the analysis by describing the three levels of Canvas, Production, and Consumption constraint, which are fundamental to any document. The meaning-making elements expressed by the Popular Mechanics magazine covers are constrained by the size of the publication. The page size of the December 1935 issue is created by paper folded in a signature pattern called octavo, which creates a page that is one-eighth of a broadsheet. As has been noted in Chapter 2, since early Renaissance, this page size is the traditional size used for the How-To handbook genre. The octavo signature fold, as employed by Popular Mechanics, creates a page size of 6.625 X 9.375 inches favoring the vertical composition seen in this issue. The production method for the December 1935 issue is constrained to a four-color relief printing method. A close examination of the cover under bright light and magnification reveals traces of paper embossing and ink compression that indicates the use of the letterpress printing method (Gascoigne, 2004, p. 49). The use of half-toning and the sharpness of lettering viewed under magnification indicates that the relief printing plates were formed using a photo-mechanical process. The technique employed by the cover artist is also a production constraint. In this case, the brushy/sketchy illustration reproduced on the December 1935 Popular Mechanics cover (Figure 3.2) is most likely created with gouache, an opaque watercolor technique that, although having a compressed color space, nevertheless is favored by commercial illustrators because of its quickdrying nature. The Consumption Constraint would vary from reader to reader depending on their willingness to pass this issue on to secondary readers. Consumption is also

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 constrained by the distribution process. Original readers would be subscribers receiving their issue through the mail, or they would purchase the magazine from a newsstand. These newsstand purchases could be stimulated by the visual appeal of the dynamic illustration seen on this cover.

The Five Steps of GeM Analysis Next, to perform the five steps of the GeM structural analysis, I first decompose the page, take an inventory of the “rhetorical clusters” (Schriver, 1997 p. 343), and reduce these clusters to the smallest meaning-making content element. The layout elements are described spatially with an area model (Figure 3.3) and logically with a layout hierarchy diagram (Figure 3.4). These diagrams provide a basis for inferring relationships between the various elements in the composition. For example, elements that are in close proximity may indicate a relationship, or an inset image may form a secondary nested Figure 3.3. Area Model Diagram.

layout within the magazine’s primary composition. The layout structure tree diagram

that results from this step describes the hierarchy of information elements established by the designer[s]. These relationships provide a basis for performing a comprehensive evaluation of the entire composition, and to facilitate this analysis I identify the major components and assign them to layers. As seen in Figure 3.4 below, these layers are L2.1 through L2.6. Bateman (2008) calls the decomposed sub-elements on these layers of compositional elements the “Base Units” (p. 109). Layer 2.2 is further subdivided into the compositional elements of the masthead frame (L2.2.1); the masthead text, “POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE” (L2.2.2); a legal line, “REG. U.S. PAT. OFF” (L2.2.3); and the magazine’s motto, “WRITTEN SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT” (L2.2.4). 88

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

Figure 3.4. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Layout Hierarchy Diagram.

The second step in the GeM structural analysis consists of inventorying each textual and graphical element on the page and creating a list of the base units in order to develop the content structure. According to Bateman (2008), this list describes the “vocabulary” (p. 108) available for meaning-making on the page in question. As seen in Table 3.3 below, elements from the analysis of the December 1935 cover have been assigned base unit values and tagged according to spatial location on the layout. Table 3.3. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Base Units. Base Unit

Layout Unit

Type

U01 U02 U03

L2.1 L2.2.1 L2.2.2

U04 U05 U06 U07 U08 U09

L2.2.3 L2.2.4 L2.3 L2.4 L2.5 L2.6

Cover Line (Text) THE WORLD’S RACE TO ARMS Graphic (box shape) Framing device Text (Masthead) POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE WRITTEN SO YOU CAN Text (Motto) UNDERSTAND IT Text (Legal) REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. Text (Date) DEC Text 25 Cents Text SEE PAGE 856 Image Poster Cover Image

Content

Function/Rank

Elaboration Identification Identification Purpose Linguistic Navigation Property Navigation Visual Appeal

The third step is an analysis of the rhetorical structure. For this purpose, Bateman (2008) recommends using Mann and Thompson’s Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), which examines “the coherence exhibited by everyday normal texts” (p. 146). To analyze the functionality of text, RST provides definition to the relationship between the rhetorical elements contained within that text. GeM expands this scope of RST to include the relationship between 1) images and text, and 2) images and images. According to Bateman (2008), these relationships are

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 called “text spans” (p 148). These text spans are made up of “dependency structures[s] where one of the subparts is seen as the most important, or nuclear, at that level in structure, and to which the other subparts, called satellites, stand in a dependency relationship” (p. 148). These structural definitions describe rhetorical relationships between nucleus and satellite components. The satellite subpart could serve a variety of functions such as providing preparation, elaboration, background, and contrast for the nucleus element. For example, in a technical illustration, a call-out of text may provide an elaboration to a cutaway section of an illustration. Additionally, the cutaway section may provide elaboration to the main illustration.

Figure 3.5. December 1935 Popular Mechanics Rhetorical Structure Theory Diagram.

The RST analysis of the December 1935 cover composition is illustrated by the generation of the diagram above (Figure 3.5), which graphically links the various elements of a composition. Because it is based on the rhetorical functions of each image and how they are used to influence the reader, the RST diagram may reveal conflicting relationships between text and imagery that might otherwise be overlooked. Additionally, to analyze how Popular Mechanics cover illustrations attract and persuade readers, my RST analysis also draws from Kress and van Leeuween’s system of “salience” (p. 194), Hill’s (2004) “continuum of vividness” (p. 31), and Foss’ (1993) hypothesis of visual appeal to identify and

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 describe the dominant cover image likely to attract viewers and serve as the nucleus for RST analysis. The fourth step is an examination of the navigational structure. The navigational structure may be either an overt or an implied mechanism that guides the viewer through the composition. For example, a dominant element may be emphasized by a rhetorical strategy such as visual appeal that attracts a viewer to a particular picture element before using other rhetorical strategies such as vectors suggested by directional arrows to guide the viewer to another element. Additionally, implied vectors embedded within an illustration may also provide other directional clues. Finally, text blocks, such as “continued on page 34” (Delin, Bateman, & Allen 2002, p. 62) provide overt navigational information. In the December 1935 cover currently being described in this example, there are only two elements, which may be described as navigational elements. The date element in Layout Unit L2.3.1 assists the reader’s navigation through the corpus of Popular Mechanics magazine by identifying the month of issue, and notably in this issue, the year is omitted. The other navigational element is the text in Layout Unit L2.5.1, which reads “SEE PAGE 856.” It provides unambiguous direction to the reader interested in finding information containing an elaboration of the illustration depicted on the cover. Finally, to complete the GeM analysis sequence, I analyze the linguistic structure. The designers of Popular Mechanics covers have deployed textual elements in a wide variety of covers with examples ranging from those with a complete table of contents located below the cover photo to those such as the “poster” (Johnson & Prijatel, 1999, p. 241; Gigante, 2012, p. 24) style used in the December 1935 issue, which may lack cover lines or other accompanying text. Additional linguistic elements would also include text used for legalities and document control including messages to mail carriers and newsstand vendors, which are often subtlety expressed in miniscule text. In the December 1935 cover under analysis, there is only one cover line (Layout Unit L2.1), “THE WORLD’S 91

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 RACE TO ARMS,” the publisher’s motto (Layout Unit L2.3.3), and a barely visible legal line (Layout Unit L2.3.4). These five structural analysis steps described above, framed in terms of the three constraints, have provided an arrangement that reveals the dynamic relationship between the rhetorical strategies and production methods that characterize the hybrid genre generated by Popular Mechanics cover illustrations. For example, it explains why a compositional choice that is primarily vertically biased may be influenced by a vertical page constraint or why a certain page size may appeal to a specific set of consumers. Following Foss, Foss, and Trapp’s (1985) interpretation of Foucault (1972) principles described above, these characteristics were studied as part of a discursive practice and the results were complied in Chapter 4 to establish how often they are used, the differences in their use, and how they compared to other members of this hybrid in the Popular Mechanics corpus. As varieties of shards identified through GeM were analyzed, characteristics such as dominant themes, production methods, rhetorical strategies, and techniques of visual appeal emerged. These characteristics were then compared and examined as trends. Trends developed from these characteristics may also be compared to other trends both inside and outside the corpus. These comparisons answer how these cover illustrations popularize, explain, and promote science and technology while delivering technical communication to lay users. The evolution of the corpus and the trajectory describing its genre revealed by this examination provides the analytical foundation of this dissertation. Unfortunately, this method as it stands does not satisfactorily answer my research question. Because there are five recognizable magazine cover types that developed over time in response to technological and cultural advances: “poster; one theme, one image; multi-theme, one image; multi-theme and multi-image; and all-typographic” (Johnson & Prijatel, 1999, p. 241), the GeM analytic framework, although structurally sound with a serviceable method for organizing results, lacks the scope

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 which that is required to analyze the prominent artwork in the poster cover composition. The next section explains this problem and details my solution.

An Extension of the GeM Analysis As I proceeded with the GeM analysis of the December 1935 poster-type cover described above, a critical limitation of the GeM method as it is currently deployed became apparent. Beyond accounting for the presence of images such as photos and illustrations as singular units that are embedded into the layout, the GeM method does not allow for an analysis of an image of any kind beyond this point. In his explanation of this limitation, Bateman (2008) describes the modes in which a printed document makes meaning as a “continuum of relationships between text, image and layout” based on “the sequentiality of text […] temporal sequentiality, and […] spatial contiguity,” and he uses this continuum to develop the modes of “text-flow,” “image-flow,” and “page flow” (p. 175). Bateman (2008) continues to explain that the GeM model is designed to address the analysis of image-flow and text-flow as it forms into a page-flow. Although he acknowledges the utility of image-flow documents, such as comics or procedural diagrams, in his description of a sequence of discrete images, he limits his analysis to simply noting their appearance in a composition with text-flow elements without further discussion (p. 176). Bateman (2008) prefers instead to treat each image encountered in a layout as an integral “base unit” (p. 9), and he makes no attempt to further examine or decompose its rhetorical relationships. He explains that he excludes further interpretation of the multimodal characteristics of an image because he requires his decomposition process to “be made as reliable and as reproducible as possible” (p. 22) noting that “[o]ur understanding of the meaningmaking potential of visually- and spatially-based artefacts is still sufficiently weak that it is relatively easy for sophisticated theories to overrun the information that we can actually extract from those artefacts” (p. 8). Additionally, he seeks to avoid having to rely “on an intelligent reader or user who is able to draw out the particular connections required to make the rhetorical combination” (p. 35). 93

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 In the case of a Popular Mechanics poster cover, it may be seen in the Layout Hierarchy Diagram (Figure 3.4) above, the entire composition labeled “L2” contains the text and image components labeled “L2.1” through “L2.6”. The item labeled “L2.6” contains the image-flow composition. As currently deployed, GeM is unable to isolate the components of this illustration and describe the typically rich narrative shown in similar types of artwork. As a result it provides a sparse dataset for an evaluation of the poster- type magazine cover. Because some Popular Mechanics covers rely on image flow to generate meaning, the question remains: how can singular images be analyzed using the meaning-making structures of GeM? Although Bateman (2008) does not pursue image-flow as it may be analyzed from a singular image, GeM already accommodates multimodal discourse analysis and systemic-functional linguistics. It analyzes the spatial relationship of text and image in their role as layout elements. It also applies the techniques introduced in the visual grammar of Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) to describe the association between images and text. Therefore, it stands to reason that an image, such as that shown in the background of the December 1935 Popular Mechanics magazine, could be systematically decomposed, and an analysis of the visual grammar could be used to determine the framing, saliency, and spatial relationships for the purpose of revealing the intentions and strategies of the artist. The structure for analysis of the decomposed image is present, but the tool for decomposing and describing the imagery is missing. If as a researcher, I can fill the role of Bateman’s (2008) “intelligent reader or user,” why not expand these techniques in GeM to include the systematic analysis of imagery? (p. 35) For the purposes of my research project, dismissing the image from the GeM decomposition process recommended by Bateman (2008) and ignoring the rhetorical strategies that may be derived from artwork designed as a meaningmaking ensemble distorts many of the conclusions that might be drawn from an analysis of an artifact such as the Popular Mechanics poster cover. Many issues of the magazine are of the “poster” (Johnson & Prijatel, 1999, p. 241; Gigante, 2012,

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 p. 24) style, which carries this designation because an individual artist composed the dominant artwork as a single image, the artwork covers most if not all the entire page with a minimal accompaniment of text, and nearly all of the semiotic work is conducted through this imagery. In the DIY mode, cover illustration of this type deploys imagery with which a viewer can personally identify, become immersed in the depicted scene, and imagine, “I can do this.” My initial superficial examination of the Popular Mechanics corpus revealed the use of narrative imagery, technically descriptive imagery, and visual argument as rhetorical strategies that promote and advance technical concepts, and these strategies should be isolated and examined. If used inartfully, these rhetorical strategies may engender the “disconnect” (p. 23) described by Gigante (2012) in her analysis of Science magazine covers. Determining the effectiveness of this type of information is critical for an accurate answer to my research question, but GeM, as currently structured, is not capable of analyzing the rhetorical strategies used in many types of magazine covers where the information delivery mechanism is located primarily on the “image-flow” (Bateman, 2008, p. 175) side of the document-type continuum mentioned above. On the other hand, GeM provides an organized and efficient framework for analyzing the compositional characteristics of a large number of documents such as the corpus of Popular Mechanics covers. In addition to this valuable utility, GeM provides the mechanism to trace these characteristics over time. With my analysis of the corpus of illustrated Popular Mechanics covers in mind, some way of systemically analyzing the entire composition of each of these covers was needed. To solve this problem and tailor GeM to the analysis of illustrated Popular Mechanics covers in a way that accounts for the base units contained in composed images, I looked to O’Toole’s (2011) Language of Displayed Art and his adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) theory of Functional Grammar, to account for how a purely visual artifact functions in a given context. Thus, as a remedy for this limitation of GeM, to decompose the image flow of illustrations of a poster cover into their most fundamental components, and to more fully develop

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 the inventory of Base Units of the elemental component of an image having semantic value, this approach served to build a more comprehensive foundation for the GeM analysis. O’Toole’s Adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s Functional Grammar for Compositional Analysis O’Toole (2011) developed a method of separating an image into a hierarchy of ranked elements, which he derived from Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) Functional Grammar and repurposed into a semiotic framework that allows for the decomposition of an image and the isolation of its fundamental parts. In effect, this method provides a mechanism to overcome the image-flow barrier inherent in a GeM analysis. In his development of Functional Grammar, Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) identified the “scale of rank [which is present] in the grammar of every language” (p. 9). In English this hierarchy of ranking consists of the clause, phrase/group, word, and morpheme. The morpheme is the smallest unit to have semantic value, and one or more morphemes make up a word. O’Toole’s (2011) method adapts Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) concepts of ranking, which he renames “Work, Episode, Figure, and Member” (p. 15), to facilitate the study of images. The categories of Work and Episode are the visual equivalent of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) “Clause” and “Group” (p. 225), and a Work contains Episodes (often only one), Episodes are made up of Figures, and Figures are composed of Members. Table 3.4 compares the two concepts of ranking. Table 3.4. Comparison of Ranking Concepts

SCALE OF RANKING Halliday O’Toole Clause Work Phrase Episode Word Figure Morpheme Member In terms of an illustration, a Work consists of the overall composition, an Episode describes the actions and interactions within the composition, the Figure describes the actor(s) portrayed in the Episode, and the Members describes the 96

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 articulating feature employed by the Figure. As may be seen in the Layout Hierarchy Diagram in 3.6, I have decomposed the image (L2.6) identified by the GeM analysis into layers and ranked discrete components in preparation for O’Toole’s method.

Figure 3.6. December 1935 Layout Hierarchy Derived From O’Toole’s Semiotic Framework.

The elements identified in the layout hierarchy diagram may then be added to the base unit inventory as seen in Table 3.5 below. Table 3.5. December 1935 Base Units Derived from O’Toole’s Method. Base Unit

Layout Unit

Type

Content

Rank/Function

U09 U10 U11 U12 U13 U14 U15 U16 U17 U18 U19 U20

L2.6 L2.7.1 L2.7.2 L2.7.3 L2.7.4 L2.7.5 L2.7.6 L2.7.7 L2.7.8 L2.7.9 L2.7.10 L2.7.11

Image Image (Layer 0) Image (Layer 1) Image (Layer 2) Image (Layer 3) Image (Layer 4) Image (Layer 4) Image (Layer 5) Image (Layer 6) Image (Layer 7) Image (Layer 8) Image (Layer 9)

Poster Cover Image Bright blue sky with abundant clouds Skyscrapers reflecting sunrise Streamlined locomotive Engineer driving train Numeral “2” on engine Wings-style logo on engine Arched grille Rail bed Aqueduct-style bridge Elaboration/Member Speed streaks

Work Figure/ Elaboration Figure/ Elaboration Episode Figure Member/Elaboration Member/Elaboration Member/Elaboration Member/Means Member/Means Member/Elaboration Member/Elaboration

Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) also identified three meta-functions of communication: the Ideational, the Interpersonal, and the Textual (Kress & van

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Leeuwen, 1996, pp. 42-43). For the purpose of analyzing images with visual grammar, the Ideational is concerned with how images are represented, the Interpersonal is concerned with how images interact with the viewer, and the Textual is concerned with the context and arrangement of imagery. Table 3.6. Comparison of Metafunction Concepts.

METAFUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION Halliday O’Toole Ideational Representational Interpersonal Modal Textual Compositional O’Toole (2011) reconfigured the literary nature of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) meta-functions, which he renames with the more graphically descriptive characteristics of Representational, Modal, and Compositional. Table 3.6 compares the two concepts of metafunctional communications. Each of these meta-functional dimensions may be distinguished for analysis by projecting them on of the separate ranks described above. In this way, O’Toole’s method exposes meaningful components in the December 1935 composition that are not accounted for in the standard GeM analysis. More detail about the rhetorical strategies of the designers may then be revealed and placed on the Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) diagram as seen in Figure 3.7 below.

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Figure 3.7. Rhetorical Structure Diagram derived from O’Toole Analysis.

Now, when viewing the RST diagram seen in Figure 3.7, we can begin to see rhetorical and spatial relationships such as the cover line that appears to elaborate the visual metaphor constructed by the cover illustration of a train rushing toward the viewer emerge. The multimodal combination of locomotive and text expressed in this composition could represent advancement in technology. Further investigation reveals instead the cover line “THE WORLD’S RACE TO ARMS” (L2.1) and the rushing locomotive (L2.6.3) allude to two different stories in the magazine. In a manner perhaps unanticipated by the illustrator, this juxtaposition of text and image does have synergistic meaning that is at odds with the intended message. Was it contrived or inadvertently deployed? Did the designer of this composition mean to convey that technology is the motivator of a “race to arms”? A disconnection of this type is revealed by the combination of the GeM method with O’Toole’s Adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) Functional Grammar. Once both methods have facilitated a complete decomposition of both page and image flow elements, the propositional elements

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 in the illustration become apparent, and it is possible to reveal incoherence in the rhetorical strategies deployed by the composition. Thus O'Toole's (2011) method provides the means to overcome the imageflow barrier described by Bateman (2008) and place those compositional elements that are otherwise unrevealed into a framework that allows for a more exhaustive GeM analysis. Additionally it provides the means to identify and describe the rhetorical strategies such as argument, narrative or metaphor that are visually deployed by the designer through emagery. These strategies can then be compared to the wide variety of characteristics identified in the GeM analysis and reveal other potential disconnections. Finally, they could also be compared to the larger discursive context in political, economic, and technological terms. Researching online archives of historical magazine covers After deciding to use GeM and O’Toole’s methodologies, I next needed to gather the covers. The Internet has opened unprecedented research opportunities to review and compare historical documents, such a Popular Mechanics’ covers. One opportunity is the growing trend in the digital humanities to scan and digitally preserve magazines targeting popular culture in an effort to make them available as a public archive. For example, Virginia Commonwealth University in cooperation with the Defense Department maintains a research site for Internet viewing of The Preventative Maintenance Comic Book published between 1951 and 1972. Additionally, the open-source website, “Archive.org” provides access to a wide variety of historically important scanned and digitized media such as The Gentleman’s Magazine, The Penny Mechanic, and The London Mechanics’ Magazine. In December of 2008, Google announced the launch of their version of a scanned magazine archive, which has made virtually every issue of Popular Mechanics magazine available for viewing over the Internet (for example see http://books.google.com/books?id=RdMDAAAAMBAJ). The development of this archive is especially important for technical communication scholars who are interested in historical examples of popular media describing technology. 100

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Although the Google site provides a rich resource that is readily accessible, to my knowledge no effort has been made to take advantage of this asset and examine the corpus of Popular Mechanics cover art from the perspective of technical communication. The Popular Mechanics corpus available on the Google Internet archive reflects the historical evolution of technical magazine cover illustration as it accommodates new developments in reproduction technology and social convention. My study makes use of this resource to analyze these magazine covers for visual content, place that content into historical context, and evaluate the rhetorical and technological strategies employed in the imagery to attract viewers and explain science and technology to lay readers. To this end, my examination accounts for major themes, synthesize visual arguments expressed through multimodal combinations, and identify visual elements as grammatical propositions. These findings were treated as codes to analyze the framework of Popular Mechanics cover compositions. Sample Size and Technique Initially, I use GeM to perform a macro-analysis of 110 issues of Popular Mechanics magazine over the period from 1902-2011. My analysis examined one issue from each year selected randomly from the 1300+ issues that form the span of the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 110-year corpus. To facilitate this selection, I used an online random number generator (http://www.random.org) to choose representative issues from both weekly and monthly volumes. For the year that contains the transition from weekly to monthly publication, I first flipped a coin to choose between the weekly or monthly volume. My random choice process resulted in a list of 110 issues that represented each year of the corpus from 1902 to 2011. The samples of Popular Mechanics magazine covers were derived from three sources. First, as many covers as possible were collected with scans made directly from magazine covers archived in the Texas Tech and Southern Polytech libraries. To sample covers those covers which are not available in the physical archives, I used screen 101

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 grabs derived from the Google Archives or from the Cover Browser Website. Finally, I sampled from microfilm records of the first two years of publication held by Popular Mechanics historical author, Mary Seelhorst. The microfilm records provided images of those issues not available in libraries or online archives. To facilitate my overlay examination using O’Toole’s semiotic framework, I selected a subsection of approximately 11% of the larger 110 issue sample. The subset of the random sample was drawn from the entire corpus through a process called “purposeful sampling [which] select[s] a sample that has the characteristics [...] necessary to answer questions about a certain matter or product” (MacNealy, 1999, p. 157). My choice of sample for this subsection was guided by significant characteristics, which emerged during the GeM analysis. Koerber and McMichael (2008) note that in “purposeful sampling, the most important guiding principle is maximum variation” (p. 464). To visualize the variation present in the 110 cover sample, a card-sorting exercise was performed that sought to categorize the range of significant characteristics portrayed in the cover artwork. These characteristics were separated into three major areas (production techniques, narrative schemes, and rhetorical strategies) spaced over three sections identified in the timeline, Exploratory Era, Poster Era, Postmodern Era, drawn by the corpus. The usage of the term postmodern refers to covers, which follow the “postmodernist strand” (p. 258) described above by Barton and Barton (1990). The particulars of this exercise are explained in Chapter 5. Software Analysis After acquiring a full sample of covers representative of the corpus, I began my analysis. The results of both GeM and O’Toole’s method were recorded using NVivo software. NVivo is categorized as a “Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS)” (Lewins & Silver, 2007, p. 6) program. NVivo software aids in the analysis of the considerable data that became available during my examination of the wide variety of characteristics that make up the genre in the complete Popular Mechanics corpus. To load this data, I first established the 102

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 canvas, production, and consumption constraints for each composition, then the base units were tagged in terms of layout structure, RST relationships, navigational structure, and linguistic structure. In conducting the phase of the analysis using O’Toole’s semiotic framework, the modal, representational, and compositional interpretations of each element were ranked accordingly, tagged and recorded. The commentary generated by the interpretation, which was facilitated by O’Toole’s method was further openly coded in an inductive, grounded fashion. My commentary also yielded what Lewins and Silver (2007) call “in-vivo” codes, which are codes generated by “language used in the data” (p. 85). All of this data was then filtered and analyzed using the computational power of this NVivo software to provide the aggregated results. The powerful database provided by this software used to compile this information has a limitation that presented a minor consequence for my study. Because its image selection tool is rudimentary, it does not provide a mechanism for visually silhouetting and isolating individual picture elements, and the picture samples saved to the database may lack selection clarity. The lack of a silhouetting tool does not diminish the GeM analysis, because it is the first stage of a two-part analysis, which is primarily concerned with the text-flow side of the multimodal composition. The second stage O’Toole analysis is focused entirely on the image-flow portion of the composition and a silhouetting tool would be very useful. Fortunately, because this analysis examines only 12 covers, when required, the semi-automated selection tools available in Photoshop software served well. Furthermore, Photoshop’s rubber stamp tools were also used to repair backgrounds marred by the deletion of foreground elements. In this chapter I have presented my theoretical perspective and the methods I have chose to answer my research question. I reviewed several methodological approaches that have influenced my choice of the GeM method. Next, the functional components of GeM were explained. Following this explanation, the decomposition of a selected cover was demonstrated. That demonstration revealed 103

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 my rationale for extending GeM with O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework. Finally, I recounted my sampling strategy and how I compiled the base units using NVivo software. In Chapter 4, the aggregated findings of the first-stage GeM analysis of 110 covers are compiled and detailed, and the findings of the secondstage O’Toole analysis are interpreted and explained in Chapter 5.

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CHAPTER IV A REVIEW OF IMAGES AS USEFUL FICTION: FROM THE GEM ANALYSIS: TRENDS OF INNOVATION AND INTEGRATION The GeM analysis described in this chapter examines mechanical and compositional aspects of the techno-historical trajectory seen in the illustrated covers of Popular Mechanics including the overarching themes of innovation and integration that have, from the perspective of technical communication, arisen from this analysis. It discusses how these characteristics of Popular Mechanics have developed into a genre that has served to popularize, explain, and promote science and technology while delivering technical communication to lay users over a great period of time. The trajectory reveals the innovation involved in the development of a genre, which uses technology to describe technology. The innovation of genre is accompanied by a trend of greater integration and accommodation of users that is reflected in the expressive strategies described below. As described in the previous chapter, to fully explore this trajectory and account for the nature of technical communication in these instances, this section also examines the content contained in the sample of 110 covers randomly selected from the volumes of each year of publication to build a sample of the Popular Mechanics representing each year of the corpus ranging from 1902 to 2011. As described in Chapter 3, the material gathered for this analysis was compiled with NVivo Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). The content material, cover lines, and other compositional elements that hold meaning such as the masthead, price field, barcodes, and inset illustrations were identified, selected, and coded. As compositional elements were coded, the text observed in the bitmap scan of each cover was retyped into the searchable NVivo image log. During this process, the percentage of total compositional space taken by this text was also recorded. Additionally, all of the major themes suggested by the illustrations were recorded and categorized. A variety of problems were encountered during this phase of the analysis and various workarounds were developed. For example, the NVivo 105

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 word frequency query feature does not support a search for the suffix of a word. The problem was remedied by exporting the entire set of cover-line text from NVivo, and this file was then opened with Microsoft Word. The suffixes were then individually searched, and each occurrence along with the co-occurring root word was recorded in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The Excel spreadsheet, which contained only those root words with the suffix under examination, was then reimported back into NVivo for the word frequency analysis. As noted in the previous chapter, GeM methodology, developed by Delin, Bateman, and Allen (2002), empirically analyzes a document by examining the five dimensions consisting of the “content structure, rhetorical structure, layout structure, navigational structure, and linguistic structure” (p. 56), which comprise the framework that adds meaning to a multimodal document. The dimensions, taken together as a whole, form the composition, which in turn is analyzed in terms of the “Canvas,” “Production,” and “Consumption” constraints (pp. 56-57). These five levels of structure, when defined by the three constraints, form what Bateman (2008) calls the most fundamental description of the “genre space” (p. 10) that contains the document. The genre space of Popular Mechanics as facilitated by technological affordance is examined over the life of the corpus as seen below in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1. Genre space facilitated by technological affordance revealed by GeM analysis.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The following section examines this genre space of Popular Mechanics as it has evolved over 110 years of publication using a wide variety of expressive technology. My analysis begins with an examination of the three constraints. I examine the production constraints and describe how they have evolved in response to technical developments. Next I describe the canvas constraints and trace the variety of formats, which have appeared over the life of the publication. After these constraints have been established, I look at the consumption constraints, which are determined in part by the production and canvas constraints. I review the overall trend seen in the trajectory and in particular focus on areas where the trend shows significant change. Finally, I examine selections from each of the five dimensions of structure. The Three Constraints An effective message in the textual domain is produced using some type of technology such as drawing, printing, or web page design. Reproduction technology such as this inscribes communication on some form of medium, and the consumption of that medium occurs in some particular circumstance. Delin, Bateman, and Allen (2002) suggest that a major part of the concept we call genre are those factors or constraints, which “operate on the informtion at each level in the generation of a document” (p. 56). The following three sections analyze the Canvas, Consumption, and Production constraints that confine the genre space of the Popular Mechanics corpus and define the fundamental publishing characteristics that mold its form.

Production Constraints According to Bateman (2008), production constraints are “constraints arising out of the production technology: limit on pages, colors, size of included graphics, availability of photographs; constraints arising from the micro- and macro economy of time or materials: e.g. deadlines; expense of using color; necessity of incorporating advertising” (p. 18). Many genres, such as yellow journalism and pulp fiction, are defined in part by the material constraints inherent in their production. The GeM analysis of the evolving production capabilities seen in the developmental trajectory of the Popular Mechanics corpus provides some insight into how the magazine 107

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 established itself as an emerging genre by leveraging the constraints imposed by reproduction technology and testing its limits.

Figure 4.2. Dimension of color space for Popular Mechanics magazine covers.

Popular Mechanics began production of the magazine using a one-color, black and white reproduction process. As seen in Figure 4.2, the first two years used this one-color black and white reproduction process to feature drawings on the cover using what appears to be an etched plate to reproduce this imagery. In 1904 an additional color plate was added and the cover was printed using cyan and red inks. With the introduction of multiple plates, the ability of the press to register colors became an important consideration for the publishers, and this consideration is answered with higher quality equipment (Whittaker, 1952). An examination of an early cover image using high-magnification indicates it was reproduced using the relief letterpress process (See Figure 4.3). As this image shows, the relief plate makes an impression on the paper, which leaves an artifact of ink that has been squeezed out beyond the edge of the relief letter (Gascoine, 2004, p. 49 d), and this observation was confirmed by viewing the

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Figure 4.3. Enlargement of text from letterpress cover.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 reverse side of the cover in strong light to reveal the traces of embossing left by the relief plate. The next six years of two-color reproduction used the halftone screen to render photographic images. The halftone itself is a photomechanical process, which creates an illusion in the way it is perceived by the eye. The multiple dots arranged in a grid pattern form a realistic image when viewed from an appropriate distance. Because the halftone process was not always able to reproduce an effective tonal range, some images were mechanically improved by a skilled engraver with the application of a tool called a â&#x20AC;&#x153;burinâ&#x20AC;? (Twyman, 1998, p. 31). Engravers often used burins on the plates with halftones, because rendered in one color, the halftone images looked flat and indistinct. The detail in Figure 4.4 shows tool marks where the burin was used to add texture to the evenly toned sky and provides an example of chemically applied photo etching, which is combined with physically applied engraving.

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Figure 4.4. Tooling marks left by engraverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burin.

It is important to recognize the efforts of the technician/artists who made rhetorical decisions to enhance the usefulness of this type of imagery. In many ways, their work resembles that of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technical communicators who routinely retouch imagery with image editing software to add contrast or emphasize a portion of the image. The retouching is often taken to the point where it generates a new reality to create an image with the greatest persuasive effect. Figure 4.4 reveals a deliberate attempt on the part of the pre-press technician from the last century to use a graphic tool to emphasize the representation of technology and break it away from its natural

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 background. In effect, this reworking of an image for persuasive effect is a subtle form of useful fiction. As the publishers became more competent with multi-color printing, they expanded this capability beyond their initial attempts that were limited to simply being colorful with blue imagery and red text. Two of the issues in my sample provide an example showing how the publishers creatively stretched the effectiveness of their equipment as seen in Figure 4.5. In 1910 they experimented with a simulated third color using two plates, and as seen in Figure 4.6, in 1911 they simulated a fourth color using three color plates. The publishers used these techniques to test the limits of the production constraints and expand their ability to achieve a rhetorical effect. Part of their experimental technique was the use of screened and stippled patterns to build gradations using a dot pattern called the Ben Day screen. During this period, the Ben Day process consisted of a machine to create “shading mediums made of thin sheets of gelatin with lines or stippled patterns engraved on them so that they could be rolled up with printing ink and applied to the block” (Twyman, 1970, p, 31) to serve as a resist during the etching process. According to Cook (2002), “[t]he Ben Day tint frame, invented in 1878 held celluloid sheets with raised patterns […] that could be inked and pressed onto printing plates” (p. 144). Named after the inventor, Benjamin Day (Benday, n.d.), press-on Ben Day screens were used in conjunction with photo-composition up until the early 1990s when the entire mechanism was supplanted by the revolution in the graphic arts brought on by the emergence of Postscript software and the associated output devices. which interpreted commands from this software. The June 1910 cover overlaps the cyan and orange colors to create an illusion, which is perceived as a third color by the viewer. Figure 4.5 examines how this cover employs brushing and other overlay technique to create the simulated color.

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Figure 4.5. June 1910 photomechanically created cover.

This striking image appears to employ a strategy similar to that described by Spinuzzi (2003), in that it forms a â&#x20AC;&#x153;hybrid genreâ&#x20AC;? (p. 160), which adapts the resources at hand to accommodate a workplace expediency. It is a piece of artwork created by a technician as opposed to an illustration created by an artist, which is then reproduced by a technician. The engraver, who may have used a photograph for reference, combined graphical effects with creative production techniques to embellish this illustration and create this image entirely through photo-mechanical means. Detail 1 reveals the elaborate brushwork used to create the bundled laurels, which replaced a

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 previous similarly designed fasces-like panel. Designed in a similar fashion, Detail 2 shows the third color, which is simulated by overlapping the blue and orange plates. In Detail 3, brushwork can be plainly seen on the paddlewheel. Brushwork such as this is most likely applied as a mask in the photo engraving process. These examples reveal the overlapping roles played by the artist and platemaker-technician by illustrating how these two skills operated in tandem to be effective. The platemaker-technician and artist roles combine skills and technology to advance an illusion and promote a concept that serves to popularize an industrial environment and bring a problemsolving nautical technology to popular attention. In the August 1911 issue (Figure 4.6), the production capabilities expanded to include a third yellow color, which is used in conjunction with a stipple pattern to overlay the cyan and red to form other colors. When additional colors are added, press repeatability became even more important and critical for effective image reproduction. Detail 1 shows the effect of a small amount of mis-registration. Up to this point, all of the covers contain the printed elements within white space margins; but, in 1911, after a third color was added to the color space, the printed elements exploded to extend beyond the page edges in a process that printers call "bleed" (Adams, Faux, and Rieber 1982, p.41). The additional color and bleed capability may have been facilitated by improved printing presses. The bleed requires a larger plate, more paper to accommodate the bleeding image, and more wastage to achieve the effect. The adoption by Popular Mechanics of this affordance of printing technology brings a significant change in compositional style and genre. The 1911 image, in a clear break from the past design regimen, resembles a comic book cover in both technique and style (see Figure 4.6 below). It also features compositional technology. In this case, a small portion of an airplane wing in the illustrated battle scene makes a tentative intrusion of content from the thematic domain into the masthead area. The addition of bleed and the integration of the masthead into the artwork introduces important rhetorical techniques to the publisher's visual repertoire. Because the field of interest promoted by the imagery is no longer 113

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 constrained by the page boundary, and the domains of content and masthead are integrated, a subtle message of expansion and inclusion resonates with the reader/viewer. Duperray and Vidaling (2003) describe this rhetorical strategy of inclusion, which uses this type of off-the-page integrative technique as part of the “three effects magazines aim to procure: […] familiarity, […] take-home dreams […] and warning” (p. 98). In the Popular Mechanics issues that follow, the masthead frame size (perhaps to minimize mis-registration errors) is increased, the four-color process is introduced, and the full-page bleed technique is fully embraced to the extent that it is continued in every subsequent cover.

Figure 4.6. August 1911 comic book style cover.

The image from the 1911 cover seen in Figure 4.6 also reveals significant handwork. Brush strokes are seen in Detail 1. Stipple patterns and overlapping color 114

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 fields are seen in Detail 2, and drawn outlines combined with halftone dot fills are seen in Detail 3. The crescent shaped halftone dot pattern toning the sailorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face is most certainly a Ben Day screen. Evidence of hand-tooling may also be seen in the halftone. Other than the two years of 1910 and 1911, this combination of handwork with the photomechanical manipulation process to form an illustration is not evident on any other covers in my sample. These production techniques shift these covers into the realm of the comic book genre. When four-color printing process appeared the next year, this style was not repeated, and the comic book motif was abandoned. In 1912, the publishers added a fourth plate to implement process color. At this point, the press would be required to maintain a registration tight enough to hold the rosette pattern necessary for attractive process color. The publishers continued with the relief/letterpress method implemented in 1902 to imprint ink on the covers up through 1962. For economic reasons, after 1963 they shifted to a planographic/lithographic process in their printed magazine (Canniff, personal communication, September 1, 2014). In their publishing methods, they appear to embrace innovation when it is effective. For example, they have never reverted back to less than four-color reproduction for their product in the print domain. Once a leap in technology is made, they do not go back to the inferior two- or three- color reproduction methods. As pioneers in technology in the pre-press domain, they broke new ground during the Postscript revolution (Canniff, personal communication, September 1, 2014), and evidence of this technological adaptation is the sudden appearance of blurry drop shadows, chrome-plated text constructions, and elaborate compositions. Although the production roles seen in the last century continue, their execution performed in the past by pressroom craftsmen has now in the 21st century been assumed by office-type workers including technical communicators. As seen in the previous three examples, the technicians and graphic artists in the early days of Popular Mechanics used the tools at hand to adjust imagery, infuse it with a persuasive affect, and emphasize the image to suit their intended communication. 115

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 They used a hybrid of different techniques to highlight a background or texture a halftone in a process not unlike todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technical communicator who, when faced with the need to enhance or emphasize an image, will make adjustments using the modern tools at hand. Thus, to perform tasks analogous to those performed by early 20th century craftsmen, in a similar manner the modern-day technical communicator uses computer tools combined with rhetorical skills to make a persuasive point promoting technology, explain an associated procedure, and work to popularize its adaptation. As a final note, my analysis of the printed covers shows that production affordances, such as those seen in the 1911 cover, can drive the genre. In the 1911 experiment Windsor capitalized on what otherwise was an inherent weakness in his production scheme. He leveraged a press limited to three colors to simulate a greater spectrum and used expressive techniques employing brushwork with Ben Day screens to generate a visually appealing cover in the adventure/comic book genre to explain a futuristic technology and popularize its adoption. One hundred years later, production affordances continue to drive the appearance of the magazine cover. In 2011, the iPad edition appears in my sample and becomes available for GeM analysis. Because this is a point of great transition between print and electronic production, it is more productive to compare both electronic and physical forms of composition. The publishers have marshalled their compositional elements into forms that effectively transition across these domains. As may be seen in Figure 4.7, there are both small and great differences. An iPad image is created with the transmissive colors of the RGB color space, while the printed magazine uses the reflective CMYK color space. The same typeface is used in both versions, but close comparision reveals the type in the iPad verison is vertically compressed. The masthead has been styled differently and recast in one line. One feature that became immediately apparent is that although both mastheads crowd the margins, the rocket artwork in the iPad edition does not overlap the masthead. Finally, both compositions have the postmodern feel of a collage as described by Barton and Barton (1990).

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Nov. 2011 iPad edition

Nov. 2011 print edition

Figure 4.7. Comparison of Popular Mechanics Nov. 2011 iPad and print editions.

Canvas Constraints . Comparison of Popular Mechanics Nov. 2011 iPad and print editions

Canvas constraints are those â&#x20AC;&#x153;constraints arising out of the physical nature of the object being produced: paper or screen size; fold geometry such as for a leafletâ&#x20AC;? (Bateman, 2008, p. 18). The canvas constraint is an important consideration in an analysis of the Popular Mechanics corpus because it defines this genre in the terms of how it functions in its context of use. Adopted by other mechanics-style publications, the vertical digest-sized format was used by the publishers for many years, and this format associated Popular Mechanics with other similar sized publications that served as guides or handbooks. The handbook size signaled to the user that the document contains technical information. In this way meaning is conveyed through format size,

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Figure 4.8. National Lampoon reinterpretation of Popular Mechanics cover published in Kaplan (1973).

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 and the Popular Mechanics publishers have experimented with a variety of canvas sizes that signaled a different position in the genre space over the life of the publication. The importance of this channel of meaning as part of the identity of the magazine becomes apparent when the magazine is parodied. For example the National Lampoon parody of Popular Mechanics, seen in Figure 4.8 above, demonstrates how this handbook genre is remediated in terms of an entertainment format. Recognizing the need to maintain the identity signaled by the iconic canvas size, the National Lampoon publishers created an illusion that simply remediated their humorous version of Popular Mechanics on their own canvas/cover by tilting the parody cover to make it appear to be above the darker background, which is identified with National Lampoon. Thus as an indicator of genre, this canvas size was considered to be a vital signal of form to those developing this parody.

Note: This chart represents my representative sample. My expert source indicates that gate fold covers were used on multiple other occasions (Canniff, personal communication September 1, 2014),

Figure 4.9. Canvas size from 1902 to 2011.

As seen in the graph shown in Figure 4.9, Popular Mechanics began publication with a standard format that provided a canvas-size area of 8.5″ x 11″ or 93.5 square inches, which changed to the digest size of 6.5″ x 9.125″ or 59.31 square inches one and a half years after the standard format was adopted. With the exception of a single outlier in 1961, which unfolded to a double spread, this size remained the 118

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 norm within my sample set until 1973 when the publication reverted back to the current standard format size of 8.5″ x 11″ or 93.5 square inches. The iPad edition made its first appearance with two issues late in 2010, but my random sampling regimen did not choose a month with an iPad issue for that year. Thus my only EPUB sample is from 2011, the first full year of electronic publication. The iPad digital edition appeared with a screen size of 5.8125″ x 7.75″ or 45.05 square inches. These many format changes reflect the willingness of the Popular Mechanics publishers to continue the experimentation begun by the founder, Henry Windsor. He was an innovator dedicated to publishing. Almost in the fashion of desktop publishers today, he acquired a small press and began printing advertising handouts as a 12 year old. After graduating college, he began working in the professional world and founded two trade journals, the Street Railway Review and the Brick in his spare time (Whittaker, 1952, p. 128). In beginning Popular Mechanics, he recognized the need to modify the publication in novel ways that enhanced its ability to identity with his target audience in a rapidly evolving technological environment. He chose the initial size and page count (16 pages) because the magazine served primarily as a source of technological news, which was collected and reprinted on a weekly basis. After this initial testing of the waters, Windsor moved to a 100-page handbook format published on a monthly cycle in order to accommodate more procedural, “howto” content and in-depth reportage and (Throm, 1952, p. IX). The change to a larger page count and longer publication cycle provided the time necessary for development of the great variety of original “How-To” content and the space to express the content in depth. Windsor recognized that his readers were interested in understanding technology, and he designed his publication to empower them to reconfigure it to serve their needs. The new size was more easily carried by the intended reader and according to Bryan Canniff, a former Popular Mechanics creative director, “fit in a jacket pocket or mailbox without folding” (personal communication, September 1, 2014). The digest-size format size became closely associated with Popular Mechanics for many years. As a magazine, it became a staple of male cultural initiation serving to 119

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 integrate men into a world, which was becoming increasingly complex, by guiding them through projects that explored technology. The founder of Make magazine, Dale Dougherty, based the design of his publication on the iconic covers of Popular Mechanics to target a new generation of do-it-yourselfers,. He “recognized the project focus of the older issues and [… considered it a …] kind of deep-rooted cultural tradition” (Dougherty, personal communication, 2014).

Folded Cover Strategy The handbook format, except for one outlier in September 1961, became a mainstay in the identity of Popular Mechanics for almost 70 years until 1973. The September 1961 exception deserves closer examination because this issue shows the publisher’s desire to exceed the canvas constraints dictated by the existing format. The switch to the fold-over cover coincides with a masthead change, which was contrived to unify the double spreading of the cover.

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Figure 4.10. September 1961 Popular Mechanics folded cover example.

The folded cover strategy provided space for a more expansive horizontal composition such as that seen above in Figure 4.10, but it was abandoned after this initial deployment. It may have become short-lived because of unanticipated problems, which introduced unfavorable production and distribution realities. Producing this image required a larger plate, and maintaining an impression on a larger plate required additional attention from the press operator. These covers also required an extra fold to register with the edges of the finished book, and this requirement certainly caused headaches for the bindery operators. Although the publishers demonstrated a willingness to experiment with an expansion of canvas area, when they judged it to be an inefficient deployment of the resources they had available at that time, they quickly changed course. After continuing with the digest-size for many years, in 1973 the magazine moved back to a larger format. The format change may be explained by a decision of the publishers to place less emphasis on â&#x20AC;&#x153;how-toâ&#x20AC;? content and instead to concentrate 121

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 on material that promoted products. When the editors made this format change in size, they were moving away from a stance of asking the readers to actively participate in hands-on engagement with technology to a position where the readers are treated as non-participating spectators of technology. The change in format reflects an era in the 1970’s when manufacturers produced dedicated components that were not easily hacked or repurposed. Planned obsolescence and dedicated function was purposely designed into most consumer products. The advertisements were integrated into the “how-to” content, and the product names were mentioned in articles (Seelhorst, 1992a). Later in the corpus, as the publishers experimented with digital publishing, they produced the 2010 July Summer Special Edition iPad sample EPUB, which has animated advertisements and illustrations generated in part from 3DCAD models. In this mode, the editors responded to the dominant consumer-based culture by crafting the publication as a promotional device that was also infused with 3D interactive building plans and detailed how-to articles. In this manner, they began to move back to a stance of actively engaging readers with conventions that invited user participation. When the publishers sacrificed their iconic canvas size and changed to a larger format, they were responding to various forms of pressure. The change to larger format had been enacted to allow more space for creative composition in response to advertisers who demanded a standardized page size that would accommodate their prevalent advertising layouts (Coleman, 1992, p. 105; Canniff, personal communication, April 4, 2014). According to Peterson (1964), “[a]dvertisers hesitated to use magazines of unusual size because of the expense of preparing special advertisements and plates” (p. 34). The remedy to relieve this pressure was to gradually move away from the procedural magazine motif of the digest-size to a promotional magazine motif in the standard size. I believe the publishers were also responding to the developing techniques of color reproduction, which had become more refined and supported the subtle gradations and tonal casts that are necessary for the reproduction of color photography. Additionally, the larger canvas size supported

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 this trend because it better matched the aspect ratio of the large-format cameras typically used in advertising. These developments ended the period of dominance for illustrated covers, which temporarily gave way to photography. Thus the smaller format size, which suggested an instructional handbook, was displaced by the larger size, which suggested a promotional fluff piece. The canvas constraint sheds light on the three aspects of my research question. In the first year and a half Popular Mechanics served to popularize the utility of technology. It disseminated information by serving the miscellany genre, and this format facilitated and focused on reporting news. Later, with the handbook size, it emphasized the presentation of “how to” procedures and its role evolved to serve the explanation function. The next canvas size seen in my sample indicates this format responded to cultural interest and market demand that served a more promotional function. Finally, the canvas size was dictated by the technological affordances provided by iPad technology.

Consumption Constraints Consumption constraints are those “constraints arising out of the time, place, and manner of acquiring and consuming the document, such as method of selection at purchase point” (Bateman, 2008, p. 18). These constraints are based in the context of a document’s function and reception. As stated earlier, the analysis of consumption structure relies on the canvas and production structures, which have established the context of the consumable artifact. To be available for consumption, Popular Mechanics is distributed through mailed subscriptions or retail sales. Although founding publisher Windsor initially launched the magazine for distribution through the mail, it is apparent he also targeted newsstand sales because compelling imagery was almost always featured on the cover. As the magazine became more established, the publication also began including cover lines stating circulation figures in the cover composition as a self-promotional strategy to stimulate purchase by newsstand customers. Including the figures as promotional strategy apparently worked because the circulation figures featured in this manner always increased. 123

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 An example of how the consumption constraint might influence the development of the DIY genre would be Windsor’s decision to change to the digestsize because it was a better fit for mail boxes (Canniff, personal communication, April 4, 2014). Another example might be the introduction and later abandonment of the double-page spread during the period of the digest-sized publication. The distribution effort of the double spread may have failed because it was hindered by poor material design. Also, the double spread may have also caused problems during distribution by mail or by presentation on the newsstand. For example, it may have necessitated a wrapper to avoid clogging the mailing equipment, and thus became more expensive and inefficient to distribute. The double spread cover may also have a greater tendency to become “shop-worn.” Additionally, the retailer might have rejected this design because other publishers may have complained if a folded Popular Mechanics cover became extended and obscured other magazines stocking the newsstand. All of these factors reduced the functional efficiency of the cover and may have caused this extension of the genre to fail. Cover design is an important aspect of the consumption constraint and certainly affects the decision of the consumer at the point of purchase. For example how is the composition perceived in its function as a sales device? Does the cover deploy “visual appeal” (Foss, 1993, p. 215) with a salient image that is quickly chosen by those browsing the magazine rack? A review of the corpus trajectory suggests the movement to more colorful reproduction techniques and elaborately illustrated compositions was prompted by a desire attract newsstand customers. The publishers embraced this movement and continued to evolve their cover presentation capabilities over the life of the corpus. The compelling covers seen in the corpus indicates the publishers tailored their design work to appeal to consumers who were influenced in their purchase decision by the cover composition. The context of how a magazine cover is received and used is important to its continued use. The publishers maintained the octavo/digest page size for 73 years, indicating that the publishers valued the page size as an signal of genre and perhaps 124

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 also because the consumer preferred this format in their use of the publication. During this period the publication emphasized construction plans and shop tips, and as a handy reference, the digest size may have served the consumer well during the construction of their DIY projects. As a navigation device, the cover and cover lines guide the reader to a content choice and facilitate their consumption of articles contained inside the magazine. Beginning in 1912, there was 40-year period where imagery predominated at the expense of the cover line text. Often the compelling cover art was not associated with any content whatsoever. The use of a compelling illustrated cover, which is disconnected from the interior content, suggests the publishers were primarily interested in attracting consumers to purchase the magazine. These poster covers of this period explained and promoted technology in popular media by presenting it in illustrated form as the main channel of communication with very little supporting text. On the other hand, earlier and later periods in the corpus made lavish use of cover lines to tout the interior content and guide the consumer to it. In the last issue reviewed, the iPad edition, the cover is remediated in a digital format, and this composition also has hyperlinks leading from illustrations and the cover lines to the content within. Thus, when coupled with digital technology, this cover composition serves as functional interface not only to guide the consumer in their consumption of the magazine but to facilitate the page turning and document navigation. A miniature version of the cover is also used as a tile on the iPad bookshelf and as an icon on a web page. In this sense the cover serves to self-promote the purchase of the magazine, to popularize the brand of the magazine, and to explain the featured technology. When designers develop a publication, in a form of audience analysis, they think about these aspects of the context of function and reception and try to answer these questions when the cover design is initiated. As a form of audience analysis, this process is not always successful, and the viewer may make an association with the magazine cover that is totally unanticipated by the creator. To sustain the publishing enterprise, the covers must serve the primary 125

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 purpose of attracting viewers to purchase the magazine, and this phase of the distribution effort may be hindered by poor aesthetic and design choices. Lewenstein (1989) notes that cover design choices and compositions, which lacked distinction and poor audience analysis brought on the failure of Science Illustrated in 1949 (p. 223). If a magazine is successful in attracting a reader, it may still fail as an interface. As Gigante (2012) notes, some compositional choices may cause a disconnection with the content. In some cases, navigational features may be completely lacking. Wolseley (1951) provides some insight into the importance that Popular Mechanics gave to the design process in his excerpt from a memorandum issued by the first Hearst editor, Roderick M. Grand. The general run of the contents of this magazine is based entirely upon the pictures. If the picture does not rise right up out of the page and hit the reader in the eye, then we regard it as a failure. In other words the picture must not only be of something the reader has never seen, but it must be of such a nature as to arouse his interest and curiosity at least sufficiently to induce him to read the article accompanying it. (p. 49) Thus, the covers are contrived to attract viewers and inspire them to embrace the novel technology portrayed. My research has shown that Popular Mechanics has consistently followed a pattern of innovation that leveraged the latest developments in available technology to generate the most compelling imagery possible with the assets at hand. Beginning in late 2010, a digital edition was introduced and distributed through the iTunes store. In the last issue reviewed for this analysis, the printed cover is remediated in a digital format, which also functions as an interface to the cover illustration and to the content within. The virtual newsstand convention provides a digital container for magazine purchases, and each issue is arranged on a shelf-like mechanism, which organizes digital documents with a bookshelf metaphor. Once purchased, a miniature version of the cover is used as a tile on the iPad bookshelf and

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 incidentally also as an icon on the web page associated with the issue. Taking advantage of these additional opportunities for expression, the cover serves to selfpromote the purchase of the magazine, to popularize the brand of the magazine, and to explain the featured technology while also serving as a device to functionally navigate through the corpus. By comparing the rhetorical strategies simultaneously pursued in the November 2011 print and digital covers, it is possible to see how consumption habits are changed for each form of mediation. The print version engages the user with a compelling image of the rocket, surrounded by other ancillary content contained in a hodgepodge of simulated three-dimensional cells. On the other hand, the electronic iPad version, engages the user with an animated display that resolves into a composition that also includes imagery and text which is hyperlinked to the content within. Thus, when coupled with digital technology, the magazine cover serves as functional interface to guide the consumer in their consumption of the magazine. Roderick Grand’s policy statement from the 1950’s is still operative as may be seen by the frames below (Figure 4.11), which have been sampled from the November 2011 Popular Mechanics iPad edition. These frames represent an animated “splash page” that appears when the reader clicks the magazine cover located on the virtual “Newsstand,” a standard feature on the iPad.

Figure 4.11. November 2011 Popular Mechanics, sequence from the animated “Splash Page”.

In a sense, because it precedes the viewing of the cover, this animated splash page is a paratext text to the cover paratext. The animated capsule image is derived from a 3DCAD assembly, which in this iteration serves as a boundary object. The

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 3DCAD geometry was primarily used by engineers to build the space capsule, but this animation, remediated from that same geometry, serves to promote the conceptual design to Popular Mechanics readers. Operating as a useful fiction, the episode, which last a few seconds, reveals a great amount of information as it travels through space along the z-axis toward the viewer. The retro rocket mechanism fires to turn the capsule and expose a sectioned view portraying the crew seated with the components that allow the craft to function. The trajectory of the consumption constraints, which began with a one-color newspaper available only to subscribers, ends with the EPUB edition that may be viewed on a variety of devices. Representational Levels of Multimodal Structure The constraints discussed above describe the physical and perceptual parameters that restrain the representational structure of a document such as a magazine cover. To complete the multimodal analysis, Bateman, Delin, and Allen (2004) recommend the examination of these representational structures located at five levels in a document. These are the “content structure, rhetorical structure, layout structure, navigational structure, and linguistic structure” (Delin, Bateman, and Allen, 2002, p. 56), these structures are important to this analysis because they describe the expressive facets of the document form that has developed in terms of the three constraints.

Layout Structure The layout structure is “the nature, appearance and position of communicative elements on the page, and their hierarchal inter-relationships” (Bateman, 2008, p. 19). As noted in an earlier chapter, Johnson and Prijatel (1999) defined five forms of magazine cover, “poster; one theme, one image; multi-theme, one image; multi-theme and multi-image; and all-typographic” (p. 241). Johnson and Prijatel’s (1999) typology provides a foundation for describing the universal characteristics of the basic compositional elements that may be seen in magazines covers. My sample of Popular Mechanics covers has at least one example of each of these types. Because the poster cover in the model developed by Johnson and Prijatel (1999) does not allow for logos 128

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 and cover lines, Grow (2002) has loosened the poster cover definition a bit to include these elements. Using the work of Johnson and Prijatel (1999) and Grow (2002), I have contrived a model with an even finer division (Table 4.1) that better accounts for the covers seen in the Popular Mechanics corpus.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Table 4.1. Cover Types seen in the Popular Mechanics corpus. All Typographic

One image, One theme (Non-Poster)

One image, No theme (Poster)

One image, One theme (Poster)

One Image, Multiple themes,

Multiple images, Multiple themes

Using the model in Table 4.1, I counted the cover types in the sample of covers from 1902 to 2011 and recorded the distribution of cover types found in Table 4.2. Table 4.2. Cover Types Distribution. Type of Cover

# of Covers

% of Corpus*

All Typographic

One Image, One Theme (Non-Poster) One Image, No Theme (Poster) One Image, One Theme (Poster) One Image, Multiple Themes Multiple Images, Multiple Themes

3 12 24 46 24

3% 11% 22% 42% 22%

*Percentage is rounded to nearest whole percent.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 My examination has shown that each type seen in the Popular Mechanics corpus shares at least one universal characteristic in common, the masthead, and as seen in the table above, almost every cover has some form of cover image. The masthead, because of its location in the upper section of the composition as seen in Figure 4.12, is an important aspect of a bifurcated ideological construction, and this bifurcation is described by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) below.

Figure 4.12. Real/Ideal Composition in September 1909 Popular Mechanics.

If in a visual composition, some of the elements are placed in the upper part, and other different elements in the lower part of the picture space or the page, then what has been placed on the top is presented as the Ideal, what has been placed at the bottom as the Real. For something to be ideal means that it is presented as the idealized or generalized essence of the information, hence also as its, ostensibly, most salient part. The Real is then opposed to this in that it presents more specific information (e.g. details), more down to earth information (e.g. practical consequences, directions for action). (pp. 193-194) The design seen in Figure 4.12 splits the overall composition into two distinct areas. The top section, which also includes the ancillary information of price and circulation statements, is dominated by the massive certificate-like masthead. The bottom section is filled with the content of a double frame, cover line, photograph, and caption. A distinct separation in the layout is continued with variations in the presentation of ancillary information and content elements throughout the 1902-1910 period of publication. The placement of the masthead in the Ideal area works to support the Popular Mechanics brand. The diagram seen in Figure 4.13 shows how the masthead changed over time to become more integrated into the artwork it overlays. The first few years of the trajectory shows the change from a newspaper-like masthead, which is infused with several discrete semantic elements in the one color

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 period to the certificate-like masthead with fewer discrete elements framed with a decorative border that suggests institutional credibility during the two-color period.

Figure 4.13. Masthead Trajectory Elements.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The masthead design choices made over the trajectory showed a movement from many compositional elements that suggest a newspaper genre to fewer compositional elements used for poster covers. The framing around the masthead became less ornate moving from a fasces-like certificate style to a more subdued outline and finally to a field of color. In the mid-sixties, the masthead frame was dispensed with completely. Later, with the introduction of computer capabilities, a blur, which graphically mediated between the two zones of ideal and real, made its appearance. The masthead text also showed a movement from the initial craft-like typeface set in all-caps that projected an institutional ethos to a more mechanical Egyptian-style typeface set in upper and lower case to project a more humanistic tone. After the purchase by Hearst in 1958, the motto, “WRITTEN SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT,” time-honored for 60 years, is dropped, and the masthead element entered a period of more rapid change and innovation. All of these changes, which minimized the differences between the Ideal and Real zones described by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) served to better integrate the user into the composition and provide the psychological sense to the viewer that the technology being portrayed is available and within reach to the lay reader. The feature of branding seen in the Popular Mechanics masthead demonstrates what Kostelnick and Hasset (2003) calls a “referential convention” (p. 173) where the masthead acts as a logotype, which refers to the publication. These conventions “are fictional representations whose codes compose a dense field of information that’s readily accessible to enculturated readers” (p. 174). In some cases, the Popular Mechanics masthead overlaps and becomes entangled with the cover artwork below. In these cases, the masthead has migrated into the domain of what Kostelnick and Hasset (2003) calls “nonreferential conventions [which] can allow for multiple interpretations, or they can suggest broad categories of meaning” (p. 175). These conventions “perform metadiscourse functions [that provide] a certain tone or level of formality, or they certify its authenticity” (p. 176). Kostelnick and Hasset’s definition places these elements, related by compositional entanglement, into the scope of what,

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 as established in Chapter 1, I am calling useful fictions. To examine the multimodal potential of this entanglement of content and how it acts as useful fiction that conveys technical communication by associating the ethos projected by the Popular Mechanics brand with a pictorial, fictional representation, my analysis touches on how these domains of representation are integrated (or not) through graphic representation. In the first issue, which uses one-color reproduction technology, the lead article was placed on the cover and associated with the prominent illustration. In the next year, this text block has morphed into a two-column construction entitled “IN THIS ISSUE,” which resembles a table-of-contents without page numbers. The complex and dense composition seen in the 1903 issue anticipates the later bullet-list style of cover line commonly seen in magazines today. These changes reveal the publisher’s search for stability in this developing genre. As the publisher moved to multiple color reproduction and became more comfortable with photo-mechanical composition, cover-lines were introduced as a form of captions. These captions overlapped to became integrated into the cover illustration. Once four-color composition was fully embraced, a long stretch of poster-covers ensued, and the publisher settled into a pattern of deploying large cover-lines that may or may not be associated with the cover image. Later in the trajectory, the covers included inset panels containing a list of major content. During the 1960’s, the usage of cover lines exploded to the point where it almost overwhelms the underlying imagery. A liberal use of multi-colored subheads in a wide variety of point sizes establishes a complex and often confusing hierarchy, and this trend, supercharged by computer technology, has continued with increasingly elaborate constructions up to the present day. Figure 4.14 shows the amount of space taken by cover-lines as part of the overall multimodal composition. As may be seen from this graph, the period with the least amount of cover line coverage was from the 1920’s to the 1950’s.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 A cursory glance at any grocery store magazine rack demonstrates the general tread of cover line dominance. The great use of these textual elements almost dominates the cover image and Popular Mechanics is no exception to this trend. B. Canniff (personal communication, April 4, 2014) considered covers lines to be unattractive and calls them “a necessary evil,” but in his long-term tenure as the magazine’s art-director, he was pressured by editors to include as many as possible. To verify his instinct about the usefulness of cover lines, he tested their effectiveness with an experiment that printed a set of editions that were identical except one version was distributed without cover lines. The results showed that cover line inclusion had no effect on sales (B. Canniff, personal communication, September 1, 2014). On the other hand, to attract and retain a user, cover lines, especially those that are part of the navigational

Figure 4.14. Percentage of Coverline Coverage.

structure may indeed be a necessary component for layered technical communication.

Content Structure The Content structure defines “the content-related structure of the information to be communicated –– including propositional content” (Bateman, 2008, p. 19). 135

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Because of its multimodal nature, the propositional content in a magazine cover may be seen in both text and imagery. According to Delin, Bateman, and Allen (2002), content is “the ‘raw’ data out of which documents are constructed” (p. 56). In addition to the masthead and cover image, the magazine cover composition at various times in the Popular Mechanics corpus includes a wide variety of other meaningful content elements (Table 4.3) serving as expressions of ethos, calls to action, enticements, and cyber connections among other roles. These elements are delineated below, including the name of the content elements and the number of times each element appears in the corpus sample. Table 4.3. Content elements seen in Popular Mechanics corpus sample sorted from most frequent to least frequent. Content Elements

Frequency

Pricing Information Cover Lines Mottos Barcoding Publication Coding and other Symbols Inset Photos Banner and Ribbon Internet Address Circulation Statements Description of Purpose of Publication Stamp or Seal Device Volume and Number of Issue Logotypes Place of Publication

106 72 57 28 20 19 16 15 9 8 8 4 4 4

Some of these items seen on the covers are self-referential content; others are advertisements for associated publications. In the early days when the magazine was establishing itself, the increasing circulation figures were regularly featured in a prominent position on the cover. The circulation figures touted the success of the growing publication, and as a rhetorical strategy served to install confidence in the mind of a potential consumer that the publication was credible. The Volume and Issue numbers were usually placed on the spine but on occasion appeared on the cover. As technology developed, barcodes, which added an interface to the domain of computers, were added. Barcodes as a cyber-code along with human readable URL (Uniform Resource Locator) were introduced at the “early adopter” phase of the 136

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 technology. For example, the first barcode was introduced to the public in 1974, and the UPC (Universal Product Code) shows up in my sample in 1978. The primary cover images seen in the Popular Mechanics corpus are either photographs, illustrations, or a third category, which I am calling a hybrid. With the introduction of graphic computer software late in the 20th century, it is often difficult to discern the true source of some images. In these cases, images, which could be heavily retouched photographs, are coded as hybrids. Other images are derived from 3DCAD models arranged in a mash-up fashion with other photographs and artwork. These images are also coded as hybrids. The graph seen in Figure 4.15 compares the use of photography, illustrations, and hybrids over the life of the publication. Following this timeline it may be seen that after a tenuous start, illustrations were used exclusively from 1909 until 1959. After 1960 the use of illustrations continued, but photographs were also used intermittently. The hybrid imagery appears in 1993, and its use thereafter becomes the rule in 2007.

Figure 4.15. Comparison of Photography, Illustrations, and Hybrid Imagery.

As seen in Figure 4.15, a total of 78 illustrations were used compared to 22 photographs and 9 hybrids. One outlier, the 1906 cover, contained only text.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Table 4.4. Cover Themes.

Technology of all types makes up a significant Themes

Total

Civilian Nautical Civilian Air Aeronautical Civilian Vehicle Terrestrial Military Aeronautical Exotica Military Nautical Railroad Military Terrestrial Home Design DIY Item Emergency Service Space Aeronautical Communication Energy Hunting Snow Terrestrial Leisure Item Patriotic Seasonal Items Sport Football National Security

27 18 16 13 11 11 9 9 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1

portion of popular magazine content. For example, Webb (2010, p. 198) in a systematic sample of the Life magazine corpus, found that technology comprised 11% of the themes. According to Janello and Jones (1991), this emphasis on technology became “staples” (p. 29) of postwar consumer culture. Popular Mechanics covers typically portray some form of technology in a compelling fashion. An analysis of the themes, which on occasion overlap on individual covers, seen in my sample of the Popular Mechanics corpus (Table 4.4, reflects the audience and purpose of the publication and shows it is focused almost completely on technical subjects, and this is true even with the portrayal of

leisure activities. Although eleven of the images encountered in my sample were coded as “Exotica” most of the imagery served to promote, explain, or popularize some form of technology through a wide variety of subjects. The accounting of themes shows that most of the imagery is focused on some form of activity associated with vehicles. If vehicles were associated with a specific brand, they were depicted in photographs as in Figure 4.16. If a vehicle depiction was used to explain or popularize some aspect of vehicular technology not

Figure 4.16. Photography Branded Vehicle.

particular to brand, they were

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Figure 4.17. Illustration of Non-Branded Vehicle.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 expressed in illustrations as in Figure 4.17. As will be seen later, many of these themes used in cover illustrations are often elaborated with cover lines.

Rhetorical Structure The rhetorical structure consists of the “relationships between content elements: i.e., how the content is ‘argued,’ divided into main material and support materials, and structured rhetorically” (Bateman, 2008, p. 19). Most of the cover images make some type of visual argument promoting technology. On the other hand, during the period when the poster cover was predominant, there are examples such as that seen in the January 1920 (Figure 4.18) that have only a nebulous connection to technology and seem to be more associated with the travel poster genre. Because the cover line content was more prevalent in the later years of publication and minimized during the poster-style cover era, it is useful to compare the concepts represented by the word cloud in Figure 4.18 with the accounting of the cover image themes seen over the entire corpus in Table 4.4. The word-cloud confirms the Madison Avenue adage that the word “new” is a “powerful” (Suggett, n.d.) attention-getter. It also confirms the magazine’s role as a guide to the reader’s interaction with the home, vehicles, and technology in general. In addition to visual arguments, the rhetorical structure could include symbols that add ethos to the document such as governmental symbols. The use of symbols or badges promoting the purchase of government bonds during the two world wars is reminiscent of the royal or Figure 4.18. Cover Line Word Use and Frequency.

theological symbols seen in the frontispieces of the

Renaissance. The seals below from 1918 and 1942 in Figure 4.20 associate Popular Mechanics magazine with the U.S. government.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 It is notable that these symbolic entities seen in Figure 4.19 did not appear during the Korean War, VietOctober 1918

Nam War, or any of the current ongoing

July 1942

Figure 4.19. Patriotic Seals from WWI and WWII Popular Mechanics magazines

conflicts, although the publishers continued with progressively greater views of military technology as seen in the cover seen in Figure 4.20 from 1982. Perhaps this is a deliberate decision reflecting a general cultural shift from overt association with patriotic symbols on the part of this publication. Comparing these representations begs the question, which is more effective, an overt representation of governmental affiliation or a more subdued form, which is embedded into a narrative contained in the underlying illustration? As Austin (2011, p. ix) notes in his description of useful fictions, people enjoy stories, and an appreciation of narrative is hard-wired into their psyche as a coping mechanism. When an abstract concept such as national defense is embedded in a narrative, it may become more effective as a sublimated message in the non-referential domain.

Linguistic Structure The linguistic structure describes the â&#x20AC;&#x153;details of Figure 4.20. Popular Mechanics June 1982.

any verbal elements that are used to realize the layout elements of the page/documentâ&#x20AC;? (Bateman, 2008, p. 19).

Although some verbal elements such as an illustratorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature, the name of a

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Table 4.5. Text Forms listed by order of frequency. Form of Text

watercraft, and store signage are embedded into cover illustrations, the discrete overlying layer

Total

Self-referential Statement

of text plays the major part that forms the

Internet Address

linguistic structure in the overall composition.

Author Attribution

How To…

Reference to Subject Matter

The Linguistic Structure does not include the text that serves a navigational purpose such as “See page 97” (Feb 1952). Table 4.5 lists the

form of information communicated by these cover lines in the order of frequency used. The forms of text are cover lines that refer back to the publication in some manner such as “50th ANNIVERSARY YEAR” (Feb. 1952), provide an Internet address, name the author of a featured article, begin with the words “How To,” or make a reference to the featured subject matter. These text elements serve as an interface to the content within and engage the user in various ways. Table 4.6 lists the type of

Table 4.6. Text Types listed by order of frequency.

text in the order of frequency used in the cover

Type of Text

Total

lines. Categorizations would be text that

Categorization

Command

identifies and associates a concept with a group

Statement

of related concepts such as “THOSE HOT

Question

NEW JET BOATS” (Feb. 1994). Commands

Invitation

are elements of text that order the user to perform some action such as “DON’T DRINK THE WATER” (May 1993). Statements are expressions of fact such as “Pricebuster Design Includes Everything” (Feb. 1994). Questions engage the reader by asking a question, such as “How good is the Audi Fox?” (Sept. 1974). Invitations engage the reader by inviting them to engage in some action such as “Try Your Hand at Modeling the USS MIDWAY” (Jan. 1954). The type of text most often used is the categorization. Seelhorst (1992b) has referred to a tendency of the cover lines to include superlatives that add drama to the cover while describing some attribute of the featured image. Figure 4.21 presents the superlatives found in my sample.

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Figure 4.21. Superlatives found in the Popular Mechanics sample.

Although my sample showed fewer occurrences than anticipated, Table 4.7 shows that the use of superlatives to elaborate an existing proposition has consistently occurred over this genre-space trajectory. Table 4.7. Use of superlatives in 1902-2011 Popular Mechanics corpus sample trajectory. Superlative Greatest Latest Newest Deadliest Mightiest Greatest Latest Best Newest Best

Object Scientists Outboard Bomber Challenge Warship Locomotive Discovery Laptop Bargain Weapons Vehicle

Date 1912 1930 1945 1980 1982 1988 1992 2005 2007 2010

When asked about the formula for choosing artwork for the Popular Mechanics cover, Canniff (personal communication, April 12, 2014) indicated that the standard formula for choosing an image â&#x20AC;&#x153;was man in control of machine.â&#x20AC;? To determine what type of activity was represented by the cover lines, I counted the usage

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 of gerunds or words ending in “ing.” Below, in Figure 4.22, is a word cloud of the words with the gerunds found in this Popular Mechanics sample…

Figure 4.22. Words with gerunds to indicate activity.

The most common gerunds are “Racing,” “fishing,” and “driving.” Each of these words are found five times in my corpus sample. “Boating,” “Woodworking,” “Flying,” and “Making,” are found four times. Windsor was enthralled by flight (Nourie & Nourie, 1990, p. 381), and as a private pilot, his personal interest may account for the frequency of words associated with air travel. “Testing”, “Building”, “Camping” and “Gardening” were each found three times. All of these actions words describe some form of work or leisure that is somehow associated with some type of technology. The “men in action” motif described by Canniff (personal communication, April 4, 2014) is demonstrated by this sample, which shows actions that popularize anxiety-filled activity such as flying or racing, procedurally explain how to build or make things, and promote specific activities such as camping, fishing or gardening.

Navigational Structure The navigational structure “includes all elements on a page that serve to direct or assist the reader’s consumption of the document” (Bateman, 2008, p. 19).

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Navigational Devices such as “See Page 39” were included on 52 of the 110 covers. These words refer to the featured cover image and direct the reader to the page specified for more information. The chart shown below (Figure 4.23) shows the distribution of these navigational devices over the timeline, and it shows the greatest use of this device coincides with the period when poster-type covers predominated and cover lines were few. Graphic symbols such as arrows or other overt designs indicating direction as part of the navigational structure were not found. On the other hand many of the covers have a navigational scheme implied by the arrangements of elements within the composition.

Figure 4.23. Distribution of Navigational Elements over the Timeline.

A foundational aspect of Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) explanation of visual grammar is the arrangement of Given/New and Real/Ideal (p. 208) sections of a composition. They also describe the perspective views seen in imagery as ranging from the objective to a subjective orientation (p. 136). Popular Mechanics deploys all these forms of visual grammar to guide a viewer through a composition, but it also introduces an additional dimension to Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) configuration because it often deploys an illusion of 3D space. If one imagines the given/new relationship as residing in the x axis of the Cartesian plane, and the Ideal/Real relationship as residing on the y axis of this same plane, one can also see in Figure 4.24 that the Popular Mechanics masthead is often deliberately interposed between the background and foreground elements on the z axis, which extends out to the viewer. Does this arrangement have meaning? The timeline below reveals how this technique was often used during the poster cover era. In the 1911 arrangement, we see the first occurrence of the masthead being inserted into the image composition with an overlapping technique, and as described earlier, this usage coincides with the

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 introduction of the full-page bleed.

Figure 4.24. Mastheads with Overlapping Artwork.

Cross (2010) notes in her study of 3D compositions that Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) Given/New, Real/Ideal scheme is “not quite sufficient for a comprehensive of the screen and page or the images they contain” (p. 340). To remedy this deficiency, Cross has adapted some of Wierzbika’s ‘semantic primes’ that linguistically define ‘spatial’ characteristics with terminology that serves to describe areas on the z-axis. Cross draws from sixty semantic primes described by Wierzbika, but adapted only those which have properties that describe space. Nine semantic primes can be used to describe all of the relative positions that exist within the concept of space. In this way, 3D positioning creates meaning and these properties have the potential to be adapted for a GeM analysis. For example, the primes ‘where’ and ‘place’ would refer to the canvas area. The primes “here, above, below, far, near, [and] side” (p. 341) refer to positions on the z-axis. “[I]nside” could refer to a section view of a machine. In later issues, the illusion of the masthead casting realistic drop shadows above the thematic content and other elements of the theme overlapping the masthead fully integrates the rhetorical elements of masthead and theme. When artwork overlaps the masthead, the two elements become integrated and these elements of the magazine composition become semiotically intertwined.

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Figure 4.25. Popular Mechanics February 2005 Gaussian blur integrates masthead with background.

In 2005 the effect of computer technology and the Internet appeared. The Gaussian blur drop-shadow seen in Figure 4.25 graphically overshadows the background image and creates a sort of mediation zone between the referential and non-referential planes. The transitional effect has the advantage of both dominating and integrating the underlying image in this blurry mediation zone. The subject cover lines under the masthead resemble web page buttons and anticipate the convention of the coming EPUB digital publications. In the iPad edition, the passive navigational aspect of the cover lines and underlying 3D graphics seen in the printed form have become interactive functional buttons that serve as an interface leading to the internal content. GeM Analysis Conclusion Popular Mechanics evolved a long-term strategy to embrace technological affordances and leveraged these capabilities to blend their branded ethos with the underlying imagery. My analysis of the Popular Mechanics corpus has revealed how the publishers used the constraints of this genre to their advantage as a way to expand their audience and cater to the needs of these viewers as they strove to popularize, explain, and promote technology. The trajectory, which emerged from this analysis, demonstrates a resilient mechanism for the delivery of technical information to a lay audience, and this resiliency relies on a willingness to adapt to evolving realities. Additionally, the Popular Mechanics publishers have developed a multimodal design strategy that provides for a seamless transition between the genre space of the printed and electronic domains. 146

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Bateman (2008) writes about the design process and notes it â&#x20AC;&#x153;is often described as a compromise between many competing and sometimes conflicting constraints and these need to be brought into any discussion of the functional motivation of the resulting artefactsâ&#x20AC;? (p. 17). My GeM analysis of constraints revealed several innovative accommodations employed by the publisher to marshal the resources at hand and adapt the publication to changing circumstance. The examination of the Canvas Constraints shows how the publisher used page format to signal their purpose and to first popularize with a news-type format. The format signal then changed to one of explanation with their move to the journal format, and finally to one of promotion with the change to the standard format demanded by advertisers. An examination of the Production Constraints reveals how techniques and affordances were pushed to their limits to expand the range of expressive power. Testing the production limits in this manner also introduced a wider range of genre, which over the course of one year, leaped from the ethos of an institutional journal to that of a comic book. The production trajectory also revealed the trend of expressive power to become democratized as page composition and image adjustment responsibilities were shifted from craftsmen/women in the printing trades to artists, writers, and other office workers. Prepress decisions driven by Production Constraints also reveal accommodation and compromise. For example, the letterpress reproduction process hindered the accurate reproduction of an effective color range for realistic color photography, and this hindrance forced the publisher to work with illustrations, which have a compressed color range and are more easily reproduced. Cover illustrators typically used a process called gouache, an opaque form of watercolor, which was popular because of its quick-drying capability (Canniff, personal communication, April 11, 2014). The effect of these production constraints tended to work in the favor of the artist who was primarily responsible for the invention of a scenario and bringing it to life as useful fiction. When the pre-press technology improved to the point where photographic reproduction became feasible, the layout artists accommodated the 147

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 limitations of letterpress reproduction by clipping the backgrounds from photographed objects and concentrating on images that contained large fields of easily reproduced colors such as automobiles. They layered these images over flat photo-mechanically applied fields of color into a photomontage that was more easily reproduced. Thus, as the publishers continued to innovate their production process to best accommodate rhetorical strategies, they began working with more compositional objects that were arranged in a collage-like manner. The consumption constraint analysis reveals the careful attention designers pay to attract readers and accommodate their needs. Popular Mechanics, an early adopter of technological advantage, constantly innovated their product to reflect cultural realities. The content inventory shows they embraced barcoding and the Internet at an early stage. According to a press release, in 2002 they were the â&#x20AC;&#x153;first consumer magazine to offer an electronically delivered edition to subscribers as a downloadable fileâ&#x20AC;? (PR Newswire, 2002). They quickly adapted to the iPad, which was introduced in April 2010 (iPad, 2010), and their release of a magazine-like app on this platform in July 2010 was followed up in November, 2011 by the full-blown EPUB magazine release shown in my analysis. The Content Structure examination showed a wide variety of content and indicates that illustrations were typically used to explain or popularize technical concepts while photographs were typically used to promote a specific manifestation of technology. The Rhetorical Structure available for GeM analysis is typically built from multimodal combinations of visual arguments often associated with cover lines that elaborate on the cover image. Symbols and seals are also used, but the trajectory shows that abstract concepts associated with these symbols have over time become sublimated into the cover image. The layout structure reveals that these cover lines have become a more important part of the multimodal composition as the publication moves into electronic distribution and became functional as hyperlinks in the iPad edition.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The appearance of the iPad convention, which blends elements from both digital and print is an adaptation that crosses these expressive boundaries and resonates with digital natives. The resulting collage-type cover creating a postmodern composition (Barton & Barton, 1993b) is representative of the movement away from the more focused poster cover that works better to explain procedural content and towards a promotional content that is more integrated with consumer culture. The trajectory of change described by the three constraints and five structures that occurs in this genre space indicates that the publishers shifted their rhetorical strategy from one of projecting themselves as a source of expert advice to one of projecting an image of inclusion and integration through the application of technology. The overall GeM analysis reveals an emphasis on creative innovation of technological affordances that facilitate the crossing of boundaries into various domains and an increasing integration of concepts across these domains. Graphic techniques such as bleed, overlap, and the complete removal of compositional frames serve to integrate the domains of Real and Ideal (Kress & van Leeuween, 1996). To illustrate how all these components work together, my analysis of the recasting the masthead in lower case indicates the publishers worked to establish a friendlier and more interactive tone. As innovations in computer composition allow blurred dropshadows and web-like conventions printed on the covers, the boundaries between printed and electronic domains were also blurred to establish a type of mediation zone that oscillated between each. The thematic content overlaps the masthead in a fashion that completes a layered 3-D illusion. In this way the concept of useful fiction as a boundary-crossing element is employed as a rhetorical technique. Relying on an illusion, this technique completely integrates the headline and the concept of the magazine as an institution into the practical procedure being portrayed by the artwork. These graphic effects suggest a strategy of the publisher to provide the user with a transitional effect that mediates between the referential and non-referential portions of the composition. These innovations serve this integrative mediation across domains, and they act to 149

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 include users by visually inviting them to cross these domains. Much of this integration is signaled by elements arranged on the z-axis in a semantic manner described by Cross. In my interpretation, the “Center” or “Mediator” (p. 208) area described by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) when viewed in terms of the z-axis becomes a zone of mediation when it is overlaid and arranged with other objects. GeM provides a method to decompose and fragment the complex compositions of Popular Mechanics magazines covers into their meaningful elements. It also allows the analyst to view and categorize the rhetorical relationship between textual elements and associated imagery as they change over a trajectory of evolving genre. To analyze the rhetorical strategies embedded in these complex multimodal compositions that are not readily available because of the inherent limitations of GeM, I employ O’Toole’s visual adaptation of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) functional grammar in Chapter 5 to overcome this limitation and further decompose the underlying imagery contained in the magazine covers.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015

CHAPTER V O’TOOLE’S SEMIOTIC FRAMEWORK: TRENDS OF CULTURE EXPRESSED THROUGH TECHNOLOGY My GeM analysis of the production, canvas, and consumption constraints in the previous chapter revealed the wide variety of circumstances that influence the production of a Popular Mechanics magazine cover in its role as a form of graphic expression contrived to advance technology. My GeM analysis has also shown that the Popular Mechanics illustrated magazine cover genre follows a trajectory of change that reveals an increasing reliance on the development and deployment of graphic techniques, which tended to integrate the institutional ethos of the publication into the multimodal content of the composition. The integration revealed in this analysis is accomplished primarily through useful fictions, techniques of illusion, and convention-mixing that serves to draw in and include the users into the scenario depicted on the cover. As I have noted earlier, GeM provides a serviceable method for describing the changing multimodal genre of magazine covers, but I discovered that GeM is not sufficient for explaining those Popular Mechanics magazines covers that rely on illustrations to convey most of the meaningful content. To fully analyze this content, I have applied O’Toole’s semiotic framework as an overlay to the GeM analysis to drill down and decompose individual pieces, provide definition of these elements, and prepare them for analysis to tease out and discuss their purpose in the overall assemblage. As discussed in Chapter 3, using a process MacNealy calls “purposeful sampling” (1999, p. 157), I selected 12 covers out of the chronologically ordered 110issue sample used for the GeM analysis. The purposeful sample is appropriate because it is driven by the characteristics, which emerged during the GeM analysis. In this manner, O’Toole’s semiotic framework becomes an analytic overlay, which I then use as a method to reveal the rhetorical strategies contained in this expressive space. It provides better definition to my interpretation of the genre deployed in these magazine cover illustrations and brings me closer to answering my research question. 151

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Pictures as Short Stories Popular Mechanics covers typically feature imagery depicting everyday objects that are easily recognizable but which are often combined in unusual arrangements and placed in fantastic settings. Because these images make a visual argument and have a narrative authority (Forman, 1999, p. 132), they personalize and contextualize a concept while typically showing how technology solves a certain technical problem. As will be seen in the following analysis, the images on the covers are a type of short story because they usually employ a narrative technique. They have a point-of-view, occur in a particular place and time, and are structured with a visual grammar. For example, some of the covers show technology in conflict with nature, others show how innovations, such as emerging color television technology, act to mediate the activities of men and women. Others show how technology channels and normalizes their behavior. Although humans are not always seen in these images, their aspirations, manifested through technology, are always visible. To build a sample for use with O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework, the entire corpus was reviewed with particular attention to the transactions portrayed between the principal elements in these compositions and the narratives formed by these transactions. Illustrated compositions that adequately represent the trajectory of the Popular Mechanics corpus with narrative characteristics that respond to the overlay analysis afforded by O’Toole’s framework then were chosen. In this way, the following three major categories that represent how technology has been portrayed in the corpus were developed for the analysis using O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework: 

Technology Overcoming Nature – These two covers depict winter scenes. One cover demonstrates a novel form of walrus hunting, and another argues in favor of mechanized snow-mushing.



Technology as a Mediator – These four covers demonstrate an automated jukebox-type device, introduce the concept of Color TV and the cultural ideals it transmits, show how CRT technology could allow 152

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 soldiers to see in the dark to detect attacking infiltrators, and portray a drone that spies on enemy activity. 

Technology Normalized – These three covers predict air-to-ship combat in a fantastic comic book fashion, project a reassuring image of benevolent military power, and present mechanized mass destruction in a sanitized manner.



Technology Celebrated and on Display – These three covers celebrate technological accomplishments in transportation such as the largest sailing ship, a new rocket ship, and a stylish streamlined locomotive.

The twelve covers were also selected because they are emblematic representatives of the technical evolution, cultural progression, shift in rhetorical strategies, and dominant representation styles shown over the trajectory. According to Williamson (1995), a design historian correlates social, economic, and technological factors to explain “art historical periods on the basis of common visual stylistic traits” and create a “historical visual narrative” (p. 41), which “can be tentatively defined as the visual revelation of underlying meaning over time, and exists as an identifiable and unique phenomenal historical construct” (p. 67). My combination of the GeM and O’Toole methodologies revealed the multi-layered narratives contained in the design history of Popular Mechanics cover images, which allows the examination of this confluence of technological concepts contained in the corpus and enables the categorization of those “stylistic traits” that form identifiable “historical periods.” Following Williamson, this chapter separates the analysis into three historical, stylistic periods I have identified as the Exploratory Period (1902-1916), the Poster Cover Period (1917-1958), and the Postmodern Period (1959-2011). I have analyzed these covers in the order of their publication, and this chronological order has yielded these three major phases that show distinct traits that contributed to the development of the corpus. I separate these periods because they provide examples of the changes that define these historical phases. These are 153

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 examples where expressive technology makes a shift in convention and thus shifts how the meta-narrative of technological development is told. In particular, the Exploratory Period is the period where technological affordances were changing rapidly, and the publisher experimented with a variety of genres that were afforded by more developed reproduction capability. The Poster Cover Period was an era where the genre became stable, and most of the semiotic information was conveyed through imagery. The Postmodern Period was a period of great innovation marked by the adoption of photo and computerized composition, and most of these covers contained an abundance of text and imagery. My adaption of O’Toole’s semiotic framework is designed to provide the necessary supplement of tools needed to extend the scope and address those images, which are so rich in meaning but unavailable to the standard GeM analysis. For the analysis in this chapter, I’ve purposefully chosen 12 covers from the GeM sample corpus that represent three major periods of the genre trajectory and that also contain imagery, which expresses a narrative influenced by cultural themes framed with a rich content associated with technical communication or technology.

Decomposition First, Then Analysis As has been described in Chapter 3, O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework is based on a reinterpretation of the metafunctions used in Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) functional grammar. In O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic model, the metafunctions are called “Representational, Modal, and Compositional” (p. 1). According to O’Toole (2011), Representational meaning is conveyed by the concept that is represented in the image, Modal meaning is conveyed by the way the image interacts with the viewer, and Compositional meaning is conveyed by those elements which bring coherence to a composition by drawing and guiding the viewer through it.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Table 5.1. O'Toole's Semiotic Framework Work

Episode

Figure

Member

Rank

Representational Compositional Modal

MetaFunction

O’Toole (2011) also adapted Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) concept of ranking (Table 5.1). Using terms more appropriate for the study of images, he developed the ranks of “Work, Episode, Figure, and Member” (p. 15). When describing an illustration using these ranks, a Work would consist of the overall composition, an Episode would describe the actions and interactions within the composition, the Figure would describe the actor(s) portrayed in the episode, and the Member would describe the articulating feature employed by the Figure. Table 5.1 demonstrates the ranking procedure with an example drawn from the Popular Mechanics corpus. Once isolated, each of O’Toole’s individual ranks may then be interrogated by asking questions based on their metafunctions such as the following: 

What is shown in this Rank?



How is this Rank arranged in the composition?



How does this Rank interact with the viewer?

Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) visual grammar approach provides a robust framework for the comprehensive analysis image objects ranked in this way. Once an image has been decomposed using GeM and O’Toole’s semiotic framework, the resulting elements may be examined using Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) technique 155

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 for the analysis of a composition. Their method analyzes the relationships formed in the arrangement of images in a compositional expression to reveal the underlying strategies of visual rhetoric. These strategies, which may be of a singular or multimodal nature, combine multiple forms of expressive codes into meaningful compositions. As discussed in Chapter 3, Kress and van Leeuwen (1996, p. 183) identify the three following principles of composition interact to create meaning: 1. Information value: The arrangement of images as it relates to the position of other images in the composition. For example, the walrus hunter image seen in Table 5.1, demonstrates a hunting procedure with the placement of the hunter in the given/left area of the composition and the prey is placed in new/right portion of the composition. An additional example of information value is the Popular Mechanics cover seen in Figure 4.12, which conveys information value through elements placed in the upper/ideal zone of the cover in contrast with those elements placed in the lower/real zone. 2. Salience: The relative size of the picture elements, their modality, and their arrangement develops the compositional hierarchy. For example, those elements in the composition, which overlap other images would be considered to have more salience that the underlying imagery. Additionally, images which are larger than other images in the composition or rendered with greater detail and veracity may be perceived as being closer and thus more important to the viewer. 3. Framing: The organization of elements as they are formed into the picture frame and divided by explicit or implicit framing devices. An example of the meaning conveyed by framing over the life of corpus may be seen in the Popular Mechanics masthead element as it evolved from a graphically ornate certificate style to a complete lack of masthead framing as seen in Figure 4.13. The Popular Mechanics cover is made up of both verbal and visual components, and these heterogeneous participants combine information value, salience, and framing in a page layout to form what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) call “essential interchangeability” (p. 55) of concepts between these two domains. Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) also note that visual arrangements are constructed to either represent a narration of action or convey a representation of “class, structure, or meaning” (p. 56). To reveal the narration, my analysis isolates the fundamental elements of the magazine cover structure and analyzes the components to discern the 156

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 rhetorical decisions used by the designers to that build this meaning. I accomplished this by decomposing the page using the techniques of GeM. Then I isolated, ranked, and classified the meaningful components using O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework. Finally after locating the layers of imagery and viewing these image layers in isolation, I applied Kress and van Leuween’s (1996) visual grammar to describe the metafunctions revealed in each rank.

Notes on my Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator fragmentation and revisualizing technique. The Popular Mechanics cover presents a very complicated image that is difficult to analyze when viewed in full context. To facilitate the analysis of these images, I broke apart the composition to discover and isolate the rhetorical strategies used by the creators. Other scholars use a variety of techniques to diagram the flow of meaning in an image. For example, to prepare their images for analysis, Kress and van Leeuwen (1996, p. 47) and Rose (2001, p. 42) use a schematic technique generated through tracing or redrawing to isolate and identify the rhetorical strategies. As an alternative to their tracing technique, I’ve adapted the filtering techniques used by O’Halloran (2008) to decontextualize the cover. In describing her technique she writes, “[s]hapes and objects can be captured and traced using digital technology. Digital technology offers means for capturing, changing and ultimately analysing colour, spatial position, shape and lighting in images and film texts” (O’Halloran, 2008, pg. 461). Adobe Photoshop is very useful in accomplishing all of these tasks. Using techniques available in Photoshop to focus on the salient elements revealed in O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework and to focus on the illustrated composition, I’ve removed many of the cover line elements that are not critical to this analysis. I used the magic wand tool to discriminate and remove images from their background and transfer them to separate layers. I also used the manual selection tools to separate compositional elements and remove them to discrete layers. I next used the rubber stamp cloning tool to fill-in and repair the void left on the background image

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 by the removal of the foreground image. I also used Adobe Illustrator software to create or repair vector artwork and reset type as needed. The digital process described above allows the establishment of the discrete components that make up the hierarchy or as Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Toole (2011) would call it, the Ranks, of the composition that form the narrative structure. These discrete components, which form the compositional hierarchy, are then labeled with a reference number that identifies the magazine cover composition. The cover composition identification number is separated by a dot from the next number, which identifies the image composition. Another dot identifies a compositional element, and if necessary, additional dots identify further sub-elements. My analysis begins with a sample from the first year in the Exploratory Period. The March 1902 cover features a fairly mundane image with an objective viewpoint that has very little drama and very little to distinguish itself from other images of this type. The last issue in the Postmodern Period from 2011 that ends my sample is a postmodern jumble such as those described by Barton and Barton (1990) with a wide variety of illustration styles and multiple narratives. It has a primary narrative contrived from the work of individual artists, which has been assembled into a meaningful composition by a layout artist using digital technology. Both of these samples (which begin and end the trajectory), although widely separated in time and conceptual framework, use artwork to celebrate and display novel technology. The Exploratory Period During the Exploratory Period (1902-1916), the publisher, Henry Windsor, in the process of inventing the illustrated DIY genre, experimented with the variety of expression that became available with rapidly developing reproduction technology. As was seen in the GeM analysis and as will be seen in the following analysis of 3 covers from the Exploratory Period, expanded color and prepress capability allowed Windsor wide latitude in his choice of genre.

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March 1902: A Celebration Technology I begin my analysis with an example from the first year issue because it provides an excellent baseline example of the corpus and demonstrates the publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial conception and process of experimentation with the illustrated newspaper genre. This composition serves to celebrate the appearance of the Largest Sailing Vessel in the World. The sailing ship image featured on the March 15, 1902 seen in Figure 5.1 fits well into the newspaper-style convention, which I identified as the founding genre for Popular Mechanics in my previous GeM analysis. A classic view, this image could very easily have hung on a proud seafarerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wall or in a nautical museum. It Figure 5.1. March 15, 1902 Popular Mechanics Newspaper Style.

shows the sails of this vessel unfurled to their fullest extent as it navigates a calm sea. A

view of this type is appropriate for a display of novel technology, and, in this manner, the composition primarily serves the Representational metafunction. In both representation and composition, this image resembles the Greek krater mentioned in Chapter 2, which portrays in technical detail of the vessel Paris used to abduct Helen. In both images, each artist works to satisfy the viewer's desire for more detailed technical information describing the motive power. Although at first this sailing ship image appears to be fairly objective and uninteresting, once the image is decomposed, more detail is discovered, and more of a narrative can be teased out of the composition as may be seen in Figure 5.2.

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Figure 5.2. March 1902 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

At the ranking of Work, this image represents Episodes containing a fullyrigged sailing ship (L1.4) as the primary Figure and other traffic (L1.4.3) in the process of travel as the secondary Figure. It is not an unusual image, but it is distinguished by the seven sails (L1.4.5) that may be seen as Members, which complement the additional speed elaboration Member implied by the graphic application of the “bone in the teeth” (L1.4.6). The advancement in technology is represented by the expanded sail-set and its practical effect is represented by the graphic elaboration of waves breaking over the dark hull. As a Member of the Modal metafunction this elaboration engages the user with an illusion of rapid movement. The Representational metafunction is reinforced by the presence of a caption (L1.5), which identifies some of the ship’s specifications in the text, “LENGTH 358 FEET; CAPACITY 8,000 TONS.” The representation of the ship’s left-to-right movement across the canvas is in contrast to the opposing movement of the tiny ships (L1.4.3), in the background. The viewer is positioned at a perpendicular angle to the direction of travel, which serves the Modal metafunction at the rank of Work. Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) would call this viewer orientation an objective view (p. 149). 160

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The ship is arranged so the viewer may examine the maximum amount of detail without the distortion caused by foreshortening. Additionally, it is illustrated with artwork having what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) call high “modality” (p. 170) because it almost appears photographic. On the other hand, a close examination of the image indicates that it is not a photo but artwork of some type, and the artist’s signature (L1.4.2) in the lower right corner of the frame confirms this observation. The signature, along with masthead (L1.1), represents authorship. In my interpretation, the artist is the primary witness to the scene being represented, and the magazine is the institutional authority that serves to add an appropriate and credible ethos to the veracity of this visual expression. The sailing ship cover composition is the only sample in the O’Toole (2011) semiotic framework analysis that contains signed artwork. Compositionally, the ship is centered on a baseline positioned proportionally in the first third up from the bottom of the composition, which is a standard composition for a seascape depicting ship traffic. The sea takes the bottom third of the frame while the sky and Episodes of ship movement fill the top two thirds. The primary Episode is centered in the scene. The secondary Episode (L1.4.3) is an image of sails situated in the right side of the composition, and in relation to the primary L1.4 Episode; the secondary Episode is located deep within the z-axis. The sails in the primary episode are created with stark, carefully drawn triangles and parallelograms. The secondary sails are created from brushy, casual, and suggestive strokes. The March 15, 1902 cover demonstrates how Henry Windsor began his experimentation with his process of developing successful cover layouts. Here in this first year, he brings all the content associated with this story to bear on the front page. Multimodally, this composition, which “AMAZES SEAMEN” is also designed to amaze lay readers who pass the newsstand and encourage them to celebrate and accept this novel advancement in technology. The cover provides the headline, an elaborative subhead, an image of the subject matter, a caption identifying the content, and two columns of text describing the image. Other than the masthead blurb, “An Illustrated Weekly Review of the Mechanical Press of the World,” there is nothing to preview the 161

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 content of the interior pages. Windsor, in his first year of publication, is providing the entire story on the first page. He has not yet learned to use the image as a hook to draw the user into an exploration of the content within the publication.

August 1911: Technology as an Adventure This dynamic cover, which depicts a sea battle carried out by aircraft shows how Windsor took advantage of the greater color range that became available to him as his publication became, with higher circulation, more successful. The GeM analysis in Chapter 4 showed that aeronautics was a popular subject matter for the magazine, and this image uses an adventure style comic book genre to speculate on the potential use of this nascent technology. In this representation of an air-sea battle seen in Figure 5.3, the

Figure 5.3. August 1911 Popular Mechanics three-color comic book style.

image is dominated by features that serve

the Modal meta-function by engaging the user with a compelling adventure fantasy. Because this is a fantasy, the publisher has chosen a comic book genre toned with a stipple pattern reproduction method.

At this point in time, eight years after the first powered flight had taken place, this type of sea battle was pure speculation, but as this cover shows, interest in the potential of naval aviation had begun. Three months prior to the publication of this cover in May, the Navy had purchased its first aircraft (Russell, 1986). Their aircraft purchase was undoubtedly inspired by the exploits of Eugene B. Ely who became the

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 first person to launch an airplane from a naval vessel at sea on November 14, 1910, and three months later became the first person to land and later take off from a ship at sea. To test naval air warfare potential, Ely embodied the daredevil, exploratory spirit of this age; unfortunately, he was killed in an air crash nine months after these accomplishments (Moore, 1981). Although a successful sinking of a battleship with aircraft didn’t occur until ten years later in 1921 (Arnold, 1949), this type of warfare appeared to be of great interest to the general population, and aviation pioneers became the rock stars of their day. It is noteworthy that the publisher and/or artist

Figure 5.4. August 1911 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 chose the comic book genre to depict this activity while it was still considered a futuristic fantasy. It is a successful implementation of this genre. This comic book setting in Figure 5.4 has a sailor (L2.4.2) stationed on a battleship, which is sailing a moderately choppy sea (L2.4.1). In this moment of time, the ship, represented by scaffolding and armor plate, is being attacked by aircraft. The sailor has dispatched one of the planes into a fiery explosion (L2.4.7) with his tripodmounted weapon. Descending on a curving trajectory out of the sky are two bi-planes (L2.4.5-6). The image of a sailor shooting down airplanes is a conscription device that serves to fire the imagination and enlist possible participants, such as Eugene Ely, into the dawning aeronautical new age. It would also encourage the continued popular support of national expenditures for naval activities. In the August 1911 cover illustration, the publishers commissioned an illustrator to create a scenario that seemed plausible and attractive, and in this way, the publisher is contributing to a metanarrative that promoted aerial warfare. Using unique production techniques, this scenario deployed a convention that served to attract an appropriate audience.

September 1916: A Jukebox Image â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hero or Monster? I chose this cover in Figure 5.5 because it shows how the publisher experimented with an advertising genre to illustrate this scene and because it is very similar in form to the poster covers which follow it. It does not qualify as a poster cover because it includes a blueprint-like inset image. The image of a giant phonograph (See L3.4.2 in Figure 5.6) entertaining a crowd from an

Figure 5.5. September 1916 Popular Mechanics useful fiction reveals truth.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 elaborate bandstand is surreal in composition. In fact, in terms of the Compositional metafunctions, it may be compared to the strategies of “scale” and “[i]solation” used by Surrealist René Magritte to create compelling imagery with “maximum impact” (Gablik, 1970, p. 124) that works to set up a novel scheme and “visual logic” (O’Toole, 2008, p. 82). Isolating the phonograph from its normal setting of a living room and placing it into the setting of a public bandstand (L3.4.1) is jarring at first, but this setting provides ethos with the suggestion this is a normal activity practiced on a regular basis and sanctioned by an institutional authority. In its appeal to ethos, the Figure of the giant phonograph (L3.4.2) serves the Modal metafunction. It is also a composition that appeals to a popular fascination with automatic mechanical devices. The internal workings of this device as revealed by the sectioned blueprint (L3.4.5) floating in a panel next to the phonograph suggest a mechanism that is not unlike Maelzel’s Turk, which was operated by a hidden person, but appeared to be a “mechanical device that seemed almost magical in it operations” (Rice, 2004, p. 13).

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Figure 5.6. September 1916 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

Compositionally, at the rank of Work, the artwork is evenly toned with relatively flat shadowing. Episodically, the exception to this toning is the dark jukebox (L3.4.2), which stands in contrast to the rest of the Work. Also at the Compositional rank, an arch device forms an enclosing halo that reinforces the ethos and credibility established by the stage setting. The halo echoes the “portals or triumphal arches” (Corbett and Lightbown, 1979, p. 6) used for Renaissance frontispiece illustrations as discussed in Chapter 2. Stylistically, the illustration resembles a form of advertising show card. Modally, the line work on the jukebox and blueprint section is detailed and carefully 166

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 drawn with a technical ethos, which serves to emphasize the quality of the product. The environmental elements (L3.4.1) including the conductor (L3.4.4) and the men and women in the audience episodes (L3.4.3) are rendered in a light brushy style. Placed in the Central position, the phonograph mediates between the tuxedoed conductor in the Given position on the left, and the blueprint-like section drawing (L3.4.5) located in the New position on the right. The blueprint, as useful fiction, reveals the story-within-the-story of the phonograph, while providing a guide to its theory of operation. These elements elaborate the mechanical concert episode, and the scaled up phonograph is converted into a faux jukebox in the mind of the reader. The audience in the foreground serves as “Intermediaries” because Modally they are “figures placed in the foreground in such as way as to draw the viewer into the world of the painting” (O’Toole, 2011, p. 222). The effectiveness of this jukebox technology is represented by the orientation of this audience. They face the spectacle, and in this role, provide the image with further credibility and ethos by helping to establish the premise that a concert performed by a giant phonograph is a normal practice accepted by a large number of people. The cover line/caption performs its multimodal function by identifying the mechanism as a “BIG PHONOGRAPH FOR PARK CONCERTS” (L3.4.6). As a concept, the promotion of a radical change in scale develops the meme of technology as hero/monster, and this image can be read either way. The phonograph as hero dazzles the crowd with symphonic sound. Conversely, the phonograph as monster displaces the symphony produced by a flesh and blood orchestra with a mechanism built of gears and springs. This mechanism, viewed in terms of the given/new narrative is revealed to be a fraud. The schematic drawing instead reveals the hidden technology and the man hidden in the machine. Like Toto in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz who knocked over the Wizard’s screen and revealed in the stead of an awesome giant head and a powerful ball of fire, “a little, old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seem to be as much surprised as they were” (Baum, 1900, p. 183), Popular Mechanics 167

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 seeks to encourage the viewer to look beyond the illusion to discover the truth, which is augmented through the purchase of the magazine and flipping through it. The Classic Poster Cover Period After the four-color printing process became firmly established as part of its production repertoire, Popular Mechanics embraced the poster cover, a convention that was very popular during the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Golden Ageâ&#x20AC;? (Levin, p. 114, 1980) of illustrated magazine covers. During the Poster Cover Period (1917-1958), covers were used exclusively as narrative vignettes to make visual arguments, normalize novel concepts, lift spirits, and propagate cultural ideals during the 40+ years of their appearance until they gradually tapered off as the techniques of reproducing color photography improved. I examine 6 covers from the Poster Cover period.

February 1918: Technology vs. Nature This image, which appears at the beginning of this period, displays robust characteristics of the genre, and is a strong representative of the poster period. It is a dynamic composition with distinct, explicit vectors that direct the viewer's eye to the demonstration of a novel use of technology. The February 1918 cover in Figure 5.7 was chosen for evaluation because the rhetorical strategy

Figure 5.7. February 1918 Popular Mechanics demonstration of procedure.

emphasized by vectors superimposed over a diagonal composition is very similar to the Paleolithic cave painting image (Figure 2.1) discussed in Chapter 2.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Referring to the hierarchical diagram in Figure 5.8, at the rank of Work, Representationally, we see an arctic seascape containing a sailing ship (L4.5.1), walruses (L4.5.2-4), a hunter (L4.5.5), and the hunting apparatus (L4.5.6). Modally, we voyeuristically view this activity over the hunterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoulder. The hunter does not engage the viewer; instead his attention is directed to the prey. Compositionally, the arrangement of the hunting episode forms a diagonal. An opposing diagonal of ocean, which points back to a sailing ship, also separates the hunter from the prey. Other

Figure 5.8. February 1918 layout hierarchy diagram derived from Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tooleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2011) semiotic framework.

elements in this composition is a notice to donate the magazine to support troops fighting WWI and the always present magazine motto. In further analysis of the Episode, we see the hunter is focused on the most prominent animal. Modally, because the hunter hides behind the blinding device (a

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 feature of this technology), the animal is posed in a non-defensive position. The hunter is larger is size, but the targeted walrus appears with more prominence. Compositionally, the figures are drawn together by the vector described by the pointed weapon. Weapons, pointed at targets, are perhaps the most powerful indicators of vectors, and the vector described by the pointed rifle sets up a tension between the actor/hunter and the goal/walrus (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996). The effect of the blinding technology is seen in the relaxed pose of the animals, which appear to be oblivious to the hunter. As a prominent Figure in the Episode, the hunter lays prone, grounded in reality on the snow in contrast to the walrus, which takes an upright, almost regal stance. The hunter is dressed with warm clothing, carries a bag and a weapon, and the blinding apparatus seems to be almost an extension of his clothing. The walrus is armed with large tusks, but they are displayed in passive manner. Modally, the walrus has a gaze, which looks out beyond the hunter to engage the viewer. Compositionally, the hunter is grounded in the lower portion of the composition in the area Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) call the “Real” section, and in contrast, the walrus is positioned in the upper “Ideal” area of the episode composition Using O’Toole’s (2011) terminology, which is covered in Chapter 3, at the Rank of Member, the arm of the hunter as tool wielder holds the rifle. Modally, the weapon has a functional appearance. Compositionally, all of the energy is directed through the arm/weapon member via a diagonal vector towards the prey. If the arm/weapon position is modified, the dynamic of the composition changes completely. In this way, the artist is setting up the narrative as a tragedy that will end the life of the noble beast.

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May 1919: The Old vs. The New The artwork in Figure 5.9 was chosen from the May 1919 cover because it makes a visual argument comparing new technology with traditional methods. It also provides an excellent example of a useful fiction in the depiction of an unwieldy mechanism that was probably never developed beyond its prototype stage. The May 1919 cover image allows the viewer to visualize this technology in the context of use while simultaneously comparing it to the then predominate form of transportation. As a visual argument, this image reflects the technological discourse of the day and addresses the contentions of those who

Figure 5.9. May 1919 Popular Mechanics visual argument.

support traditional methods and those who promote a more advanced mechanical solution. Mediating this type of tension and normalizing novel technology is handled well by the magazine through a variety of devices embedded in this image. As will be seen in Figure 5.10 in this analysis, the compositional elements set up the visual argument, which claims the motorized sled would be much more effective than the traditional dog sled at handling the frozen environment.

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Figure 5.10. February 1918 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

Compositionally, there is a pronounced z-axis. The Alaskan sky (L5.7.1), mountains (L5.7.2), and trees (L5.7.3) in the painted scene have a framing effect that provides context. Situated in the backmost layer, with the portrayal of a rugged and frigid environment these elements of the image also set the tone of the composition. The cabins (L5.7.5), located in the mid-ground (L5.7.4) area are enclosed within this harsh frame. In contrast, wisps of smoke (L5.7.7) have been applied to the cabin chimney, and they suggest a warm and secure refuge at this layer. The chimney, windows, and doors (L5.7.6) reinforce the impression of safe haven and convey a sense of access and welcome. The idea of refuge in a harsh environment is also reinforced by the sign, which identifies the most prominent cabin as the “Post Office” (L5.7.8), a sign of security under the auspices of governmental authority. The dogsled (L5.7.9) is loaded with unidentified baggage, and the sled dogs (L5.7.10) assume various stances, face in opposing directions, and appear to be at rest. The dog team pose evokes an impression of discontinuity, idleness, and inactivity. The three mid-

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 range figures (L5.7.11) assume various poses, and in service to the Modal metafunction, their activity directs the viewer to the action occurring in the foreground. The foreground is bounded by a well-used track (L5.7.12) that frames this field of activity and grounds the snow machine (L5.7.13), the most salient feature of the composition. The snow machine is enhanced with speed streaks to suggest dynamic activity, and the machine is loaded with U.S. Mail bags (L5.7.14) that adds gravitas and purpose to the dynamic activity. These large mail bags are viewed in contrast to the much smaller load carried by the dog sled. To complete this narrative, the snowmachine driver steers the machine with confidence and competence while saluting his competitors as he completes his mail-carrying duties. The artist accomplishes a visual argument by showing the mechanical sled in contrast to the dog sled. The Given (Past) dog-powered conveyance is located deep on the z-axis, and the New mechanical contraption is positioned as the New in the foreground. The viewer is caused to reflect on a number of contrasting portrayals. The more salient mechanical sled is shown in movement with a graphic application of speed streaks to suggest a dynamic efficiency, and compared to the smaller sled attached to a group of dogs, which are portrayed as idle and discontinuous. The cargo loaded on the dog sled is diminutive when compared to the much larger load on the mechanical sled. Spatially, the dog sled is placed on a background layer that implies that activity is taking place in the past in contrast to the mechanical sled, which is shown in the more prominent topmost layer implying to the viewer the mechanized activity is occurring in the present.

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December 1935: A Technological Vision for the Future I chose this Art Deco-like image for analysis because it demonstrates an emerging design trend where form will follow function. In this case, the technology becomes more functional because of the form, but the form also serves as a statement of style and visual appeal that also expresses a subtle, almost subliminal message. The impressive artwork seen in Figure 5.11 primarily serves the Compositional metafunction. It is distinguished by a deep zaxis suggested by the curving perspective of the long train, which features a rushing locomotive. The bright blue sky, with an abundance of snowy white clouds, frames an urban scene reminiscent of a Maxwell Parrish illustration. The position of the shadows and Figure 5.11. December 1935 Popular Mechanics metaphor for a bright future.

pinkish lighting indicate that this activity is occurring at daybreak. The painting implies

the presence of an emerging sun filled with new life and hope for the future. The background is imbued with the reach-for-the-sky spirit of 1930s New York City architecture as it stands before an optimistic bright blue sky in a unique American manner. The composition combines the geometry of an eastern city with the coloring of a western Sedona sunset. The Layout Hierarchy diagram (Figure 5.12) shows the masthead (L6.2) is integrated into the illustrated artwork between sky (L6.6.1) and skyscrapers (L6.6.2) and sits below the single cover line (L6.1). The close proximity to the masthead of an all-caps lettered cover line suggests the magazine editors are especially concerned with this viewpoint. The masthead overlays the sky background sandwiched behind the skyscraper buildings, and this integration into the z-axis associates the masthead with the sky and solidifies the enhanced status established by its location in the Ideal position of the composition. 174

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Figure 5.12. December 1935 Popular Mechanics layout hierarchy diagram derived with O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

At the rank of Work the locomotive and train car (L6.6.3) composition reflects the Gestalt laws of “Good Continuation” (Schriver, 1997, p. 313). Although there is a blur of color behind the locomotive, the mind perceives a train of railcars. The curved perspective of the train and bridge form a curved and splayed open shape. The compositional frame of the image is dictated by the magazine’s vertical format, and if the magazine masthead is ignored, the vertical composition with the blue sky (L6.6.1) and skyscraper peaks (L6.6.2) may be seen in the Ideal position while the roaring locomotive appears in the Real position. At the rank of Episode, the locomotive is the most salient object because of its prominent size, position, and contrasting color, and the skyscrapers are the next prominent. These Figures of locomotive and cityscape are primary components of the narrative, which is told with shape and vectors. In the static cityscape, the viaduct arches (L6.6.9) are in contrast to the pointed features of the skyscrapers. The dynamic locomotive mediates between city and bridge, and the 175

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 bridge mediates between past and present. As a Member of the composition, the train tracks (L6.6.8) provide a cohesiveness that establishes the basis for the aspirational narrative, which signals a bright future signaled by the building peaks, which point to a blue sky in the Ideal section of the composition. The illustration is executed with sharply defined lines that are not brushy or sketchy, but more stylized with a sense of streamlined style that blends with the Art Deco background. Compositionally this Work contains what Williamson (1995) identifies as the design elements, which make up “major iconographic triumvirate” (1995, p. 58) of the 1930s. These design elements are “horizontal banding […] an expression of widespread thirties consciousness of economic boundaries, [… s]treamform, [which was] associated most closely with travel and leisure [and s]tepform [which] was evident in symbols of progress, especially skyscrapers” (Williamson, 1995, pp. 57-58). All of these styles, which combine to “yield an image of upward socio-economic mobility” and to symbolize a “forward technological progress” (Williamson, 1995, p. 60), are present in the December 1935 cover image. The locomotive bears a logo made of wings sprouting from the numeral “2” (L6.6.5-.6). The winged decorative motif, echoing the other dynamic features portrayed in the illustration, suggests that speed is designed into the machine and may also be associated with the popularity of flight and quick transport. The urban sky (L6.6.1) provides a vibrant backdrop and skyscrapers (L6.6.2), to the right and left, frame and focus attention on the locomotive (L6.6.3), which forms the primary Episode as it emerges from a tunnel in the cityscape. Serving the Modal metafunction, the locomotive Episode contains the Figure of a confident engineer (L6.6.3) who is presumed to be male. He gazes outward with his head and elbow protruding from the engine window roaring into the foreground while engaging and demanding attention from the viewer who looks up to this scene. Elaborative Members of the locomotive Episode, such as speed streaks (L6.6.11), a receding cloud of smoke, and billows of steam (L6.6.10), serve to give the illusion of rapid movement as the train races toward the implied future. 176

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The train rides a rail-bed (L6.6.8) as it crosses the aqueduct-style bridge (L6.6.9), which mediates the past urban landscape located in the Given position with the dynamic technology situated in the New position. As a member of the overall composition, the tunnel might be seen to represent a metaphor for the depths of the Great Depression, and the emerging train might be seen as representing the collective hopes for an improved economic future. Thus, this artwork is designed to lift spirits and provide inspiration through a portrayal of dynamic technology. It places faith in the new technology and becomes a pictorial metaphor carrying “symbolic weight” (Helmers & Hill, 2004, p. 16) for a brighter future. The visual impact of streamlining evokes a feeling of smoothness, newness, and easy gliding. All lines are continuous with no disruptions, and the shrouded bodywork provides a mask that covers the functional machinery and hides any discontinuity. The streamlined ethos is carried throughout the illustration. It also resonates with a popular mania and emerging preoccupation with increasing speed. It supports what Williamson (1995) would call a “technological escape into the future” (p. 68). Although Representationally this composition suggests an unfolding story about the superiority of railroad travel, a further investigation into the article associated with this image reveals a disconnect (Gigante, 2012). On the one hand, the navigational text (L6.5) directs the viewer to an article, which contains an explanation of the signaling codes engineers use to communicate that is only remotely associated with the illustrated cover narrative. Furthermore, although the technology is visually portrayed in favorable light, the cover-line text brings ominous overtones to the ambitions of this technology because of this spatial relationship. In a manner perhaps unwanted by the artist, the juxtaposition of text and image does have synergistic meaning that may have been contrived, but it was likely accidental. In the next cover analysis, I examine a cover that projects an image of institutional power expressed through a display of armament rendered in a stylistic manner with a similar inadvertent juxtaposition of text and image.

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July 1936: A Myth of Power The July 1936 cover seen in Figure 5.13 was chosen for my sample because it uses a genre of artwork to subtlety contrast a representation of massive and deadly military technology in a way that enhances the mythos of a powerful national institution. As a work, the July 1936 cover image primarily serves the Compositional metafunction with an array of perspective lines. The background (L7.6.1) in Figure 5.14 echoes the artistic style of Impressionism, and the realistic rendering of the mid-ground and foreground (L7.6) form a stylistic hybrid that serves the Modal and Compositional Metafunctions. The cropped battleship (L7.6.2) provides what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) call a “mass” (pp. 47-48) to Figure 5.13. July 1936 Popular Mechanics promoting a myth of power.

serve as a background but also as a salient participant in the primary Episode. As a

Representational metafunction, the guns protruding from this shape depict a mechanism that projects gunfire away from this mass, Compositionally, instead, they serve as vectors to draw the viewers attention toward this mass. Modally, the battleship invokes the mythology of French imperial power signified by the tricolor (L7.6.4) above the ship. The flag (L7.6.4) also serves the representational metafunction because it identifies the battleship as French, but its position in the Ideal/Given area of the composition has an implied vector that leads to the formation of sailors in the Real/New area. Thus, French idealism leads to military strength. It projects a myth of military superiority enabled by of technology (Barthes, 1973). The clock-like face (L7.6.3) represents a form of mechanical Human/Machine Interface (HMI), and is most likely an indicator of a fire direction mechanism that would be state of the art during the 1930’s pre-war period. The formation of sailors

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 with officers (L7.6.5) facing the enlisted men (L7.6.5) represents the strict division of labor that is characteristic of military organizations. They are arranged in a line that is displayed in an extreme perspective beginning in the foreground of the image and reaching deeply through the z-axis into the background. The cover line (L7.1) is not intended as a description of the battleship, but, because of its proximity to this mass, it does have an implied relationship. The word “ALLOY” suggests metal, and a battleship would be composed of many types of alloys, so this cover line suggests, somewhat inadvertently, that the battleship could have other uses besides that of its primary purpose of combat. A meme of multi-use is often applied to military resources, which are redirected and applied to humanitarian needs. In this composition, the proximity of these words to the battleship image softens its actual function in a deadly enterprise.

Figure 5.14. July 1936 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The July 1936 image is designed to impress and reassure. During this period between the world wars, French military strategy rested on massive technical military solutions such as the Maginot line. The battleship image portrays what turned out to be a misplaced confidence in this type of technology as both the Maginot Line and French naval assets each failed in a spectacular manner. The Maginot Line was bypassed and isolated by the Germans, and the French fleet, unused during the initial conflict, was sunk in harbor by their British allies.

September 1945: Normalization of Mass Destruction The September 1945 cover (Figure 5.15) was chosen for analysis because of the contrast between order and chaos shown in the composition, which primarily serves the Representational metafunction. Published days after the massive and bloody battle of Okinawa, this image probably appeared concurrently with news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The cover line (L8.5) indicates this is a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;SUPERBOMBER.â&#x20AC;? Although the manufacturing effort for this aircraft ended with the war, its development suggested that planners, unaware of Figure 5.15. September 1945 Popular Mechanics normalized technology.

the concurrent development

of the atomic bomb, anticipated an extended strategic bombing campaign against Japan as part of the final war effort. The aircraft represented at the ranking of Work are portrayed moments after they have finished bombing a coastal city at mid-day as

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Figure 5.16. Reference photo for September 1945 Popular Mechanics cover illustration.

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 indicated by the shadows (L8.4.4 in Figure 5.17). Usually daytime bombing was conducted at high altitude, and because this is a dangerous time for bombers to be flying low over enemy territory, it demonstrates a confidence in air superiority in this area of operation. The bombers (L8.4.2-3) are arranged as Figures in formation, and the artist most likely used a photo (Figure 5.16) associated with the article for reference to create this composition. The artist maintained the Compositional metafunction suggested by the dynamic diagonal X-shaped vectors and simply flipped the viewpoint. The reference photo in Figure 5.17 shows the viewpoint of the targeted looking subjectively up at the business end of the aircraft. The illustration, on the other hand, shows the pilot's viewpoint as they look objectively down at the target during the performance of their grim task.

Figure 5.17. September 1945 layout hierarchy diagram derived from Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tooleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2011) semiotic.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The Figure of the bomber (L8.4.3) has a streaking application on the propeller area, which serves the Modal metafunction by giving the impression of whirling blades. The graphic application along with the diagonal dynamic composition and the tight framing suggests this image is a moment of time captured from a larger story. Of course the larger story is the war effort, and the rising columns of smoke indicate this is part of a larger group activity engaged in this war effort. The points of destruction (L8.4.5), which represent the Episodes of chaos are located with pillars of smoke, which rise to form one giant plume over the ground below. These pillars, which show the effect of the technology deployed by the primary Figure, also facilitate a transactional function between foreground and background versions located on the zaxis. The two planes in formation (L8.4.2-3), and the many points of destruction below, suggest there are other aircraft outside the frame that are also participating in the attack Episode. The Episodes combined serve as a conscription device that masks the dangerous reality of air combat. The Ideal is shown in the z-axis where the plane is idealizing the technology in an Episode that is ordered and objective. Below at the bottom of the z-axis is the Real Episode that is chaotic and subjective. The tiny explosions and pillars of smoke sets up a visual argument where the utility of this technology is argued to be Ideal as the effect of this technology as it exists in reality is minimized. In this way, the artist has masked the effect of the reality on the ground to marshal support for this sanitized form of warfare. A critical analyst of technical communication might ask if this image of the procedural destruction of urban targets typically associated with strategic bombing is a visual counterpart of the gas wagon procedural memo analyzed by Katz (1992).

January 1954: Technology as a Mediator of Culture I chose the cover seen in Figure 5.18 because, although it is part of the Poster cover group, it also shows signs of the transition to the following Postmodern Period of cover design. In a panel filled with cover lines, the primary cover line (L9.5) seen in Figure 5.19 announces in an elaboration of the illustrated artwork that â&#x20AC;&#x153;COLOR TV IS HERE.â&#x20AC;? I grew up in the 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and recall that when this particular issue was 182

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 published, color TV was a luxury. It was not affordable for a middle-class household until the mid 1970s. The January 1954 cover promotes and explains what at that period of time was seen as relatively exotic technology. The Compositional relationships of this arrangement are set up through vectors that all point to the image of the woman (L9.4.2) in the center with a man (L9.4.3) who is gesturing at her, a TV camera (L9.4.4), which is pointing at her, a microphone (L9.4.5) that is eavesdropping on her, and finally a flood lamp (L9.4.6) that is illuminating her. Behind the Figure of the woman is the Figure of a color wheel (L9.4.8). Both of these Figures represent ideals. The woman represents a cultural ideal while the color wheel represents a scientific/technical ideal. Compositionally, the figure of the woman forms a triangle with her dress Figure 5.18. January 1954 Popular Mechanics birth of color TV.

hem as the base, which rises to the apex formed by her face. The flood lamp

(L9.4.6) is accompanied by a graphic effect suggesting a beam of light (L9.4.7), which demonstrates both the effect of technology and provides a credibility of fame or high fashion. The setting (L9.4.1) appears to be some form of stage with the suggestion of a triumphal arch in the background. The TV camera is situated in the Ideal/Given area of the composition. The cultural and scientific ideals are located in the Real /New area of the composition. The TV cameraman is a voyeur representing the extended TV audience as he monitors the mediation occurring through the camera. The image in 183

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 this composition is aspirational in the sense that it promotes a concept to advance the future of television and builds desire for the technology in the audience. It also presents an idealized sense of gender that is promoted through the mediation of color television technology and associated with a desire for scientific and technical accuracy.

Figure 5.19. January 1954 Popular Mechanics birth of color TV.

A comparison of the illustration with the reference photo (Figure 5.20) demonstrates how the artist is pursuing a view of the ideal. In the photo, the woman appears in a semi-formal blue cocktail dress. In the illustration, the dress becomes red, longer, and more formal. The modesty factor is very high in the photo and more relaxed in the illustration. The director is not seen in the photo. In the illustration, the

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 director’s expression and gestures are constructions of the artist’s mind. Additionally the camera looks slightly up from below in the photo, but in the illustration, the artist has placed the camera in a more dominant look-down angle. A comparison of this photograph with the dynamic image in this illustration reveals why, because of its ability to control contrast and a compressed color gamut, illustrated artwork was preferred over photography. The Postmodern Period This next group of 3 samples Figure 5.20. January 1954 Popular Mechanics birth of color TV.

includes representations from the time

frame I have identified as the Postmodern Period (19592011). I am using the term postmodern to describe the cover design characteristics that reflect the “postmodernist strand” developed by Barton and Barton (1990), which also coincide with trends afforded by technological and cultural developments. In the Postmodern Period, artwork is “not in principle governed by preestablished rules, and […] cannot be judged according to a determining judgment, by applying familiar categories” (Lyotard & Demand, 1993, p. 46). Initially in this period the magazine shifted to using more

Figure 5.21. October 1959 Popular Mechanics, first postmodern cover.

photography. If a background was problematic, it was masked out. Additionally, the use of cover line text increased. For Popular Mechanics, this period begins in 1959 (Figure 5.21) when photomechanical technology had improved to the point where the publishers broke away from the poster cover pattern and began experimenting with the use of color photographs on the covers. It is also marked by the increased use of cover lines afforded

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 by “cold-type” composition and later by the multimodal compositions enabled by a variety of computerized imaging techniques. The mastery of this technology, the concurrent development of phototypography, and later the Postscript imaging technology gave the designers a greater latitude of expression and greater control over the product of that expression.

January 1969: Technology as a Mediator of War The January 1969 cover shown in Figure 5.22 demonstrates the increasing latitude afforded by developments of technology. It includes 137 words set in five fonts and twelve different point sizes. Canniff notes, it was “the most type heavy PM cover ever done” (personal communication, April 11, 2014). Without this abundant text, I would categorize it as a poster cover. It also contains an interesting narrative convention that features an image displaying a technology that can mediate and reveal evil. The abundance of cover lines and a story-within-a-story embedded in the crystal ball-like lens of the gun sight confirms that a trend to a postmodern composition style, as described by Barton and Barton (1990), is on the ascendancy. Lyotard (1984) calls the story-within-a-story that builds and supports the meta-narrative a “little narrative” [or] “petit recit” [which] “remains the quintessential form of imaginative invention” (p. 60).This form of useful fiction that reflects what the soldier perceives in the gun sight is a clever adaptation of technical reality. It is perhaps important to note the popular context of this period of American culture. Unlike

Figure 5.22. January 1969 Popular Mechanics Starlight Scope Cover

WWII and the Korean War, opposition to the war in Viet-Nam war in 1969 was at a boiling point. The conflict in Viet-Nam was the first heavily mediated and televised war, and nightly newscasts appearing in most middle class living rooms were filled with body count numbers. As a huge issue of interest to young people, it caused a deep 186

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 split in American society, and this split, sometimes called the generation gap, was accompanied by a cultural upheaval. The upheaval caused by this gap is not reflected in this image, and in that sense, there is a disconnect between the viewpoint of the publishers and their younger readers who were drafted to fight this war. It intended to present an argument of American technical ability, a formula that had been very successful with a youthful audience up to this point. Instead, by objectifying the enemy in this manner as game for a hunter, it inadvertently makes the opposition's point of American jingoism. During this period in Viet-Nam, U.S. soldiers often remained in their compounds at nighttime and Viet Cong insurgents used the cover of darkness to maneuver or attack. To counter this dysfunctional strategic requirement and the difficult nature of jungle combat, the government promoted the development of wonder technologies to provide the military an advantage on the battlefield. The raygun-like scope apparatus seen in this image was one result of this technological push. Because this was a war mediated to an increasingly disillusioned public through TV, it is ironic that in this image a TV device, based in part on cathode ray technology, was used to promote a device that mediated combat. As noted earlier, this cover is saturated with text, but most of this text does not have a rhetorical relationship with the illustration. For the purpose of the following analysis based on Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tooleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2011) semiotic framework, I have removed those cover lines, which are only marginally associated with this cover image in order to provide focus in Figure 5.23 and reveal the narrative embedded in this illustration.

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Figure 5.23. January 1969 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

The cover line (L10.5) “STARLIGHT SCOPE The Story Behind Our New See-In-the-Dark Gunsight” elaborates and introduces the intended narrative of this composition. The hyphenated text identifies the process or effect of the technology featured in the illustration. The use of the possessive pronoun “Our” sets this multimodal cluster of text and image up as an explanatory conscription device. The nighttime, which is critical to this narrative, is represented by a greenish cast (L10.4.1) that mimics the Starlight Scope display. The night of the primary Episode has a full 188

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 moon, which is indicated by shadow on solderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face. The foliage (L10.4.8) indicates this setting is taking place in the jungle. The soldier as the primary Figure (L10.4.4) has two Members consisting of the camouflage (L10.4.3), which he wears on his helmet and his arm, which holds the modified M-16. The camouflage serves the Representational metafunction to elaborate the soldier's identity as a sniper. The arm (L10.4.2), lies in the Compositional domain because it holds and aims the rifle (L10.4.5) to establish the vector leading to the goal of this composition, which is the implied target of Viet Cong (L10.4.7) reflected in the face of the Starscope. The reflection seen in the lens is a contrivance of the artist in that it acts as a useful fiction to reveal the mental perspective of the soldier and tell the story-within-the-story remediated by the advanced technology. The technological effect of this remediation is represented by the greenish phosphor glow of the Starscope (L10.4.6). A secondary narration mediated by the Starscope and projected by the glow reveals three dark figures emerging from the jungle (L10.4.7.1). They are represented in a sort of visual subordinate clause as Viet Cong by their triangular hats (L10.4.7.3) and identified as hostile by their weapons, (L10.4.7.4). As a snapshot in the wartime metanarrative, this image captures the moment before the sniper shoots and kills this enemy. The secondary narrative, which is the goal of the vector, explains how the villains present a threat, and the primary narrative explains how superior technology can reveal evil, overcome the villainous threat, and solve the problems of this war.

February 1979

March 1985

Figure 5.24. Examples of cover design consistency over three decades.

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February 1992

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Possible because of photocomposition, this type of text-rich cover, is a singular story narrative that retains the flavor of the poster cover, and serves as a consistent genre through the 70's, 80's and 90s as may be seen in Figure 5.24. The invention of the phototypositor allowed the production process to move from the composing-room floor into the artist’s studio, and thus multimodal compositions became much easier to create and preview (Cogoli, 1980, p. 77; Canniff, personal communication, September 1, 2014). During the 1990s, the newly developed Postscript technology began to take hold, and techniques of composition began to move away from the material world of conventional production technology into the digital realm. In his description of this shift, Canniff writes, “[a]ll that changed with the advent of computers and digital photography which made ruling pens, razor knives, typesetters, photostats, wax machines and production houses obsolete” (Canniff, personal communication, September 1, 2014). The next sample in my analysis is an entirely digital creation that demonstrates the capability of this shift in production technology.

February 2005: A Shift in Genre and Production Methods This cover shown in Figure 5.25 reflects the wide acceptance of the Internet and the expression associated with it by the general public at the dawn of the 21st century. It provides a good example of how technology began a shift in genre, and it demonstrates how the conventions facilitated by the development of graphical-based web authoring tools began to cross domains and influence print design. It also shows how the publishers fully embraced Postscript and other desktop technology that assisted pre-press composition as they began to Figure 5.25. February 2005 Popular Mechanics drone image.

move toward imagery that was created completely on computer platforms by workers 190

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 who were identified as digital artists. The move to digitization was a gradual process that began with the practice of using Photoshop to combine photographs with scanned conventional illustrations. The manipulation of photographs soon gave way to virtual images that have no material basis and were completely created in the computer. Because these realistic images have high modality, they are often indistinguishable from their photographic counterparts. I can assert from my personal experience that is often more expedient to use a 3D model of an engineered product instead of a photograph because of the innate ability to control the pose and environmental lighting of these virtual objects. The image of a drone flying over an urban landscape in the February 2005 issue (Figure 5.25) is a combination of a 3D imagery generated with 3DStudio Max and combined with imagery finessed with Photoshop. (J. Cook, personal communication, September 9, 2014). With this combination of digital affordances, photography is no longer needed for depictions of technology.

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Figure 5.26. Popular Mechanics February 2005 layout hierarchy diagram derived from O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework.

There are 80 words on February 2005 cover, but refreshingly only four fonts were used. The cover line text is arranged with a compositional logic that follows a webpage-like framework. To analyze this logic, I’ll record all of this text in the Figure 5.26 hierarchal diagram, but to retain focus, I won’t separate these text chunks into their subcomponents. The masthead arrangement (L11.1) is placed over a bright blue sky and is bordered by transparent, round-cornered box (L11.1.1). The transparency of this frame, which is situated in the Ideal section of the composition helps to advance 192

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 the illusion of the masthead element floating in the sky above a city. The masthead title-text (L11.1.3) is colored with the magazine's signature red and bordered with a thin white outline. A Gaussian-blurred drop-shadow beneath the masthead, provides the transparent frame with an illusion of surface. The surface suggested by this illusion, laid on the upper most plane of the z-axis in combination with the frame, suggests to the viewer a screen of some sort separates the masthead element from the underlying composition. The screen suggestion is reinforced by the webpage-like text (L11.1.6) at the bottom of this frame, which is reminiscent of an array of homepage navigational buttons. The allusion to a webpage convention is further supported by the column of multi-model composition on the left (L11.2), which according to Farkas and Farkas (2002) is a configuration that follows the standard webpage navigation scheme (p. 176). The assembly of navigational components is built atop an onionskin-like translucent frame (L11.2.1) and contains cover line summaries of four articles located within the magazine. An image of a laptop computer (L11.1.4) is shown in the upper right corner of the masthead element behind an elaborative text element (L11.1.5). In 2005, most people used desktop computers, but portable computing was gaining in popularity. The prominent position of this multi-model cluster is contrived to draw interested consumers to the magazine, and positioning this element within the masthead frame serves to endow this article on bargain laptop prices with the institutional credibility of the magazine. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;eye in the skyâ&#x20AC;? text (L11.2.2) identifies the primary Figure in the Work that makes up the background composition. The composition is elaborated by a subsidiary cover line. The cover line in the lower right corner (L11.3) is almost an afterthought because of its lack of visual contrast and placement in the composition, but it helps to ground the magazine and remind the reader of its core purpose. The cover line (L11.2.4) emphasizes the compelling word "SECRETS", a word that Longo (2000) notes has been associated with empowering lay readers by explaining the knowable mysteries of technology since the Renaissance (p. 24). The "Home Movies" text (L11.2.5.1) is contained in a button-like element (L11.2.5) that also uses a

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Gaussian blur drop shadow effect to project the illusion that this element floats above the translucent surface. The Gaussian blurring and surfaces on which they are projected establish the boundary between the magazine interface and the narrative scenario below. The barcode (L11.4) is an important piece of the composition that functions to market the product. These optical recognition graphic devices, which provide an interface to the retailer's point-of-sale equipment, first appear in my Popular Mechanics sample during 1978; their appearance represents the dawn of cybernetic connections as a fundamental part of the composition. A printed magazine cannot be sold in today's supermarket without this marker. In this narrative seen below the webpage-like affectation, the Figure of the drone (L11.5.2) flies above an urban scene during full daylight. The drone activity, at the rank of Work, is described by the cover line, which elaborate this scene and identifies the location as somewhere in Iraq (L11.2.3). The effect of the drone technology is explicitly defined by overlapping vector artwork (L11.5.3) that has a technical-drawing flavor. The objects of interest are also identified with this type of graphic application and signal that a transaction is occurring between the drone and the surface below. Modally, the drone engages the user as it rushes forward over a path that near-misses the viewer. The viewer is slightly above the drone and thus in a more powerful and analytic position. At the rank of Work, this image is compositionally similar to the 1945 B-32 bomber cover illustration analyzed earlier in this chapter where a similar bifurcation between aircraft and surface may be seen. There is also a similar graphic application that signals the effect of technology. In 1945, it was the pillars of smoke showing the effect of bombing. In 2005, it is a group of vectored beams that indicate the areas targeted and the range of effectiveness. Both of these images reflect detached views, which are separated into representations of technology and the recipient of the effect of technology. In the WWII image, this is a physical distance between pilot and ground. In the 2005 image, the viewer understands there is a digitized distance between the ground and the pilot who files the drone that is mediated through a cybernetic connection conducted remotely from a console that

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 could be located anywhere in the world. The notion of a remote console implied by drone technology is echoed by the design of the magazine cover itself, which takes on the appearance of a webpage interface.

November 2011: An Explosion of Technology Mediated Through Digital Publication Compositionally, the framing and zonal strategies used in this cover are reminiscent of Daniel MĂśglingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (1629) Mechanischer Kunst-Kammer Erster Theil discussed in Chapter 2. Both compositions contain multimodal clusters framed in 3D niches that surround a central concept. In the 2011 cover seen in Figure 5.27, the 3D illusion is built with graphic applications that abstractly suggest a spatial framework based on a z-axis. These applications set up the rhetorical representations developed with propositions on the compositional field that interact with primary and secondary elements. The nature of these interactions feed the flow of composition that drives the overall expression. These relationships are enhanced with useful Figure 5.27. November 2011 Popular Mechanics explosion of imagery.

fictions that attract and inform the viewer.

At the level of production and composition, the analysis of this cover, the last in my sample, represents a break from all of my previous work. As described in Chapter 4, this cover has been created as an EPUB for the iPad edition. Previously, the magazine covers analyzed up to this point feature a composition that is organized around a primary image expressed under the control of one artist or photographer. The previous covers may include a small inset image referring to internal content, but only marginally related to the cover. An example of this type of inset image is the laptop 195

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 image in the previously analyzed 2005 cover. On the other hand, the November 2011 iPad cover, shown in Figure 5.27 above, is a multi-vocal assemblage of a variety of images arranged to work in concert to deliver a unified message. As a result, it has a distinctly different type of hierarchical relationship implied by a collage-type assemblage containing the work of multiple artists. Accordingly, this analysis must reflect these differences. Reflecting its postmodern nature as described by Barton and Barton (1990), this composition is text-rich with a total of 35 cover line words and 79 subhead words. The images consist of vector line drawings, a 3D visualization, and a photo. The glue that holds the entire composition together and organizes all of the imagery is the graphic application of an illusion suggestive of a 3D structure arranged on the z-axis. The elements having Representational metafunctions are isolated into frames and zones. These zones serve the Compositional metafunction to convey an organization implied by the 3D illusions. Because this composition is designed for the iPad, it is also an interactive digital document, and this digital technology affords the user with a greater capability to navigate the magazine content. Thus, these multimodal components, which have also been buttonized to function as interactive links and facilitate an interface to content within the document, are framed into cells that offer blocks of information to the user in service to the Modal metafunction. As in the previous cover from 1969, this composition is saturated with text typeset in 6 fonts and a wide variety of point sizes. Unlike the 1969 and 2005 covers, the text in the November 2011 issue is associated with imagery in a multimodal relationship and isolated into frames that compositionally relate to the primary Figure. The multi-zoned, multi-faceted nature of this composition is the reason a shift is required in my analytic strategy. The first task in this analysis is to develop what Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) call the “carrier” (p. 49) portion of the composition and the “locative propositions” (p. 44), which give definition to the relationship. The relationship between the components and the vectors that facilitate the transaction

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 between them establish the flow between elements of the composition. Next, the compositional elements will be analyzed for the deployment of a useful fiction. Locative Relations The rocket artwork (L11.4.4) is a carrier of the component elements in the background of the composition, and the overlapping graphics and drop shadows provide the “possessive attributes” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 49) that solidify the compositional structure. These applications also set up the “locative relations” (p. 49), which place the elements into this environment developed by the carrier and allow them to interact grammatically with other associated elements. In the diagram of the November 2011 cover seen in Figure 5.28, the locative relations are developed Figure 5.28. November 2011 Popular Mechanics locative relations.

through darker colors that suggest a shaded horizontal plane that extends into

the z-axis, gradient fills that are suggestive of a plane angled toward the viewer, and a Gaussian blur that implies a softly cast shadow. These relations help to develop the narrative embedded in the z-axis through the use of graphic applications that form locative propositions that provide the user with a sense of depth in the composition and suggest the various compositional elements are placed in zones on planes in the zaxis. Using Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) theory of visual grammar and O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework, these zonal plane suggested by the locative propositions may be seen as Episodes, which form the narratological framework (See Figure 5.29) suggested by the relationship of an image structure that may be classified as either “superordinate” or “subordinate” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 81). When

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 this arrangement is overt, the relationship is called “interordinate” (p. 83). The “20 BOLD IDEAS” (position L11.4.2 in layout hierarchy) in the Popular Mechanics magazine cover are related by text and image to create a weak interordinate relationship with the subordinate elements (position L11.5 through L11.11). Subordinate cover line text (position L11.4.1) and (position L11.4.3) forms an interordinate and elaborative relationship with the super-ordinate headline (position L11.4.2). Finally, this text group in turn becomes a subordinate structure that forms an interordinate relationship with the superordinate multimodal text clusters of (position L11.4.4) and (position L11.4.5). Compositional Flow of Superordinate or Subordinate The hierarchical diagram shown in Figure 5.29 maps the structure and compositional flow at the rank of Work in the November 2011 cover. The diagram also shows how this relationship is organized into an illustration that consists of the inter-ordinate relationship between the super-ordinate Episode and the six additional subordinate Episodes. The rocket image (L11.4) is the salient Figure in the primary Episode. At the rank of Episode, its pose serves the Compositional metafunction and creates a “vertical elongation” (p. 55) that establishes the vertical hierarchy of the elements represented on the cover scenario. The verticality of the rocket is tilted 20° to create a vector suggesting movement and transformation through space, and the elaborative headline (L11.4.2) is set to resonate with this angle. In the primary Episode, the goal is the rocket’s departure from the background while travelling through the z-axis. It serves the Representational metafunction by conveying the idea that technology is exploding across the magazine cover. As the rocket follows the vector moving from the Real to the Ideal, the image of James Cameron in the secondary Episode is posed in reaction to this transformational process. The pose of Cameron forms an explicit vector between the secondary and primary Figures, and this vector also implies an instrumental relationship in which James Cameron, demonstrating a reaction to the rocket’s movement from the Real to the Ideal, is also drawing the attention of the viewer to the

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 rocket. His pointing functions as an exclamation point for the rocket's movement, and his appearance as a spectator acknowledges the salience of the rocket and supports the credibility of its display. The editors have contrived this transaction between otherwise unrelated imagery through the use of digital tools to create a useful fiction by supplanting the original context of Cameron’s photo and replacing it with their invented background. In effect, they have co-opted the credibility and appropriated the ethos of Cameron’s motion picture career in an adaptation that achieves the rhetorical effect mentioned above to promote the Dragon X rocket.

Figure 5.29. Compositional flow forms the hierarchical structure in November 2011 Popular Mechanics cover.

The rocket (L11.4.2) in Figure 5.29 is an “offer image” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 127) because it is posed to offer information to the viewer. It also

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 uses the “cross-section” or the “X-ray” view as a useful fiction to reveal “hidden levels” (p. 150). The cutaway view, which reveals interior detail of the pilot and passengers strapped in and prepared for flight, accomplishes a rhetorical strategy that empowers the viewer with insider knowledge. The space capsule and rocket assembly is presented as an analytic structure in that it “displays the ways participants fit together to make a larger whole” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, p. 49). Although posed as if in flight, the rocket assembly is slightly exploded and separated into stages, and this feature provides additional explanatory information to the viewer about the multi-phased operation of the rocket. A Trajectory of Three Periods The 12 covers selected from the 110 issue GeM sample that I have reviewed using O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework reveal that even the most objective imagery used by the publishers of Popular Mechanics has a story to tell. Typically, the narratives chosen by the publishers and the manner they chose to express them, reflect the conventions that resonate over the trajectory of the corpus within the concurrent culture. My analysis reveals the publisher initially experimented with various formats in the first issues. For example, in the timeframe I call the Exploratory Period, the 1902 sample shows Windsor placing an entire article on the cover using a newspaper motif. Almost a decade later, he changed course and experimented with a comic book motif as a contrivance to promote adventurous content that appealed to a young audience. Both of these experiments in genre were abandoned with the 1916 sample, which followed a different path with a commercial look that is used to promote and visualize an outlandish, almost bizarre form of phonograph. The period of experimentation ended as changes in printing technology began to take hold, cultural interests shifted, and the poster cover genre appeared. The poster covers have great visual appeal and typically feature compelling illustration. Because the nature of technology is to overcome the constraints of nature and solve problems, the Poster Period begins with covers depicting technology designed to operate in adverse environments or harvest a bounty from nature. The 200

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 1918 sample, in a demonstration of procedure, transports the viewer to an exotic frozen locale to watch a walrus hunt over the shoulder of a hunter. Grappling with nature in a similar frozen location, the 1919 cover presents a visual argument between old and new technologies. The 1935 cover uses the streamlined shape of a speeding train as a metaphor to instill confidence in a brighter future, and the 1936 issue invokes mythological power to reassure and promote confidence in military prowess. Military prowess next becomes industrialized, and the strategy shifts from one of mythologization to one of normalization in the end-of-war 1945 issue. Once the war ended, interest in technology then turns to consumerism and a celebration of American culture such as that seen in 1954 that promotes the nascent system of color television and establishes a public model for technological gaze. One characteristic in common is that all of these covers appear to use attractive and compelling imagery to accomplish their rhetorical strategies. In the Postmodern Period, the covers became more multimodal as seen in the 1969 issue, which is flooded with a variety of textual elements that have been created by the Popular Mechanics staff. In this illustration, warfare is seen as a scientific, heavily mediated endeavor. The 2005 drone image echoes the war-at-a-distance normalization strategy seen in 1945 and expands the mediated technological gaze seen in 1952 and 1969. The 2011 cover with multimodal primary and secondary compositional elements, which also serves as a digital interface for the iPad, perfectly resonates in the way it mediates information about technology within today’s digitized culture as it is viewed through the lens of Barton and Barton’s (1990) “postmodernist strand” (p. 258). As digital iPad documents become more prevalent and conventional print documents decline, it is increasingly important to view the magazine cover as an important reflection of popular culture in its role as an interface that serves to attract viewers to a document and guide their navigation through it. Thus, it is important for technical communicators to understand the rhetorical strategies such as visual arguments and narrative at work in these documents.

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CHAPTER VI HYBRID GENRE AND USEFUL FICTION AS A VALUE PROPOSITION My dissertation recognizes the growing trend of popular expression in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture, the utility of boundary objects and useful fictions in the conveyance of technical information to the lay audience, and the development of expansive technology that empowers rhetors with the tools needed to create a wide variety of multimodal expressions. It also recognizes the enormous flow of technical information that should be the purview of technical communication that currently flows outside its domain. My research has found that when new reproduction technology appears, Popular Mechanics employs it quickly. The publishers reinvent traditional forms of rhetorical expressions and use them with new forms of technology, such as software that allows the manipulation of 3-D space. They also understand how to appeal to a popular audience through socially directed media to convey complex technical subjects. In this way, the magazine provides an appropriate model for the practice of technical communication. The practice of technical writing, based on the predominant conventions of just a few years ago, is rapidly fading. It is being diminished by business policies such as single-sourcing, through globalization, and by social practice augmented by technology such as YouTube. Paradoxically, although fewer manuals are being made and the opportunities for applying the typical conventions of technical writing are diminishing, more technical information is being published within enterprise databases. Therefore, the need for technical communication to disseminate this information is increasing. Unfortunately, the technical communicator, caught between the popular discourse domain of social media and a highly technical and proprietary domain of industry, often lacks the tools to mediate between the two. Our profession is defined by well-established convention and genre, but popular culture as it embraces new technology is reinventing these conventions and genre in a manner that is rapidly eroding our professional integrity. Industry, on the other hand, as it strives to become 202

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 more efficient, increasingly distributes information through channels such as datasaturated 3DCAD and product lifecycle management (PLM) schemes that currently bypass technical communicators. Although this is a time of crisis, it also presents an opportunity for practitioners to widen our scope and stake a claim on the mediation of this sea of technical information before it defaults to practitioners in other domains. To leverage this opportunity and maintain the practice of technical communication, the conventions in which it is expressed should adjust in order to keep pace with cultural trends and technological developments. Maintaining resonance and relevance in this type of environment, which increasingly relies on imagery, will require a more complete understanding of a visual grammar that accounts for the expressions enabled by the imaging technology now becoming readily available for technical communication. Simply reusing graphics supplied by others will not always be rhetorically sound, and in any case it will not assist in maintaining our professional integrity in this rapidly changing environment. Therefore, the rhetorical space of technical communication must be stretched to accommodate these developing conventions and genre. To anticipate and reinvent this space we must offer information in a way that resonates in the current and future eras but also maintains cohesion with the past. The corpus of Popular Mechanics provides a unique window to those strategies of visual rhetoric, which have successfully communicated technical information to lay readers. To discover these rhetorical strategies, I have asked the following research question: How does the trajectory of changing genre shown in the corpus of Popular Mechanics magazine covers function to explain, popularize, and promote science and technology while delivering technical communication to lay users? To provide context and establish a base for understanding the genre of Popular Mechanics magazine, my review in Chapter 2 reaches as far back as possible into the history of practical illustration to establish the utility of conveying technical information through imagery, and it examines those conventions that have influenced 203

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 in particular the establishment of the illustrated magazine cover that portrays technology. To answer my research question, I performed a two-phased analysis in Chapters 4 and 5. The GeM analysis I described in Chapter 4 has provided an overview of the structures and constraining features that form the genre space of the illustrated covers. The extension of GeM with O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework detailed in Chapter 5 provided the tools needed to categorize the meaning-making elements embedded within images contained in the compositional structure of the Popular Mechanics covers. Combining these methodologies allows the complete decomposition of the illustrated covers in Popular Mechanics magazine and facilitates a deeper insight into their function. In Chapter 4 I used GeM to analyze and develop an overview of the full 110year Popular Mechanics publication history through a randomly selected sample. Next, I purposefully selected (MacNealy, 1999) 12 issues out of the historical sample and used O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework to isolate and analyze the rhetorical components contained in this imagery. These bits of information provide shards that help to establish the lineage of the illustrated magazine cover convention, which conveys technical information. These shards are kernels of knowledge, practice, and technology expressed through a genre that satisfies the fundamental needs of the lay reader of a given time period. Lyotard (1984) recognizes the validity and importance of this type of knowledge, writing that it “[i]ncludes notions of ‘know-how,’ ‘knowing how to live,’ ... [it] is a question of competence that goes beyond the simple determination and application of the criteria of truth” (p. 18). The knowledge described by Lyotard (1984) familiarizes readers with technological power conveyed with a creative flair of useful fiction in a manner of presentation that also indoctrinates these readers to a certain extent with a preferred institutionalized view of technology. The subtle power exchange associated with the illustrated Popular Mechanics cover compositions, which is accomplished through mediation enabled by technology and guided by popular culture, needs to be revealed, explored, and where possible

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 dissected. To this end, I developed this unique blended methodology to analyze the Popular Mechanics corpus. Blended Methodology Provides an Useful Excavational Tool. A primary lesson I have learned from this case study is that my fusion of GeM and O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework is useful for the study of multimodal compositions, which convey significant technical information through illustration. GeM is useful for evaluating the production, consumption, and canvas constraints and for developing the base unit inventory and the layout hierarchy of the expressive objects to enable an examination of their rhetorical relationships as they evolve over time. It is particularly useful for this research because it incorporates some fundamental characteristics from several other methodologies that have been used successfully in the past for the analysis of magazine covers. My methodology extends GeM by incorporating O'Toole's (2011) semiotic framework to further map out the rhetorical relationships seen in illustrations embedded into magazine covers. O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework empowers GeM to go beyond the limitations observed by Bateman (2008) in an “image-flow” composition (p. 175). It provides the tools needed to decompose the image and further populate the hierarchal diagram, which can then be isolated and analyzed for its purpose in the rhetorical structure. Additionally, this grammatical analysis and semantic interpretation is further enhanced by Cross’s (2010) conception of meaning generated by the proximity of individual elements on the z-axis. The analytic power of this multimodal analysis, combined with the application of O'Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework, provides a useful method to completely decompose a complex composition into isolated components. Building on the diagramming techniques developed by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996, p. 47), Rose (2001, p. 42), and O’Halloran (2008, p. 461) to decontextualize artwork, these magazine cover components were isolated and saved as individual graphic objects. The creation of these graphic objects was accomplished using the image editing and re-compositing power of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. It is a process that 205

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 converts the original image from one that is perceived all-at-once in parallel as a “holistic” (Hobbs, 2004, p. 65) or “mosaic” (Kenney, 2004, p. 333) form to one that is perceived piece-by-piece in a serial fashion, which then becomes available for further manipulation. Once reassembled, these elements gain great utility because the individual components are available for a more fruitful analysis. For this dissertation, the elements were re-visualized into a hierarchal diagram for a GeM analysis, but, if needed, they could be reworked into a speculative composition. When GeM and O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework are used together with image-editing software, they provide a useful hybrid technique to evaluate the complete inventory of multimodal expressions seen in illustrated magazines covers. Popular Mechanics covers provide a snapshot into the context in which these illustrations were created, and this analysis exposes both the technological affordances used to create it and the cultural milieu in which it is expressed. Although my single research question is very general, it asks about very specific categories that seek to plumb how Popular Mechanics, over its history of publication, has explained, popularized, and promoted science and technology through the convention of the illustrated magazine cover. In terms of technical communication, explanation shows how it works, popularization uses techniques and strategies to bring that technology to a large number of people, and promotion works to advance its use. As will be seen, these categories have considerable overlap. These three functions of Popular Mechanics are features of a system of genre in an expressive multimodal space that this magazine has pioneered, fully developed, and occupied over the trajectory of the last 110 years. The findings derived from the application of GeM with an overlay of O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework focus on these functions as they portrayed technology through illustrations and as they changed to form a trajectory of evolving genre over the life of the publication. Genre is the relationship of convention through which the publisher conveys information to the viewer, and Popular Mechanics magazine was particularly apt in finding common ground for this conveyance by using the rhetorical strategies of integration, inclusion, and interaction.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 As my analysis of the Popular Mechanics DIY corpus shows, during the Exploratory Period, the publishers discovered the integrative power of page bleed and the utility of 3D depth. They introduced rhetorical strategies that served to integrate the institutional ethos into the overall message and draw users into the composition to promote a sense of inclusion. In the Poster cover period, the sense of reader inclusion is continued as the publisher deployed the graphic application of depth and bleed in every issue to provide a spatial framework for the featured narrative. Both of these visual strategies are continued into the Postmodern Period where the publisher eventually uses the printed artifact to simulate the conventions and interactivity of online web publishing. Finally with the iPad issue, the publisher transcends the limitations of the printed page and fully embraces the utility and conventions of interactivity To put my findings from GeM and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tooleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2011) semiotic framework in perspective, I first present my interpretation of the historical trajectory of genre upon which the Popular Mechanics corpus is founded. To facilitate this interpretation, I have reviewed purposefully selected historic artifacts, and this sampling of illustrations from the past has revealed the important role this artwork has played in the conveyance of information about technology and the techniques of narration and useful fictions that have been employed from the Paleolithic Era through modern times. The stability in the application of rhetoric over this long period has been accompanied, on the other hand, by changes in genre and convention facilitated by technological developments that may have increased the effectiveness and range of this application of technical information. My historical review indicates that cultural development from a variety of areas such as the military, religious, commercial, and artistic depended on technical drawing, and technical drawing has in turn influenced many visual conventions still in play today. For example, magazine cover design has roots in the frontispiece convention invented by Renaissance book printers. The frontispiece often mimicked architectural elevations and sometimes included cross-section views. As a convention, 207

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 which began as part of the book paratext serving to advertise the skills of the printer, the frontispiece later evolved into a convention that previewed the textual content in a visual nutshell and provided an interface, which, in some cases, mediated technical or scientific information in a manner that was not only informative but also may have been attractive and compelling to the lay user. My review of illustrations of technology seen in Western culture has revealed that this imagery has been constrained by conventions, which are largely determined by the reproduction technology. As reproduction capabilities have expanded, the range available for expressing technical convention has grown. When technology makes visual strategies more expressive and functional, these compositional functions then become prevalent in our culture. As technology shaped the conventions of mechanically produced imagery, they became more widely disseminated and empowered a wider sector of the population with enabling knowledge conveyed by a convention such as a DIY magazine. The evolution of Popular Mechanics has coincided with the development of these technological resources. My findings indicate this evolution is best represented by the following trajectories: 

Corpus trajectory,



Cover line convention trajectory,



Masthead trajectory, and



Illustration style and genre trajectory.

Trajectory of the Popular Mechanics Corpus Springing from a linage that includes the Penny Mechanic, American Mechanic, Scientific American, and Popular Science, Popular Mechanics magazine began publication in 1902 with a fully illustrated cover. Over the life of the publication, I have categorized the covers and separated them into three major periods

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 that distinguish the corpus: the Exploratory Period (1902-1916), the Poster Period (1917-1958), and the Postmodern Period (1959-2011) The artwork from these periods, embedded in Popular Mechanics magazine covers, shows how visual expression has changed and evolved over a trajectory that begins with a popularization phase, which introduced the illustrated newspaper genre during the Exploratory Period. During the Poster Cover Period, which relied primarily on imagery to attract viewers, the trajectory entered an expository phase to explain and reveal technology. Finally, during the Postmodern Period, the trajectory entered into a promotional phase, which reflects a culture of consumerism mediated by rapidly evolving technological affordances. Later with the appearance of EPUB technology, the digital affordances, which first empowered designers and influenced their method of invention, empowered instead the viewers of their work and changed how they consumed it. These three periods have distinct characteristics. During the Exploratory Period, the publisher tested a variety of genres including the illustrated newspaper, journal, comic book, and commercial catalog types. The following Poster Cover Period coincides with an era that many call the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Golden Ageâ&#x20AC;? of magazine illustration (Levin, p. 114, 1980). For over 40 years, it was a period of stylistic and compositional stability, which allowed the designer to deploy a number of rhetorical strategies using an illustration to tell a story about technology or make an argument in favor of a particular stance on technology. During the Postmodern Period, the magazine returned to experimentation with an explosion of multimodal expression that includes webpage-like covers. The evolution of rhetorical strategies deployed in Popular Mechanics illustrated covers provides a view of the technology used to create these multimodal elements, and the trajectory provides a lens to ascertain its effectiveness for future use. As Carliner (2010) has noted, this knowledge of past experience can help technical communicators anticipate potential developments in genre.

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Cover Line Trajectory The GeM analysis reveals a variety of cover line usage over the life of the Popular Mechanics corpus. The initial covers in my sample used a table of contents format to preview content in the publication. Later, cover lines were used as a form of explanatory caption. During the Poster Cover period from the 1920â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to the 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the publisher used large cover-lines that emphasize and promote a single article, which was often not associated with the featured cover image. The trajectory evolved to include inset panels featuring a list of major content. Next, during the Postmodern Period, cover lines expanded to dominate the underlying imagery. In some cases, the over-layer of cover lines became so dense it formed a separate channel that could almost stand independently of the associated artwork. Finally, with the appearance of the iPad, the cover lines become functionally interactive links to the featured content. These findings, which trace the use of cover lines by Popular Mechanics shows how the rhetorical use of this convention has evolved from explanatory captions, promotional blurbs, and navigational devices into functional links that empower the user to interact with the document.

Masthead Trajectory The trajectory that appeared during the GeM analysis revealed the masthead continuously evolved over the life of the publication, and its design has always displayed evidence of the newest technological applications. The masthead trajectory begins with a distinct journal-type flavor in the illustrated newspaper genre. Over time it displayed a variety of graphic techniques detailed in Chapters 4 and 5 that worked to integrate the user into the cover composition. For example, the masthead changed from a newspaper-like convention to a more ornate certificate style, which invoked a distinct separation of Ideal/Real zones as seen in Figure 4.12. Later, the framing around the masthead became less ornate as it moved to the more subdued and less salient outline, which eased the integration of the masthead into cover content. At the beginning of the Postmodern Period, the masthead initially evolved into a flat field of color, and in the mid-sixties, the masthead frame and the motto was dispensed with

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 completely. The masthead typeface was initially set in large and small caps, then in all-caps, and finally in upper and lower case. The shift in typographical style and the removal of the frame made the masthead less formal. As a result, it became more inviting and inclusive of the reader. The rhetorical strategy of inclusion also serves the publisher. Taking advantage of the z-axis, a common technique treats the masthead as a brand or logotype that carries institutional credibility, which is then inculcated into in the composition. In some cases, it overlaps and becomes entangled with the cover artwork. In these cases, the masthead not only adds the ethos of Popular Mechanics to the message, but, in useful fiction fashion, this entanglement brings the publication as an institution into the composition as an participant in the portrayed activity. The rhetorical strategy of inclusion functions in two ways. First, the masthead promotes technology by infusing the composition with institutional authority, and second, it popularizes the concept by drawing the user into the composition and making the concept appear to be available and at hand. As a rhetorical technique, it may be seen throughout the corpus.

Illustration Style and Genre Trajectory Popular Mechanics covers employ genre and style in a fashion that oscillates across popular and professional conventions. Its ability to do so is dependent on the production, consumption, and canvas constraints described by Bateman (2008). The Exploratory Period saw the rigidly structured illustrated newspaper or journal style, which evoked institutional gravitas, later radically morph into the comic book and advertising art styles. The whimsical styling seen in this period was quickly abandoned for the more even tone of the poster cover, which appealed to a wider and more affluent audience. From a stylistic standpoint, the Poster Cover Period was relatively stable. It always included an illustration typically created in gouache and was often accompanied by a single cover line to form a classic hierarchical composition. To create variety, artistic period styles with a popular currency were often affected. Two examples are the Art Deco locomotive in the December 1935 issue and the Impressionist battleship in the July 1936 issue. Later in the Postmodern 211

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Period, higher modality imagery from photography and renderings derived from 3DCAD appeared. A shift to higher modality such as this tends to identify a particular product and moves the function of these covers from popularization and explanation to one of promotion. Genre is driven more by function while the style is shaped by cultural imperatives that serve as an affectation elaborating the genre. For example, in the Exploratory Period, a comic book style applied to the August 1911 air sea battle cover anticipates the later poster cover genre. An affectation of style added to an existing magazine genre also serves to tie the embedded message to cultural archetypes reflecting the imperatives of the day. As an example, a common genre-type fashions itself as a guide to the future, which demonstrates the correct response to rapidly appearing new technology. Two notable examples, identified by their cover lines, are the “ELECTRIC HOMES OF TOMORROW” featured in the August 1939 issue and the “MIRACLES OF THE NEXT 50 YEARS” featured in the February 2000 issue. The magazine also styles itself as a virtual mentor that offers valuable advice for practical problems such as that seen in the March 1976 “How to pick and install the best CB antennas” and the February 2004 issue which provided advice about what to do “WHEN UFOs ARRIVE.” The use of genre in this way projects the magazine as a friendly mentor and supports its function to explain, popularize, and promote technology to a lay audience. How Popular Mechanics Explains Technology The research question I have posed asks in part how Popular Mechanics magazine covers function to explain and make a concept clearer and more understandable to the lay audience. My analysis of the trajectory of the genre system seen in this corpus of Popular Mechanics covers has shown that as the magazine explains, two rhetorical features stand out: 

Visual Appeal



Boundary Objects

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The magazine employs a variety of strategies such as visual argument, narrative, and procedural demonstrations that are embedded in visually appealing imagery. It also deploys boundary objects framed as useful fictions to reveal the internal workings of mechanisms or provide fanciful scenarios that invite exploration. These fictionalized graphics serve not only to express otherwise hidden information and lend an aura of feasibility to speculative technology but to also pique the curiosity of the viewer.

Explanation through Visual Appeal The Popular Mechanics illustrated cover is an arrangement of conventions that help to attract and hold users for an explanation that also conveys technical communication. Although this strategy is true for the entire corpus, it is especially true in covers from the Poster Cover period, which used particularly compelling artwork to draw readers to the composition. To accomplish this task, these successful visuals have intrinsic characteristics such as those seen in the snow machine cover (May 1919), which depicts a complex mechanism in a foreshortened view, and the French battleship cover (July 1936), which also employs deep perspective to draw the viewer’s eye to the massive superstructure of the ship. These graphic techniques successfully attract and then visually communicate technical information to the magazine readers. According to Foss’s (1993) hypothesis of visual appeal, viewers are attracted to and develop a positive response to images, which have visual appeal that is triggered by some compelling and novel technical characteristic that draws attention to the image. Foss (1993) suggests these compelling characteristics, noticeable because of their “technical novelty” (p. 215) serve to present an image in an appealing manner as a bid to attract and persuade viewers. An overview analysis such as GeM exposes how the poster cover genre operated successfully over a 40-year period. A more detailed analysis of individual covers provided by O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework reveals how an appealing image also employs a rhetorical strategy to explain technology. The magazine imagery holds the attention of viewers because the cover compositions contain illustrations that 213

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 tell stories and offer graphic comparisons to explain or argue favored positions. To be successful, these narratives often call on cultural archetypes that resonate with the targeted users. The cultural archetypes represented in my sample appeal to hunting, warfare, commercial, adventure and consumer culture. By depicting these archetypes during the process of explanation, the publishers are inculcating technological values that resonate within the current culture.

Explanation with Boundary Objects To explain technology to a popular audience with cover artwork, Popular Mechanics has created a visual language of illustrations and diagrams. This language may be seen as insets, cutaways, and exploded views, and it often consists of boundary objects that cross between professional and popular domains as seen in the September 1916 cover featuring a giant phonograph that includes a blueprint. Oddly rendered and out of scale, this image of a phonograph shows how the publishers try out different techniques that stretch existing rules to experiment with a variety of conventions in their design. To a certain extent, the inset technical diagram, which explains the hidden mechanism using the petite recits or small story technique described by Lyotard (1984, p. 60), demonstrates how this form of illustration is a kind of precursor to what is seen occurring in the later Postmodern Period. Some of the Popular Mechanics covers are built of elaborate multimodal clusters that explain technology in part through captions and callouts such as the February 1992 Olympic skier cover seen in Figure 5.24. Other covers contain only illustrations filled with graphically rendered technical details that help to explain physical phenomena such as the drone image (February 2005). Additionally, the effect of the technology is explained through graphic overlays and elaborations such as those that depict movements or explosions as seen in the September 1945 superbomber cover. In some cases, the technology is depicted and posed in an objective manner to allow a quick and easy analysis by the viewer. In other cases, the technology is posed in a dynamic manner that demands attention from the viewer.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 An explanation may also be expressed through a style that crosses professional domains to appeal to a select lay audience. For example, the GeM analysis shows how genre can be used in a rhetorical fashion to explain and popularize a concept of military advancement such as the August 1911 comic book depiction of an air sea battle, which rationalizes a speculative military technology through an adventure narrative that appeals to youth. O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework, on the other hand, provides the tools needed to dissect a composition and reveal the grammatical relationships such as those in the February 1918 cover which demonstrates an exotic walrus hunting method and masking tactic in a manner resonant with an older audience. Finally, the lay audience skeptical of technology is targeted by the snow machine cover (May 1919), which explains through visual argument by using a variety of comparisons between animal and machine. In this cover, the mechanical solution is argued, through visual explanation, to be the superior method to convey cargo across difficult terrain. How Popular Mechanics Popularizes Technology The second function asked about in my research question is how the magazine popularizes. Popularization functions as a process, which expresses a technology to a lay audience in a compelling and understandable form to generate a consensus of acceptance among a wider audience. I have found in the case of Popular Mechanics that the magazine popularizes the subject matter portrayed on its covers by deploying a variety of strategies to increase the popularity of technology: 

Genre and Style



Convention



Technological affordance and function



Z-axis and 3D simulation

As will be seen, to make an appropriate cultural appeal, the magazine deploys genre that uses technical conventions and graphic effects to generate an aura of

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 credibility, it explores 3D space as a strategy to include the user, and the reproduction capability of Popular Mechanics is exploited to full effect.

Popularization through Genre and Style Genre deployed by Popular Mechanics has appeal that conveys a variety of messages across a variety of audiences, and this conveyance is accomplished mainly by attention to two characteristics: 

Currency of genre



Culturally appropriate register and stylization of artwork

As noted above, one function of the multimodal expressive space applied by Popular Mechanics is the deployment of techniques and strategies that popularize and bring technology to a large number of people. One of these strategies is the use of genre that has currency during a particular period. My analysis found that as the magazine evolved, it deployed several genres such as the illustrated newspaper, journal, comic book, advertising sell card, poster cover, compositions of the “postmodernist strand” (Barton & Barton, p. 258), and digital hybrid, all of which are facilitated and guided by evolving reproduction capabilities. These strategies of genre deployment are complicated by stylistic affectations, and this application of style is important because not only does it allow an image to resonate within a cultural context, but it also delivers a message of conscription that registers with a popular movement. For example, the August 1911 comic book, stylized with Ben Day screening, helped target a younger audience with a yen for adventure. In another compelling image, the stylized, streamlined Art Deco locomotive seen in the December 1935 cover appeals to a popular mania for speed in its use of metaphoric imagery and graphic effects that convey a sense of ease, comfort, convenience, excitement, and hope for the future. The power of style to subtly suggest is seen in the painterly impressionistic image, which infuses a July 1936 battleship image with humanistic virtue and

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 competence to make it more appealing to a popular audience. Finally, surrealistic imagery that plays with scale, such as the September 1916 giant phonograph image presents a message that resonates within the Jungian collective unconscious in an approach that popularizes cultural imperatives in a subliminal manner.

Popularization through Convention Popular Mechanics magazine popularizes technology by deploying conventions in a manner that conveys information to their readers in the following manner: ď&#x201A;ˇ

Introduces and provides knowledge of conventions

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Normalizes novel activity with conventions

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Attracts and maintains readers with technologically appropriate and current conventions

Professional conventions such as the blueprint-like drawing seen in the giant phonograph cover (September 1916) convey knowledge and empower users by introducing them to an application of technology while also providing information through a boundary object. As users become more familiar with engineering-like conventions, they become enculturated and thus empowered in their use. These are users who might otherwise not be exposed to these conventions. In addition to bringing engineering convention to the popular domain, the illustrated magazine cover also serves as a mechanism for introducing and disseminating novel technology that has been systemized into a convention of use to new users. For example, after WWII, Popular Mechanics introduced homeowners to pre-fabricated, modular, building materials, such as sheetrock and plywood, developed during the war. Popularization also conscripts lay users to support speculative technology, such as that developed for the SpaceX rocket program (November 2011) by making it appear to be a conventionalized activity. The magazine uses images, which are compelling in a way that will attract and hold viewers for the application of rhetorical

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 strategies that normalize the deployment of technology such as the September 1945 strategic bomber image or the January 1969 Viet-Nam era sniper cover. The normalization strategy serves to make novel, unusual, or risky behavior seem normal or safe. Popular Mechanics covers also popularize technology in a way that encourages viewers to accept change in the conventions of their everyday life as in the idyllic and surrealistic scenario seen in the September 1916 giant phonograph cover. Popular Mechanics popularizes by quickly adapting to changing cultural conventions in the publishing environment. These adaptations are only enabled when technology such as photomechanical reproduction, multi-color presses, Ben-Day screens, phototypography, desktop composition, and Postscript imaging technology is made available to the publishers. In a parasitic manner, the publishers also adapt by responding to the popularization of competing expressive platforms such as those seen on the Internet by borrowing online conventions and applying them to printed multimodal clusters. For example, the February 2005 drone cover takes on characteristics of the webpage in imitation of the conventions established for online navigation. In this manner, the publishers anticipate the future of digital iPad publishing in their design techniques and prepare their audience for this change.

Popularization through Technological Affordance and Function Popular Mechanics magazine quickly embraces technology to facilitate document usability. For example, with the appearance of iPad publishing, multimodal characteristics take on an interactive capability. The cover lines, previously used as an indexical sign and navigational component, have become functional components of the electronic document. The advanced usability and navigational capability of the EPUB documents resonates with those users acclimated to the online digital environment and popularizes the magazine with that audience. Additionally, the publishers have combined video and static imagery in a multimodal cluster for rhetorical effect. For example, the November 2011 EPUB cover remediates the 3D geometry of the SpaceX rocket capsule illustration in the generation

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 of a short video to introduce a reader to the iPad page. In this way, to leverage technological affordance and gain currency with the rapid development of mobile culture, the publishers truly stretch the capabilities of the multimodal expressive space.

Popularization through the Z-axis and 3D Simulation Popular Mechanics uses the illusion of 3-D imagery to popularize technology by creating a mediation space that serves to attract curious users and hold them for further exploration. The 3D image suggests a view into a domain that reveals the hidden, behind, or inside. In this way 3D imagery greatly facilitates the application of useful fictions. These 3D compositions, sometimes built with graphic applications, have a grammatical relationship based on the z-axis, and these rhetorical relationships are designed to generate visual appeal and hold the viewer with a narrative that conveys a sense of given/new, past/future, before/after to the user. The compositions are further enhanced with the embellishment of useful fiction expressed through cutaway or sectioned views, such as that seen in the September 1916 giant phonograph cover. In this manner, the 3D image functions to popularize this speculative technology because the projected concept, seen in a useful fiction fashion, is accepted as an already established reality. Today, the creation of this type of 3D imagery can be completely virtualized, and the three-dimensional geometry may replace the need for any photographic reference. An image of high-modality such as the drone seen in the February 2005 issue has greater veracity because of the attention to realism and the dynamic pose allowed by 3D software. Although this reality is portrayed in an impossible scenario, it is nonetheless compelling to the user. An example is the SpaceX rocket in the November 2011 cover, which is posed as if in flight even as the side of the control module is opened up to reveal the interior. Photographing speculative images such as this rocket would be an impossible task. The utility of these 3D objects to convey useful information and the ease with which they may be deployed holds great promise for the conveyance of technical information to a lay audience.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The z-axis provides a framework for the examination of the visual grammar suggested by the given-new relationships or proximity elaborations seen in threedimensional images. The publishers create a sense of 3D depth that engages and invites the viewer to explore the space within. It makes the mundane aspects of technology seem exciting and adds to the aura of inclusion presented by the composition. It is an established graphic technique used by the designers to make a popular appeal that brings users into the design and integrates them into the technology to further build consensus. Furthermore, the mediations zones of future/past, before/after, given/new are generated by the graphic effects created by an illusion of 3D strata that provides a transition of meaning between these layers. These layers promote the technology by arranging the images in a narrative sequence or in a visual argument such as that seen in the May 1919 snow machine cover. It pulls the viewer into the image and prompts curious viewing. 3D content and the software to manipulate and assemble this content into the z-axis compositions is currently available for technical communicators, and technical communicators would be well served to add this affordance to their repertoire of skills. How Popular Mechanics Promotes Technology The third function explored in my research question asks how the magazine promotes technology, a function, which serves to bring about wide acceptance of a desired concept. My research has revealed that Popular Mechanics promotes technology using the following techniques and strategies. ď&#x201A;ˇ

Cultural imperative

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Simulation

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Mash-up

As will be seen in the following sections, Popular Mechanics magazine promotes technology by showing it in the best light possible while infusing it with a mythos of power. Themes based on cultural imperatives and archetypes are expressed with a variety of rhetorical strategies to promote a preferred viewpoint, and favored 220

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 technology such as aviation or space travel is trumpeted year after year. Compositional elements are designed to work in combination to enhance the promotional value of the illustrated covers to advance these favored concepts. Additionally, promotion of technology occurs with a variety of rhetorical strategies serving to pursue goals that reflect cultural imperatives, establish speculative concepts as reality, and articulate these concepts through compositional mash-ups. These goals are pursued with a variety of imagery that takes advantage of the latest developments in expressive and reproduction technology.

Promotion of Technology as Cultural Imperative Popular Mechanics often promotes technology as a cultural imperative through a process of normalization. The function of these imperatives in our culture is to vet ideas and concepts about technology in a manner that seems plausible to viewers. In this way the magazine normalizes technology through narrative and stories. The superbomber image (September 1945) and the battleship image (July 1936) are part of a variation of what Zeman (2008) following Lyotard (1984) calls an “emancipatory narrative” (p. 697). These narratives are promotional because they promise to solve a problem or free the viewer from a detrimental circumstance. As publishers of these stories, magazines are powerful as cultural resonators in what Lyotard (1984) calls the “narrative game” (p. 28), which is a sort of useful fiction that presents itself as science. O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework provides a way to isolate and analyze the components of these stories. Examples of these narratives are covers that promote consumer culture as seen in the phonograph promotion (September 1916) and the color television promotion (January 1954), and in covers that promote travel such as the sailing ship profile (March 13, 1902) and the mechanized dog sled (May 1919). Other narratives include the drone image (February 2005) and the SpaceX cover (November 2011), which work to advance national imperatives for aviation and space exploration. Finally, national defense concerns such as the sea battle (August, 1911), the battleship (July 1936), the Superbomber (September 1945), and Viet-Nam war sniper (January 1969) are addressed with a narrative game that advances technology as 221

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 a remedy for evil. The GeM analysis provides a way to identify these narrative themes, while O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework provides a way to isolate and analyze the components, which form the story.

Promotion of Technology through Simulation The simulating power of 3-D visualization appears to be effective in advancing the rhetorical strategy of normalization. It affords the ability to create an expression that draws consumers with an illusion of depth, but this type of realistic artwork also has the ability to change reality in the mind of the user in a manner that builds consensus to accept the simulated concept. The high modality of these images suggests a corresponding high level of veracity, which serves well as a conscription device. Images generated by 3D software during the Postmodern Period such as the drone (February 2005) and the SpaceX rocket (November 2011) images demonstrate the expressive power of these virtual objects. Images, however, do not have to be made from 3D software. The artist who created September 1916 cover with the gigantic phonograph was simulating what he considered to be a plausible vision of the future. Complete with a boundary object to explain the theory of operation of the mechanism and an approving audience overlooking the operation to lend credibility to this vision, the artist used conventional tools to deploy a strategy of simulation and promote his vision for this speculative technology.

Promotion of Technology through Mash-up The Postmodern Period was accompanied by the rapid development of digital composition software. One aspect of this culture is the “mash-up” expression, which may also be seen manifested in Popular Mechanics illustrated covers. I am defining mash-up as the process of borrowing imagery from its initial context of expression and reapplying it in combination with other imagery in the context of a novel expression. For example, my base unit inventory of the November 2011 cover isolated the photographed figure of movie director James Cameron as a mash-up pointing at the 3DCAD generated image of a SpaceX rocket ship. As a mash-up, it combines Cameron’s photo, which has been decontextualized with a masked or deleted 222

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 background in an arrangement with the virtual composition of the rocket. Both are arranged in a third composition that, in a useful fiction fashion, forms the illusion that Cameron is reacting to the image of the Space X rocket. In this way, the image of James Cameron, perhaps without his knowledge or agreement, has been mashed-up to popularize and promote the development and manufacture of the space vehicle. Slack, Miller, and Doak (1993) address the mash-up concept in the more formal terms of technical communication with their concept of “articulation” (p. 14). They apply the concept of articulation to the role that the technical communicator may claim as an author. In this sense, technical communicators connect discrete concepts, developed by individual and separate authorities, together in an integrated composition that serves a third purpose. In this way, although they are not the authors of the original information, the process of connecting or articulating this information into an additional concept endows their work with the authority of an author. Unfortunately, developments in hyperlinking and single-sourcing technology after the millennium are rapidly eroding this construction of authority. As Barthes (1977) suggests, in this environment, the “death of the author” (p. 148) is almost upon us. Fortunately, in its place alternate opportunities have appeared. The Postmodern Period introduced greater control for content creators, which allows them to mash-up disparate image elements into unique compositions. I’m using the term postmodern in the same manner as that used by Barton and Barton (1990) to describe that period in the Popular Mechanics corpus that began when the poster cover gave way to collage-like multimodal compositions of text and imagery that were more faceted and user directed. As the corpus trajectory moves further into a postmodern-type world of expression, multiple artists, photographers, and layout artists share responsibilities for the message generated as is seen in the November 2011 cover. The graphic design in this composition has become more object-oriented where image objects are brought together in an assemblage to make meaning. Additionally, during the Postmodern Period, the cover line text, now under the control of multiple stakeholders, may reflect more whimsy. The imagery moves away 223

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 from a metanarrative to a stance where the idea is conveyed through smaller narratives. In this way, the metanarrative that provided structure to the expression seen in the poster cover is eroded, and the order of reading and path of navigation is largely determined by the user. As the composition becomes more user-directed, a breakdown in hierarchy occurs, and the composition is subject to the whim of the viewers’ roving eye. In this sense, the postmodern-type magazine cover composition does not follow a single metanarrative but instead provides a single interface to the multiple facets of a desired metanarrative. A layout artist makes decisions that seek to guide a user through selected passages of the document, and to provide this guidance, the artist creates an articulation that mashes-up imagery, which may usurp the intentions of the original creator. The developments described above, although disruptive to the practice of technical communication, also bring opportunity. An example from the past is the PostScript revolution, which displaced an entire industry of reproduction craft workers. On the other hand, this enabling technology also empowered technical communicators and those craft workers who embraced this innovation and became “desktop publishers” during the 1980s and 1990s. Technology is once again taking us down a path that both threatens and empowers our practice. Because users can now create on-demand products from selections of 3D data-saturated objects, the presentation of these objects to a lay audience takes on rhetorical implications and presents a similar opportunity for technical communication. Theoretical and methodological contributions to the study of multimodal expressions used in the practice of technical communication. The “pictorial turn” (p. 11) identified by Mitchell (1994), and its impact on the practice of technical communication, provides the basis for the major contributions of this dissertation. By addressing this impact, my dissertation makes significant contributions in three areas that advance research in the field of technical communication. These contributions are focused on imagery that conveys information about technology. DeLuca (2006) noted that “[o]ur studious gazes at images are

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 always askew, filtered through the terministic screens of old habits, old practices, old concepts” (p. 79). In response to DeLuca, my dissertation takes a proactive stance and seeks to develop new habits for interrogating multimodal documents, new practices for analyzing these documents, and new concepts for describing the multimodal relationship between image and text. The premise for extending my examination into technical communication provided by popular media was established through the creation of a novel category that would accommodate both domains. To create this category, I adapted Kostelnick and Hasset’s (2003) observations about illustrated propositions seen in exploded drawings and sectioned views that are culturally encoded as truthful conventions and expanded it with an appropriation of the literary concept of “useful fiction” (Austin, 2011, p. 23). To complete the category, I associated this combined concept with the narrative feature of illustrations that serve to normalize and advance technology through fictional representations. The useful fiction categorization established the basis for my examination of the Popular Mechanics magazine cover genre trajectory as a form of technical communication, and as an amalgam of technical illustration and popular media, it builds on the existing work of other scholars including Kimball (2006), Hallenbeck (2012), Van Ittersum (2014), and Karlsson (2004) who have investigated the utility of vernacular technical communication. By enlarging the scope of technical documentation with the concept of useful fiction, my categorization provides a venue for the creation of technically rich images configured as boundary objects, which are driven by narratives that serve as legitimate forms of technical communication. In this way, I visualize an expanded domain in which to practice the craft of technical illustration using ready-made 3D content. Using multimodal analysis to explore the application of useful fictions over a 110-year sample of the Popular Mechanics corpus, my review and analysis of the publication revealed the rhetorical strategies of integration, inclusion and interactivity that are materialized with a variety of reproduction technologies that may be seen in three distinct time periods over the entire trajectory. In particular, the magazine 225

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 integrated textual fields into image fields virtually from the first issue. Many of the compositions contained graphic applications of various types such as drop shadow between the multimodal domains of text and image. The interpretation of these applications required an adjustment of my theoretical viewpoint toward the analysis of multimodal imagery. Goggin (2004) writes “we must consider not only distinctions but convergences between word and image” (p. 106). The consideration of Goggin’s imperative suggests the following question. When a headline has a blurry drop shadow, does the drop shadow belong in the domain of image or text? This question prompted the modification of my approach to account for these assemblages as I sought to find a way to address this mediation zone that exists between a figure of text and a ground of image. To address the effects which are suggested by “in-between” graphical contrivances, I approach these elements as components of multi-vocal assemblages that oscillate between verbal and visual modes. My study of the zone between text and image builds on the work of Martinec and Salway (2005) and Harrison (2003) who have analyzed image-text relations. Images are perceived in parallel, and although some parts of a composition are more salient and expressed with more emphasis, other meaningful parts of the image such as a drop shadow may be perceived indirectly or subliminally. In order for variety of elements to be arranged together, there has to be some sort of grammatical relationship that connects these images. A grammatical relationship is often expressed in the z-axis, especially when computer software is introduced. My approach to the semantic value of images layered on the z-axis builds on the work of Cross (2010) and her adaptation of Weirzbicka’s (1972) semantic primes. I extend the work of Cross (2010) with computer software to redevelop the overlaps and separate them in preparation for an analysis of the given/new relationship she suggests may be found on the z-axis. The ability to identify and decompose image elements in this way provides the basis to define and analyze visual grammar expressed on the z-axis, and this technique contributes to the research toolkit for the analysis of visual communication. 226

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 A short-coming of GeM was revealed by the blurring of the boundaries between text and image and the inability to completely account for the rich meaningmaking potential of the underlying imagery. Bateman, Delin, and Henschel (2002) acknowledge this problem in the following way: We argue that the current layers of the GeM model are minimally necessary to capture the basic semiotic meaning-making potential of multimodal pages. While we can begin to ask some detailed questions using these layers, however, they are also clearly not sufficient for all that one needs to askâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;for example, we have deliberately left out the detailed annotation of the contents of pictorially realised elements of pages. That is, whereas we indicate that a picture is present, and may, if internal elements of that picture are picked up in the linguistically carried rhetorical organisation, recognise those elements as base units, we do not do this systematically or exhaustively. For this we would require another layer of annotation that is specifically responsible for this task. Here, an obvious candidate for such a layer is the detailed analytic scheme proposed by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) (p. 31). My research addresses this need described by Bateman, Delin, and Henschel (2002) for an additional layer of annotation by blending and adapting the analytic power of GeM with Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Tooleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2011) semiotic framework to provide a way to break an image composition into its components parts and make the meaning-making components available for analysis. As noted above, GeM currently treats images as singular objects not as grammatical constructions. Additionally, current multimodal scholarship generally emphasizes text in an analysis of the image-text relationship. For example, when the meaning of an image is parsed, the analysis typically proceeds with a textual description. To solve the annotation problem of GeM that appears when images are encountered, I developed a process that applies O'Toole's (2011) semiotic framework to decompose the composition, and then I implemented a way to use image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to facilitate this analysis. As an overlay of annotation of GeM, this method provides a robust way to 227

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 visually interrogate multimodal compositions, and it may be applied universally to both printed and digital multimodal documents. To my knowledge this process is unique in the sense that it blends O’Toole’s semiotic framework with GeM while using computer software to break the image apart. Additionally, instead of using text to verbally decompose the image and frame the analysis, this technique displays the components of the image as individual semantic elements. It approaches the image-text divide by treating images and text as integrated parts of the composition and addresses them together through imagery. This blended methodology coupled with the affordances of image-editing software provides a way to fragment the content into items, which can then be analyzed for the features which connect them together grammatically. The image-fragmenting method reverses the work of the layout artist and examines the process used to generate the composition. It regenerates the elements used in the composition and separates them into discrete components. In this way, it provides a way to de-contextualize the image and examine the rhetorical strategies deployed during the composition of the overall assemblage. My work in this area builds on that of O’Halloran (2008) who has used the image adjustment controls in Adobe Photoshop for multimodal discourse analysis. To my knowledge, this powerful image editing software has not been used to analyze compositions by breaking the composition into semantic fragments for further analysis based on O’Toole’s semiotic framework. This ability to select parts of compositions, isolate them from the background, and recompose these elements into layered files is an affordance that is widely available to those engaged in the study and practice of technical communication, and I believe my use of image-editing software for this purpose makes a contribution to the future research of multimodal expressions. Advances in expressive technology has empowered the user and disempowered the content creator and individual author. Therefore, for technical communicators, future opportunity lies in the design of a configurator type document that anticipates and responds to the whims of users. Technical communicators can leverage the 228

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 concept of “articulator” (Slack, Miller, & Doak, 1993, p. 14) and modify it with some of the foundational ideas about the application of hypermedia to adopt the role of content architect or configurator of a technical communication experience. A New Genre of Configuration for Technical Communication I envision the illustrated magazine cover as an appropriate model for this type of configurable technical communication document, which will serve as an interface to a wide range of embedded and linked technical information. The illustrated magazine cover becomes a functional interface formed by hypermedia when it appears as an EPUB document. An illustrated information interface of this type was predicted in the 70’s by Nelson (1974) who proposed the future development of “[h]yper-media [which] are branching or performing presentations, which respond to user actions, systems of pre-arranged words and pictures (for example) which may be explored freely or queried in stylized ways” (p. DM 18). Nelson’s (1974) concept of hypermedia includes “Queriable illustrations,” and “Performing hypergrams,” (p. DM 19). He writes “[a] ‘hypergram’ is a picture that can branch or perform on request” (p. 19). He continues to note that “[q]ueriable illustrations” are hypergrams that respond to user interaction by providing more information when a part of an image is selected. Nelson’s hypergram and queriable illustration as a type of graphic composition, infused with process and procedure, is now possible with current and emerging 3D technology such as that seen in the following digital documents that serve to empower the user with a genre of configuration: 

Popular Mechanics “3D Workshop” (see http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a5941/popularmechanics-ipad-app-goes-live)



IKEA “Home Planner” (see http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_JP/rooms_ideas/splashplanners.html)

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 

Pandora “Bracelet Designer” (see http://www.pandora.net/en-us/explore/inspiration/createcombine/bracelet-designer)

The field of technical communication can benefit from these innovations and adapt the rhetorical strategies employed by Popular Mechanics to its practice. The designer of an interface as a queriable hypergram using expressive technology such as the iPad cannot predict exactly where the user will travel through the composition, what the user will prefer for as a method for displaying the concept, or even the genre in which it is displayed. As is now available with CAD objects, the genre could be completely configurable. After reviewing the findings of this research, I anticipate the role of the author understood from the “articulation view” (p. 33), which is suggested by Slack Miller, and Doak (1993) as the most opportune path to professional authority for technical communicators is changing to one I will call a configuration view. In this view, the technical communicator is seen as someone who facilitates an environment of configuration for the user. In the articulation view described by Slack, Miller, and Doak (1993), the author appropriates disparate elements and connects them together through an articulation process to form meaningful compositions. On the other hand, in the configuration view, the technical communicator affords the connection of disparate elements across multiple domains and provides a contrived space. The contrived space anticipates the needs of an audience and allows the user to configure content elements and express a wide variety of documents in a genre that is suits a desired context. Unlike Slack, Miller, and Doak’s (1993) articulator, the configurator relinquishes the role of the author and instead develops a role that is further integrated into all aspects of enterprise to support the management of all documentation required over a product’s lifecycle. In this model, the role of a technical communicator acting as a configurator is to provide content appropriate for each potential configuration and deploy rhetorical strategies that provide guidance to the user in the navigation of the

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 expressive space. The product of the configurator should be a malleable convention that is focused on the best practice that will guide users and effectively satisfy their needs. This end result may best be accomplished through the use of “procedural rhetoric” (p. 28), a technique that Bogost (2007) calls, “a technique for making arguments with computational systems and for unpacking computational arguments others have created” (p. 3). My examination of the trajectory formed by Popular Mechanics magazine over the life of its publication beginning with the Exploratory Period shows the publishers have used technology to produce graphic effects that work to attract the user and include them in the composition. The publishers later leverage emerging technology to form these inclusive compositions into a functional interface that is interactive with and responds to the needs of viewers. Over time, these compositions have evolved from the hierarchal structures during the Poster Cover Period to nonhierarchal structures during the Postmodern Period. The transition to the Postmodern Period was made possible by the adoption of enabling technology that reconfigured the power relationship between the traditional craftworkers and studio artists in the late 1960s. The exchange of power during this period enabled the content creators to abandon the traditional convention of a hierarchical structure and embrace more experimental and novel expression. Additionally, in the Postmodern Period, the composition becomes segmented into the smaller stories that form a faceted metanarrative. As enabling technology became increasingly available, meaning became more fragmented to reflect the increased number of inventors involved in the expression, and this began a period of multi-dimensional and multi-vocal composition that eroded the guiding framework of traditional composition. Developing EPUB technology such as the iPad has shifted how readers responded to these compositions, and this trend opens the door for a future genre of configuration. Limitations There are several significant limitations associated with this case study. As noted, these findings are slivers or shards of information. My analysis of Popular 231

Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 Mechanics examines less than 11% of a corpus that has 1300+ issues some of which are over 300 pages long. My examination of the magazine, framed in technical communication and focused on an analysis of the rhetorical strategies applied to the cover content, did not examine data which might reveal how the content could affect a wider variety of stakeholders. For example, the original publisher established and followed a policy of restricting advertising to a separate section of the magazine and mandated the avoidance of associating editorial content with advertised products (Seelhorst, 1992a). This policy was relaxed by later publishers, and an analysis of this policy shift may reveal significant data if sales figures were compared with cover content. Although circulation figures were included on some issues in the corpus and sales figures were published by other sources during the mid-century, I was stymied in my search for a more complete and comprehensive source of these figures that represented the entire corpus. Thus no attempt was made to correlate my analysis with historical circulation or sales figures. Finally, the original publisher pursued a carefully worded distribution policy that was published on some early covers. A historical review of advertising data, public relations information and consumer preferences that correlates with cover content, although not pursued in this study, may prove to be a rich source of useful information for later study. Implications of this Study The evolution of genre seen in the Popular Mechanics trajectory reveals a movement toward greater multimodality and greater viewer inclusion over time. From its first venture into the illustrated DIY genre targeting a lay audience, the characteristics of this publication have continually changed. The variety of text and image combinations seen in the covers published over the entire corpus reflects a sense of how the magazine has served the evolving needs of the DIY discourse community and also reflects the continuing development of expressive technology. Over the years, the magazine experimented with photography and illustration techniques that tested the limited capability of their printing press. Later, with more advanced 4-color presses, they employed talented illustrators to create artwork that,

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 for an extended period of time when poster covers were dominant, carried the bulk of meaningful expression. With the appearance of photo and computer composition, layout artists created compositions that were increasingly multimodal, and finally with the appearance of the iPad these compositions were endowed with user-empowering interactivity. Thus, in an extension to their printed publications, using a process that Bolter and Grusin (2002) call “remediation” (p. 45), the magazine has pioneered simultaneous print and webpage publication in addition to digital eBook distribution via iPad. The magazine’s continuous proactive response to technical evolution reflects its successful implementation of a multimodal genre that satisfies the user’s needs over the entire corpus. This corpus provides a set of valuable artifacts that will inform the practice of technical communication of the potential implications of a multimodal approach leveraged with developing technology, which serves to empower users. With the advent of software applications and ready-made content empowering all types of users to create imagery associated with a wide variety of genre, there is a corresponding growing movement to multimodality in technical communication. As a profession, we are currently in the process of adapting and digesting the implications of this movement as we seek to lay claim to the expressive power offered by this domain. For example, technical writing and technical illustration have traditionally been identified as separate professions; but recently, with the development of powerful software, these two domains have become closely related under the banner of technical communication. Although technical communicators are trained to be familiar with visual rhetoric and document design, they are not typically trained to assemble imagery in a grammatical fashion. Newly developed applications to assemble 3D objects (see www.onshape.com) and gigabytes of content (see www.grabcad.com) are both readily available for free use, but most technical communicators are not prepared to take advantage of these resources. Brumberger (2007) notes that students are welltrained “in verbal language, not in visual language, and in turn they think verbally not visually” (p. 378). Additionally, scholars have commented on the lack of technological competence in visual expression for students (Brumberger, Lauer, & Northcut, 2013).

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The persistent bias and lack of training may be due to an unfamiliarity of the potential of the rapidly developing tools. Consequently, there may be a need for potential technical communicators to develop a better understanding of the visual grammar that form the conventions used in these expressions and the techniques available for its analysis. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Halloran (2009) argues for the incorporation of digital technology into multimodal discourse analysis, and to this end, Tan, Marissa, and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Halloran (2012) have developed a resource book for students that guides their computerized analysis of imagery in artifacts such as advertisements, movie posters, and infographics. Taking a cue from Popular Mechanics, the practice of technical communication can learn how to better accommodate changes in enterprise and culture. As is done in this magazine, technical communicatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; can find ways to align their practice with emerging social trends while deploying their communication skills in a framework that is valued by and resonant with a contemporary audience. They can expand their ability to master the emerging resources that surround them and overcome the constraints, which restrict their expression. Additionally, they can become more skilled in the use of visual grammar and graphic techniques that better integrate the user into multimodal compositions. In this way, technical communicators can deploy content that piques the curiosity of the user in a way that holds and engages them in the use of technical documents. Currently, technical communicators separate expression into domains of written composition, visual rhetoric, new media and other areas. I propose that a more comprehensive multimodal view, which studies the meaning generated by combinations imagery, text, and animated images used for technical communication will improve our practice. A study such as this one entails the development of a theory that describes the grammatical nature of the multimodal products technical communicators develop and includes the capability to analyze the textual, graphical, and new-media type objects that are combined into a singular rhetorical expression. This expression is then configured with other user-selectable data-saturated objects.

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 GeM and O’Toole’s (2011) semiotic framework provides the foundation that will support this type of study. A new academic discipline recognizing the powerful opportunity afforded by process-driven rhetoric has developed outside of technical communication. Rebecca Koenig reports the University of California at Santa Cruz launched the first department that specializing in “computational-media” (Wardrip-Fruin & Mateas, 2014, p. 18). I argue that technical communication should be at the forefront of this area because our profession is best disposed to pioneer in an effort that defines the parameters of computation-media. In theory, technical communication practice is responsible for the mediation of information about every possible aspect of technology and future technical documentation will be saturated with this type of media. Additionally, technical communicators have a special relationship with their audience. They have been trained to perform an audience analysis, advocate for their benefit, respond to their needs, develop a strategy to satisfy these needs, and deliver communication that is particularly suited to their situation. Configurable datasaturated 3-D objects deployed as useful fictions is one area of computational media that offers a technological advantage for technical communicators to expand their capabilities and take advantage of future opportunities to accommodate the users of technical communication. With these future opportunities in mind, I ask the following questions to frame the next inquiry into the study of multimodal compositions used for technical communication: 

As seen in covers through the corpus, Popular Mechanics consistently utilizes a grammar of 3D space. How can we emulate its success in reaching and holding a popular audience?



As the GeM analysis reveals, Popular Mechanics has remained at the forefront of expressive technology. How can the practice of technical communication leverage rhetorical skills to be proactive and take

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 advantage of the emerging 3D affordances such as that offered by 3DCAD, WebGL3D and CSS3? 

Popular Mechanics often uses artwork as a form of boundary object and conscription device. How can technical communicators become better integrated into enterprise to access the data needed to develop these boundary objects and conscription devices, and what is the best way to deploy them in a manner that serves the configuration view?



Popular Mechanics compositions contain an abundance of imagery articulated through 3D space, and these compositions are only touched upon and by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) and Cross (2010). How can the understanding of 3D expression, and the rhetorical space it occupies, become more prominent in the theories of visual grammar as they are applied to effective technical communication?



If technical communicators remediate 3D objects in a mash-up fashion with other forms of imagery in the creation of configuration type compositions, who is the legal author of the configurable composition? Is a configuration considered to be a derivative work? Are configurable 3D shared objects copyrightable? Currently the trend it to share 3D objects over the Internet. Although advertised as “free,” the publishing websites often have small legal print that restricts the commercial use of 3D models. Will unique compositions using these shared objects have the status of intellectual property?



As 3D objects become a greater interface to the information embedded in or associated with the 3DCAD model used by manufacturers, how can technical communicators become better integrated into the enterprise, maintain access to this data flow, and continue to remediate this information?

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Texas Tech University, Thomas Burns, June 2015 The answers to these questions prompted by my case study of Popular Mechanics will help technical communicators advance our profession into a new domain of practice that is more sustainable in the face of rapid change. Developing a better understanding of emerging expressive technology will allow us to combine boundary-crossing 3-D geometry with the industrial databases of manufacturing information and develop technical documentation that responds to assemblages configured by users in a manner that is informative, persuasive, and responsive to their needs. As technical communicators, one of the foundational principles of our profession is to be responsive to our audience and accommodate their needs in an appropriate context. Technical developments and changes in cultural imperatives have shifted the contextual ground, and our audience has moved away from the consumption of conventional technical communication toward socially mediated DIY style media. Popular Mechanics provides an insight into a documentation style that has proven to be successful in the conveyance of technical information to a lay audience while acting as an exemplar for the successful crafting of technology into expressions that resonate with this audience. With its robust grasp of visual grammar and prolific application of useful fiction in the conveyance of information about technology to the lay user, Popular Mechanics has provided guidance toward an opportune path for technical communicators. Its trajectory of genre development has shown how reproduction technology may be leveraged to express information about technology in a fashion that appears to be effective and entertaining while also appearing to be squarely in the domain of technical communication.

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