Friday, 30 October 2020

603 Study Task 4 & Weekly Briefing

 Weekly Briefing

  • Remember terminology when writing about COP (check over blogs)

Need to start work on COP practical:

  • Develop a brief (revise what have so far)
  • Do initial visual research

Wc/ 9.11 mini 601 crits, need initial ideas, understanding that you've done background research, etc. Bring things, it will help!

When writing competition briefs, put them into your own context, write out how you are going to approach the brief.

Book in to use book binding to develop new binding skills:

  • Bind greyboard sketchbook with cloth tape
  • Practice forms of coptic stitch with signatures

Mon, Tue, Wed(am) = COP Wed(pm), Thu = EP


Extended Practice Sesssion

5 things that are different between me as L5 and L6:

  • Less scared of COP
  • Found and interested in physical design (particularly publication) and audience interaction
  • Gotten better at managing my time (so far)
  • Have a better understanding of contemporary design
  • Feel like I know how to get myself working through problems when struggling on a brief

Brief Task:

  • Remember ethics when developing a brief, how will what you're making impact the audience.
  • Include a timeframe in Studio Deadline box (e.g. 3 weeks).
  • Include audience and audience considerations, why, what, how etc. There is more to an audience than their age range.
  • In background need to explain roughly anything that people may not understand (don't assume the person reading know what you're referring to).
  • Remember you will be assessed on these briefs, you will be compared against these when assessment comes around.
  • What's the reason for the book existing? What is it trying to communicate? What is the purpose? Outline this in background/considerations section of brief.
  • Ask the question, is the brief achievable in the current climate (ie covid).

Thursday, 29 October 2020

COP Further Research - Muller-Brockmann (2019), Mangen and Kuiken (2014), Carney (2012), Dressler (2019), Serif vs. Sans For Text in Print (n.d),

Red Italic = my comments/thoughts
Yellow highlight = key sections of information

Visual Example (Grid Systems)

REFERENCE: Müller-Brockmann, 2019. Grid Systems In Graphic Design. Niederteufen: Verlag Arthur Niggli, pp.118

Brochure Lufthansa (Grid for the double page) 'The advertising brochure for Lufthansa is built up on a 16-part grid. In this clear and simple design the pictures and text are in precise alignment. The coloured pictures, which are of various size, are arranged in a rhythmic pattern. The title and text are set in two type sizes.' Pg 118
- Thinking about introducing principles into design, this is a good reference for a positive use of design principles to assist in learning. 
- The design choices allow the reader to develop an understanding of where the information will be on the page due to the visual consistency. 
- Hierarchy is well designed allowing key information to stand out.
- Imagery is has a more unique layout but as they images are positioned the same on both pages the reader cna understand the design and therefore focus on the content (less cognition being used). 


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Lost in an iPad - Narrative engagement on paper and tablet

REFERENCE: Mangen, A. and Kuiken, D., 2014. Lost in an iPad. Scientific Study of Literature, 4(2), pp.150-177.

LINK: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne_Mangen/publication/269692668_Mangen_A_Kuiken_D_2014_Lost_in_an_iPad_Narrative_engagement_on_paper_and_tablet/links/552b5b730cf29b22c9c1a7a3.pdf

When reading on paper, readers have immediate sensory access to text sequence, as well as to the entirety of the text. They can discern visually, as well as sense kinesthetically, their page by page progress through the text; the paper substrate provides physical, tactile, and spatiotemporally fixed cues to text length'. pg152

'In contrast, when reading on screen, readers may see (e.g., using page numbers) but not kinesthetically sense their page by page progress through the text.' pg152

 - This supports Jabr (2013) and the development of understanding through physical navigation. Consider this when design and use these points to support Jabr (2013) in essay.

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Come On, I Thought I Knew That!

LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/health/19mind.html (Carney, 2012)

psychologists at Princeton and Indiana University had 28 men and women read about three species of aliens, each of which had seven characteristics, like “has blue eyes,” and “eats flower petals and pollen.” Half the participants studied the text in 16-point Arial font, and the other half in 12-point Comic Sans MS or 12-point Bodoni MT, both of which are relatively unfamiliar and harder for the brain to process.

After a short break, the participants took an exam, and those who had studied in the harder-to-read fonts outperformed the others on the test, 85.5 percent to 72.8 percent, on average.

“The reason that the unusual fonts are effective is that it causes us to think more deeply about the material,” a co-author of the study, Daniel M. Oppenheimer, a psychologist at Princeton, wrote in an e-mail. “But we are capable of thinking deeply without being subjected to unusual fonts. Think of it this way, you can’t skim material in a hard to read font, so putting text in a hard-to-read font will force you to read more carefully.”

Then again, so will raw effort, he and other researchers said.

- Interesting ideas about inducing excess cognition to develop a deeper understanding. Wouldn't this just lead to the reader getting fatigued more quickly?

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Understanding the Effect of Font Type on Reading Comprehension/Memory under Time Constraints

LINK: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=university_honors_program
Dressler, E. (2019) Understanding the Effect of Font Type on Reading Comprehension/Memory under Time-Constraints. University of Nebraska at Omaha.

based on their test performance, participants comprehended passages presented in Times New Roman better than in Haettenschweiler.

Previous research has shown that more cognitive engagement leads to deeper processing, which helps in encoding and retrieval (Craik & Tulving, 1975). However these studies have usually been for short passages of text. If an individual has a large amount of text to read in a difficult font more cognitive processing will be to understand the letters in order to read, rather than to understand the content (more extraneous processing = less memory).


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Serif vs Sans Serif for Text in Print

LINK: https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/type-anatomy/serif-vs-sans-for-text-in-print
Serif Vs. Sans For Text In Print | Fonts.Com. [online] Available at: https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-1/type-anatomy/serif-vs-sans-for-text-in-print [Accessed 10 November 2020].

Serif typefaces have historically been credited with increasing both the readability and reading speed of long passages of text because they help the eye travel across a line, especially if lines are long or have relatively open word spacing (as with some justified type).

many sans serif typefaces exist that are more legible at any size than some serif designs.

Color and other type treatments

Serif strokes can be thin or thick, subtle or robust. Delicate serifs can be challenging to reproduce crisply in certain scenarios, notably: reversing them out of a dark color, photograph, or pattern (as they will tend to break up); or printing them in CMYK (as the edges will look fuzzy or weak). Printing them in a solid, spot color is less risky. If need be, select a serif typeface with sturdy features, or opt for a sans serif.

 - Consider the choice of sans and sans serif based off of the size and purpose for the text. This way the reader can navigate the page and read the text easily with little cognitive exertion. 

Wednesday, 28 October 2020

Primary Research Further Textual Analysis

Analysing the notes from observations through thematic analysis, wanting to identify similarities as well as highlight key points relating to navigation, and interaction.


Key

 

Red text

Handling point

Blue text

Image interaction

Green highlight

Reading book back to front

Yellow highlight

Looking at front then reading blurb

Pink highlight

Reading from first page

Blue highlight

Checking cover


Observation: Rosie

  • Picks book up and looks at the front, then turns around and start reading the blurb. Reads the blurb briefly then opens book up at front. 

  • Looks over first few pages and glance over contents. 

  • Picks book up off the table to read, uses page numbers to navigate to a specific page[EC1] , flicking through book to find page. 

  • Puts book back down on table. 

  • Finds page, glances at images on the pages, turns page a few times looking at images, then flicks back to page she wishes to look at. 

  • Keeps finger pinned at desired page while flicking through pages front to back. Once done flicks to thumb marked page and begins to read. [EC2] 

  • Turns page from bottom right corner. 

  • Holds pages along edges rather than corners. 

  • Keeps reading for a short while then turns pages, only glancing at the content. Continues to turn page and scan content. Turns page and scans.

  • Places thumb on page, closed book to check cover, then returns to thumb marked page. Flicks the page and starts to read thoroughly. Turns page, scans initially then continues to read. Turns page, and scans. Then continues to flicks page. Flicks pages and looks at images, reading information related to that image. Continues to do this for a few more pages, bypassing pages with no images. 

  • Returns to initial pages she looked at by quickly flicking page[EC3] , and reads. Continues to flick back to start of chapter (I assume) and reads.

End. 

 


 [EC1]Uses traditional navigation tools, contents and page number.

 [EC2]Again using hands to navigate through the book, able to do so as have the whole book at hand.

 [EC3]Really interesting point here, seems as though Rosie knew roughly in the book where she found those images.


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Observation: Heather

  • Picks up book, goes to look at front inside page but instead turns to the back and begins to read the blurb.

  • Turns book over to look at the front, looks at the spine, opens book and navigates the first few pages. Reads page. 


  • Turns page and keeps reading. Turns page and reads. Turns page and reads. 

  • Turns book upside down to keep open while ties hair up.

  • Returns to reading. Flips to the cover to check something (I assume title), then continues reading. 

  • Reading pages at traditionally would, left to right. 

  • Holds page ready to turn in the top right hand corner while reading. 

  • Turns page and notices colour change of paper, checks what's on that page, then returns to reading page she was on.[EC1] 


End. 

 


 [EC1]Really interesting that page colour caused a distraction when looking at text, interrupting reading process.


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Observation: Charlie


  • Looked at the front cover, then turned and looked at the back cover, reads the blurb. 

  • Flicks through pages back to front. Cuts to contents page, goes to next page then checks contents page again. 

  • Turns to first page and starts to read, skims page, flicks to page with image. 

  • Goes back to look at the back page and starts reading from the page, flicking through pages.

  • Finds image of interest and looks, flicks through pages, finds another image looks briefly. Flicks through pages again scanning that pages, finds images and looks at them (roughly for 2 seconds). Flicks through book (still going from front to back). Finds another image, stops for (3 seconds) keeps flicking through book.

  • Stops on page of interest and starts to read, then flicks page, scanning at images, continues flicking. 

  • Goes and reads contents page again, more thoroughly. Then closes book and looks at the back page (blurb, and reads it through). Goes back to contents page and reads, navigates to specific chapter and begins to read pages traditionally. Image on right hand page, text on the left, reads text doesn't look at image and turns the page. 


End. 


 

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Observation: Sophie

 

  • Opens book, turns to first page and starts reading. Turns a couple pages and pauses on a page and looks at it for a little longer. 

  • Holds book at the top pages and turns pages along the top short edge.

  • Reads page with book flat on the desk. Tapping thumb on page. 

  • Flicks through a couple of pages. Then collects section of pages in left hand and flips through them stopping on pages with images, spends more time looking at these images turns the page to find more info about them but gets distracted by the ticket I left in the book (issue on my behalf).

  • Closes book and starts to read the blurb on the back, opens the back page and reads the book back to front for a couple pages. Taps spine with thumb.   

  • Flicks through book back to front until finds something of interest and looks at page for 3 seconds, continues to flick back to front. Keeps pausing on pages of interest. 

  • Looks at the top of the page then the bottom quickly after[EC1] . Flicks through pages. Finds interest and starts to read. 

  • Turns page and keeps reading, then flicks though pages. Pauses and flicks back then reads.

  • Flicks a few pages, looking for something in particular it seems, then flicks pack through pages just looked at. Flicks forward a few pages (going from back to front). Stops and looks at page, then continues to flick through pages at a slow pace (back to front). Flicking gets quicker. 

  • Realises fast flicking through pages is entertaining so cuts to back of book and flicks quickly through all the pages. Does it again back to front, then again from front to back.

  • Places book on table, starts to read blurb with chin on book.

 

End.

 


 [EC1]Navigation point, looking at specific sections of page, could be where title is then to a page number or to content placed lower down.





603 10 Briefs - Further Development

(1) A BOOK A DAY (week long)


Designing a zine/publication each day for a week. Quick exercises to push what a book is, and see how content alongside production can influence the audience’s perception.

 

Very much inspired by Joe Gilmore talk in Level 5, mentioned about how he saw a book as a way of representing real life things in a contained format. In particular one of his books ‘A’ which is described as “An artist's book which investigates the form of the book through the relationship between form and content. In book design, the page functions structurally as a discrete unit around which content is organised. Here, this relationship between form and content is ignored. This is the first in a series of ‘Alphabet’ books which explore new ways of engaging with the book through layout, topology and printing.”

Inspired by Joe Gilmore talk, in particular 7.45 books in a year challenge. Wanting to conduct a similar investigation, and push limits using time as a restriction.

 

Wanting the books to be made on that day with little preplanning. Use a random word generator to give a direction for each book. Hoping to see how a process may develop over the week, does it become easier, what approaches are adopted etc.

To produce a minimum of 5 books, the form of these books isn’t specified. The theme of each publication will be decided by a random word generator and cannot be changed.


Brief sheet so far:



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(2)  EXPOSURE (collab w/peggy)

COVID-19 and the national lockdown means staying connected digitally has never been more important for our mental wellbeing during this time of isolation. It has highlighted both the benefits of social media to keep us connected to loved ones, but has also given us a lot more free time to scroll, judge, and compare.

We have been contemplating over the concept of exposing your life to strangers online- how accepted it is to broadcast every highlight of your day, whether it be for 24 hours on an Instagram story or permanently uploaded so even potential employers can see. This has seemingly turned into habit, and we rarely, if ever, consider the privacy risks of this act or the damage it can do long term.

Keeping a written, physical diary is considered a completely intimate, personal and private experience, so why do these rules not apply when we post images, opinions and feelings digitally? This brief asks us to take an intimate approach to exploring the way physical and digital means of documenting our lives can change our views on exposing ourselves to the world, and the risks associated with each. Does what we document physically differ to what we post online? Do we feel happier posting things on social media due to the pace of trends? Do we genuinely post things for ourselves or for other people? Does the idea of having your Instagram feed printed physically, and vice versa, empower or alarm you?

  • This needs investigating further, figuring out a clear direction of where we want to go, but also a timeline of the project.

RESEARCH:

Odd Publications: https://oddpublications.com/about/ A data publishing house. Taking digital information and turning it into a physical object. 'Your Tweets in a Book' project is particularly interesting. Asks the question 'do they read differently?'.

  • Printed media seems as though it's going to have been fact checked.
  • Speed of publishing physical objects is much slower so seems more legit.

Navigation of publications - can you recreate the algorithms of digital media in physical media. Books seem honest, but that isn't always true.

Finsta - second instagram where people just document what they want, done to be ironic and funny. Do they propose the same issues as a regular.



Brief sheet so far:





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(3) REBRANDING HENRY MOORE INSTITUTE

I personally love going to art galleries and exhibitions and after living in Leeds for 3 years I know the Henry Moore Institute is there, but I haven’t once thought about going. I think this is due to their branding and brand strategy.


Thinking of how many young creatives are in Leeds (especially as LAU is based here), as well as how Leeds is a creative city the rebrand should focus on making the HMI more appealing to a younger audience, roughly 16-25 year olds.


Consider elements of branding such as logo, website, promotional materials, and merchandise.


Not wanting to deter the existing audience that engage with the HMI and fit cohesively with the existing principles of the institute.







Can see the current visuals/branding for the institute are not particularly engaging. Appears very flat, little dynamic movement especially for a website that could embrace the digital platform.

What to do next:
- Go to the gallery and look around for myself, take photos of interior spaces, merch etc. 

Brief sheet so far:



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(4) ODE TO HOME

Initially started thinking about a way of exploring my family's time during the RAF. Wanting to develop a project around the idea of nostalgia and childhood, perhaps comparing the differences between her childhood and mine.

But then felt like I wanted to look into this sense of "home" what is home and what makes somewhere feel like home. 

I have a really strong attachment to Sheffield as it's where I'm from, and I know a lot of my friends and family back home do as well. There seems to be a weird vibe in Sheffield where you know people by only a few degrees of separation. 

I'd love to create a project that presents Sheffield as home. Hoping to collaborate with an external photographer from Sheffield to develop the project further, we can discuss what makes Sheffield feel like home, and how to capture this through photography.

What to think about:
- What/where would the photos be?
- What about them would create a sense of "home" for the audience?
- Try to not just photograph houses and comfort spaces, really think about what it is in the city that makes it home.
- Talk to friends who live in Sheffield, ask them what is it that makes it feel like home. 

Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Conducting Primary Research Observations

Book Chosen to use:

Design as future-making.  /  Yelavich, Susan  &  Adams, Barbara  (2014)

- Has chapters and index, would be interesting to see how this impacts the user experience.
- How does the audience navigate the book, do they go straight to reading it or do they flick through it first, have a little investigate? 

Set up: 




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Observation: Charlie

Looked at the front cover, then turned and looked at the back cover, reads the blurb. 

Flicks through pages back to front. Cuts to contents page, goes to next page then checks contents page again. 

Turns to first page and starts to read, skims page, flicks to page with image. 

Goes back to look at the back page and starts reading from the page, flicking through pages. Finds image of interest and looks, flicks through pages, finds another image looks briefly. Flicks through pages again scanning that pages, finds images and looks at them (roughly for 2 seconds). Flicks through bok (still going from front to back). Finds another image, stops for (3 seconds) keeps flicking through book. Stops on page of interest and starts to read, then flicks page, scanning at images, continues flicking. 

Goes and reads contents page again, more thoroughly. Then closes book and looks at the back page (blurb, and reads it through). Goes back to contents page and reads, navigates to specific chapter and begins to read pages traditionally. Image on right hand page, text on the left, reads text doesn't look at image and turns the page. 

End. 

Link to video: https://youtu.be/4ONae-yohR0

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Observation: Heather

Picks up book, goes to look at front inside page but instead turns to the back and begins to read the blurb.

Turns book over to look at the front, looks at the spine, opens book and navigates the first few pages. Reads page. 

Turns page and keeps reading. Turns page and reads. Turns page and reads. 

Turns book upside down to keep open while ties hair up.

Returns to reading. Flips to the front to check something (I assume title), then continues reading. 

Reading pages at traditionally would, reflt to right. 

Holds page ready to turn in the top right hand corner while reading. 

Turns page and notices colour change of paper, checks what's on that page, then returns to reading page she was on.

End. 

Link to video: https://youtu.be/CBP2YUNOHtk

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Observation: Rosie

Picks book up and looks at the front, then turns around and start reading the blurb. Reads the blurb briefly then opens book up at front. 

Looks over first few pages and glance over contents. 

Picks book up off the table to read, uses page numbers to navigate to a specific page, flicking through book to find page. 

Puts book back down on table. 

Finds page, glances at images on the pages, turns page a few times looking at images, then flicks back to page she wishes to look at. 

Keeps finger pinned at desired page while flicking through pages front to back. Once done flicks to thumb marked page and begins to read. 

Turns page from bottom right corner. 

Holds pages along edges rather than corners. 

Keeps reading for a short while then turns pages, only glancing at the content. Continues to turn page and scan content. Turns page and scans.

Places thumb on page, closed book to check cover, then returns to thumb marked page. Flicks the page and starts to read thoroughly. Turns page, scans initially then continues to read. Turns page, and scans. Then continues to flicks page. Flicks pages and looks at images, reading information related to that image. Continues to do this for a few more pages, bypassing pages with no images. 

Returns to initial pages she looked at by quickly flicking page, and reads. Continues to flick back to start of chapter (I assume) and reads.

End.
 

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Observation: Sophie

Opens book, turns to first page and starts reading. Turns a couple pages and pauses on a page and looks at it for a little longer. 

Holds book at the top pages and turns pages along the top short edge.

Reads page with book flat on the desk. Tapping thumb on page. 

Flicks through a couple of pages. Then collects section of pages in left hand and flips through them stopping on pages with images, spends more time looking at these images turns the page to find more info about them but gets distracted by the ticket I left in the book (issue on my behalf).

Closes book and starts to read the blurb on the back, opens the back page and reads the book back to front for a couple pages. Tapsa spine with thumb. 

Flicks through book back to front until finds something of interest and looks at page for 3 seconds, continues to flick back to front. Keeps pausing on pages of interest. 

Looks at the top of the page then the bottom quickly after. Flicks through pages. Finds interest and starts to read. 

Turns page and keeps reading, then flicks though pages. Pauses and flicks back then reads.

Flicks a few pages, looking for something in particular it seems. then flicks pack through pages just looked at. Flicks forward a few pages (going from back to front). Stops and looks at page, then continues to flick through pages at a slow pace (back to front). Flicking gets quicker. 

Realises fast flicking through pages is entertaining so cuts to back of book and flicks quickly through all the pages. Does it again back to front, then again from front to back.

Places book on table, starts to read blurb with chin on book.

End.


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Link to video comparing the observations: https://youtu.be/QLAgN0m47m8

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Comparison, similarity between Rosie and Heather when looking through books:
They both stopped reading at a point (both just over 4 mins in) to looks at the cover, remind self of the topic potentially?

 



Similarly the way Heather and Charlie initially interacted with the books:
Both looked at the cover, then turned it over and looked and the blurb, read the blurb then entered the text. 
Charlie began to flick through pages first, however, Heather started reading from the beginning. 



Monday, 26 October 2020

COP Reading - Schneps et al (2013), Frey and Bosse (2018), Galli et al (2020), Shi et al (2020)

Yellow highlight = interesting research point
Red italic = my comments/thoughts

Shorter Lines Facilitate Reading in Those Who Struggle

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0071161
Schneps, M., Thomson, J., Sonnert, G., Pomplun, M., Chen, C. and Heffner-Wong, A. (2013) Shorter Lines Facilitate Reading in Those Who Struggle. PLoS ONE, 8(8).

  • People with dyslexia, who ordinarily struggle to read, sometimes remark that reading is easier when e-readers are used. Here, we used eye tracking to observe high school students with dyslexia as they read using these devices. Among the factors investigated, we found that reading using a small device resulted in substantial benefits, improving reading speeds by 27%, reducing the number of fixations by 11%, and importantly, reducing the number of regressive saccades by more than a factor of 2, with no cost to comprehension.
  • Given that an expected trade-off between horizontal and vertical regression was not observed when line lengths were altered, we speculate that these effects occur because sluggish attention spreads perception to the left as the gaze shifts during reading. Short lines eliminate crowded text to the left, reducing regression.
  • The effect of increased letter spacing to reduce crowding, were also found to modulate the oculomotor (eye movement) dynamics in reading, but whether these factors resulted in benefits or costs depended on characteristics, such as visual attention span, that varied within our sample.
  • Do the advantages of short lines found here in a sample of students with dyslexia, carry over to typical readers?
- Thinking about different audiences and how publication design can impact people of different learning abilities
- Mentions line length, starting to bring in design principles more. Elements like these need to be discussed further in practical, making sure they work for the reader. 

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Perceptual span, visual span, and visual attention span: Three potential ways to quantify limits on visual processing during reading

  • Perceptual Span turned out to be the most prominent concept in terms of explaining spatiotemporal decisions in eye movement control during reading. Accordingly, PS is considered the reference span for models of eye guidance during text reading, supported by underlying assumption that eye movements during reading depend on parafoveal processing.
  • Perceptual Span mainly relies on multiple “top-down” influences, such as individual differences in reading abilities or text readability.
- Found this article confusing, more research needed to see its relevance to the project

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Striving for Modernity: Layout and Abstracts in the Biomedical Literature

Galli, C., Colangelo, M.T., and Guizzardi, S (2020) Striving for Modernity: Layout and Abstracts in the Biomedical Literature. Publications, 8(3).

  • The choice of layout dictates how information is distributed across a page and can guide the reader through the text with visual cues, bring related information together and thereby create cohesion.
  • It has been shown that the choice of typeface and typographic layout affects the visual rhetorical impression of readers, and a consistent, uniform look is mostly associated with “academic”, “informative”, “professional” descriptors in experimental settings [2].
  • When considering printed articles, a two-column layout readily distinguishes academic papers from other genres, for instance, narrative books or even most textbooks (Figure 1). According to a broadly mentioned common knowledge, the main advantage of two-column layouts is the possibility to cram more text into a smaller page space by decreasing font size and shortening lines, with narrower margins, while keeping an adequate font size/line length ratio to make reading unimpeded.
    - The impact of columns can affect how the reader perceives the text, talking about columns and how they're beneficial to communicate a sense of the content being information compared to having a single column which communicates a more linear, story like narrative. 

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Construction of Cognitive Maps to Improve Reading Performance by Text Signaling: Reading Text on Paper Compared to on Screen

ttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.571957/full
Shi, Z., Tang, T. and Yin, L., 2020. Construction of Cognitive Maps to Improve Reading Performance by Text Signaling: Reading Text on Paper Compared to on Screen. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.

  • This study randomly divided 75 college students into a paper reading group and an on-screen reading group. Both groups were tested for navigation and reading comprehension in response to three different forms of signaling
  • The results showed that when plain text was presented, the navigation and comprehension scores of the paper reading group were significantly higher than those of the on-screen reading group.
  • When the human brain collects visual information about an object, it also collects information about its surroundings and connects them together (Jabr, 2013; Li et al., 2013).
  • During the reading process, readers first identify “landmarks,” namely, important concepts, knowledge, or information. Then, they construct routes between the landmarks, i.e., front and back, far and near, as well as hierarchical relationships between concepts, knowledge, or information in logical and spatial positions. Finally, they integrate these landmarks and relationships into survey knowledge, i.e., build textual cognitive maps (Foo et al., 2005; Voeroes et al., 2011).
  • The construction of such cognitive maps not only helps to locate the content that has been read, but also leads to more effective retention and recall of text information (Rothkopf, 1971; Lovelace and Southall, 1983; O’Hara et al., 1999; Morineau et al., 2005).
  • Text signaling is one of the most used reading strategies (Li et al., 2016). Text signals include words, phrases, sentences, or special symbols that can appear in different places within a text, but rather than adding any new content, they emphasize the structure or specific content of the text (Britton et al., 1982; Lorch, 1989; Van Gog, 2014).
    - Similar to hierarchy, needs to be considered t assist the development of a mental map. 
  • In multimedia learning, it is also known as the signaling principle or cueing principle, and it refers to the finding that people learn better when signals are added that guide attention to certain elements of the material or highlight the structure (Mayer, 2005; Van Gog, 2014). (again feels like principles of hierarchy, but these have more psychological backing so could refer to these in essay and join with hierarchy principles to develop an argument)
  • Signaling forms mainly consist of physical signaling and verbal signaling. Physical signaling is defined as emphasizing important information and words mainly by highlighting, underlining, and bold formatting. Verbal signaling includes headings, summaries, and organizing charts (He and Mo, 2000; Mayer, 2005).
  • The results showed that the reading comprehension and navigation scores in the case of signaling were significantly higher than those of non-signaling, indicating that signals help to construct cognitive maps during reading, which showed a signaling promotion effect. (The signaling promotion effect is defined as the promotion effect of text signals on comprehension processes and information retention of a text (Lorch et al., 1993; Lorch and Lorch, 1996; He and Mo, 2000).)
  • First, concerning the impact of signals on background information, rich background information not only helps the brain to process and encode textual content but also facilitates identification of the location and extraction of specific information (Chun and Jiang, 1998; Morineau et al., 2005). - this background information can provide cues of the structure of the text allowing an information rich mental map to be made in the brain.
    - Links to andragogy and the way adults learn by building on past experience. 
    - Publications when aiming to inform if presenting new concepts need to start with a basic foundation of the topic and then build on this as they go along. 
  • Whether the text was presented on paper or screen, physical, and verbal signals of texts could help readers to navigate, construct cognitive maps, and improve their reading performance.

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To Read:

Effects of text structure on use of cognitive capacity during reading: 
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1982-20298-001

Why the Brain Prefers Paper: 
http://www.keepmeposted.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/REPORT_Why-the-Brain-Prefers-Paper-2013.pdf

The Influence of Font Type on Information Recall:
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.561.9349&rep=rep1&type=pdf

603: Summative Module Evaluation

End of Module Summative Evaluation: The briefs I’ve submitted for 603 reflect who I am as a creative and explore interests of mine in rela...