McEwen,
R.., Zbitnew, A. & Chastwick, J. (2016) Through the Lens of a Tetrad:
Visual Storytelling on Tablets. Educational
Technology & Society, 19 (1), 100-112.
Keywords:
new media, tetrad, visual story, enhanced learning, of Visual Learning
Environments, VLE, Virtual Social Space,
VSS
College
departments of literature, rhetoric/composition, science and technology studies
(STS), and communications (both professional and visual arts) each stake a
claim on what the authors call “The study of digital and interactive
information and communication technologies – so called “new media” (McEwen). Focusing largely on
creating visual art on a tablet, McEwen and Chastwick examine the usefulness of
tablet-based and visual storytelling for teaching of adults with “intellectual
disabilities” (McEwen).
They base a relationship between art and media on McLuhan’s statement that “art
provides the training and perception, the tuning or updating of the senses during
the technological advance.” The relationship is based on McLuhan’s tetrad.
Eric McLuhan’s Laws of Media (Library and Archives Canada) defines a tetrad as
the simultaneous outcome of an artefact of any medium, based on these answers
to these questions: “What does it enhance, what does it make obsolete, what
does it retrieve that had [it makes] obsolete, and what does it become when
pushed to extremes (Library and Archives Canada). For a more visual
understanding of McLuhan’s tetrad, see Owen Kelly’s Venn-diagram-like view of a
tetrad, or four laws of media, right (Kelly).
 |
| McLuhan's Tetrad, Illustrated |
The M&E
study focused on using tablet technology as a valid pedagogical and learning
effort for mentally challenged adults. Jane Moore and Chris Atkin studied the
effects of Visual Learning Environments (VLEs) and online learning for what is
often called “mainstreamed” (not mentally challenged) undergraduate and
graduate students at the U.K.’s Liverpool Hope University where students are linked
through a newly developed a multimodal online communication Virtual Social
Space (VSS) (Atkin).
They found that the:
“attempt to realise a more holistic view of online
learning support using the latest tablet technology that brings together
content and resources, programme support and focused discussion in one place;
the flexibility of the user-interface allows for a wide range of functions to
be available from one screen, easily navigable, strongly visual, and instantly
accessible.”
The
findings show that tablets (new media) enhances and even encourages a growing
body of rhetoric for students across the curriculum, regardless of their mental
acuity. I recently acquired an iPad mini as part of a new cell phone plan. My
experience, like those experienced by subjects the table-use studies referenced
above, is that using a tablet is fun, whether creating art, conducting
research, reading, or streaming entertainment. Eric McLuhan warns against
“taking something simple and making it complicated” (McLuhan).
Bibliography
Atkin, Jane Moore and Chris. "An Application
(app) for Learning - The Student Interface with Tablet Technology in Graduate
Studies." International Conference on e-Learning: 328-XIV. .
Kidmore End: Academic Conferences International Limited. , 2012. <http://proxy.lib.odu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/docview/1326324735?accountid=12967
>.
Kelly, Owen. "McLuhan’s tetrads: what they are
and how they work." Jun 2016. owenkelly.net. Web. 12 Sep 2016.
<http://www.owenkelly.net/984/mcluhans-tetrads/>.
Library and Archives Canada. "ARCHIVED - Old
Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan." 06 March 2007. Library
and Archives Canada. 12 Sep 2016.
<http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innis-mcluhan/030003-2030-e.html>.
McEwen, R., Zbitnew, A., & Chatsick, J.
"Through the Lens of a Tetrad: Visual Storytelling on Tablets." Educational
Technology & Society 19.1 (2016): 100-112.
McLuhan, Eric and Zhang, Peter. "The
Interological Turn in Media Ecology." Canadian Journal of Communication
2016: 207-225. 12 Sep 2016.
