The units of our course The role of metaphor in constraining meaning, Digital Production and Consumption, and Disability and Accessibility can all find a place in relating to the construction of digital media, and how it functions to serve the variety of purposes that it does. As media is created, the creator(s) must keep in mind the process for how they will do so, considering their audience as well as the purpose. Making the media appealing, accessible, and with meaning is all essential towards it being well-made.

To make the media appealing, the creator must pull from numerous techniques and their knowledge of what the audience would want to see. An easy example of one of these techniques is the use of metaphors to instill a subconscious mindset whilst not making the agenda too obvious and therefore annoying or off-putting. By using metaphors, the creator of the media can connect simple words and phrases to emotions or adjectives. Metaphors also allow the creator to have a more fluid approach to writing. Rather than stick to strictly logical explanations, metaphors can ease in subtle normalities in speech such as: High status is up, so “The rates will rise” is a good thing without specifically stating it outright. Additionally, the appealing factor of media is not solely reliant on the wording, it can also be based off the visuals the information is shown in. If a poster were to have reliable, sound information, but completely lack the visual appeal of a proper poster, the viewer would most likely view it quickly and not retain the information. In light of this, all media which has the possibility to use visual elements to add to the appeal should do so in order to retain the viewer’s attention as well as make it look nice. Overall, the appeal of a media piece can decide whether or not it will be forgotten or enjoyable visually, similarly to how accessibility to such media decides the audience.

Accessibility is another crucial point to consider in the creation of media. Too often are the difficulties and trials of the disabled to use social media forgotten and unnoticed in the media-making process. To truly have a wide audience, not only gender, race, sexuality, but the disabled must also be considered in how the media will be prepared. For the various genres of disability, there are also matching genres of solutions, each matching with their appropriate issue. Obviously, it may be impossible to make a piece of media which can be treated as accessible to all people, but that does not in itself provide an excuse to not try to cover as many issues as possible. Despite a media piece being accessible, if it has no purpose or meaning it will fail regardless.

The meaning of a media piece is what defines its existence and is the core of why the piece was made at all. The purpose behind the media should be solidified at the beginning of the process to ensure it does not exist solely to fill space. Without meaning, the media could have impeccable appeal and accessibility, and still fail to gain any traction or audience because it simply did not mean anything. Writing an article or creating a poster about no solid topic usually ends as a waste of resources and time. All in all, media needs to be created with several objectives in mind, some of which are appeal, accessibility, and purpose, in order for it to succeed.

Citations

Bonilla, Yarimar, and Jonathan Rosa. “#Ferguson.” American Ethnologist, blogs.umass.edu/jdrosa/files/2015/01/Bonilla-Rosa-2015-Ferguson.pdf.

“Inside Higher Ed.” Technology Can Help Address Accessibility Challenges, but Many Say It’s an Incomplete Solution, http://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/05/02/technology-can-help-address-accessibility-challenges-many-say.