Writing Spaces as Island Formation: Intersections of Design, Multimodality, and Space in Writing Studies

Importance of Space

Question #1: In looking at each of the images below, what kind of writing does this space invite?

Fig. 1.

Image of inside of 19th century Little Red Schoolhouse ("Little Red Schoolhouse").

Fig. 2.

Image of Fall 2015 renovated classroom and configuration that can be found on wall of classroom. An accompanying sign states, "This room has been set for the semester. Please do not change the capacity or configuration."

Question #2: Considering the space you are currently in, what kind of writing does it invite?

Keller and Weisser state how "nearly all of the conversations in composition studies involve place, space, and location, in one way or another" (qtd. in Davis). However, it is not only recent conversations that are discussing space. Nineteenth-century writing instruction manuals that were given to teachers talked about the arrangement and use of the one-room school-house in relation to the blackboards that were newly hung in the front of the room. Discussions about space also are not limited to composition, as seen in fields like design. Tim Brown in his Change by Design discusses space as integral to the creative process and if the product is creativity then the environment should reflect and reinforce this. Yet, despite these continuing discussions about space, Douglas Walls and others argue, "Physical space is perhaps one of the most important, yet often overlooked, issues of interface that we negotiate as writers, researchers, and teachers" (273).

Core Questions

Why consider design in conversation with composition, though? In doing research on design and design thinking for my first-year composition multimodal assignments, I found the humanities are only sometimes mentioned as part of the disciplines that engage in design but are not mentioned consistently; instead, it is engineering, architecture, and business that are discussed. In this limited research, I have yet to see rhetoric or writing explicitly mentioned, even though such discussions are focused on rhetoric or discussions of the design process sound very similar to ones that have happened in writing studies. Ultimately, we see there is an archipelago of fields that are part of design and rhetoric. In a focus only on research related to space, design along with rhetoric and writing can all be part of one archipelago. My investigation to understand this connection of space with rhetoric and writing conversations that see design as important involved several core questions:

• • In writing spaces, what do writers create, how do they create it, and how is design an integral part of that?

• • IHow do we as instructors and writers understand the spaces in which digital writing now occurs?

• • IHow has design and design thinking shaped writing studies discussions of spaces and the kinds of writing that exists in those spaces?

• • IHow are our writing spaces, virtual and physical, like transforming islands?

In surveying the literature, I have found spaces considered are wide-ranging: the variety of digital spaces and physical spaces that exist along with specifically, makerspaces, scholarship in academics, the body, and even a summer camp. The term design is also invoked in a variety of ways. Some of the research refers to design as elements, such as layout, arrangement, and typography, while others consider design as part of design thinking, design philosophy, or a design mindset.

Role of Technology

Initially, I went into this research thinking technology and new media will have had a significant impact on what is created. This was sparked by the research I had conducted on 19^th-century classroom spaces and technologies and specifically how a technology like the blackboard was credited with transforming writing instruction. And, technology has had an impact. In his What Can Design Thinking Offer Writing Studies? James Purdy identifies two potential goals for invoking the term design: to "conceptualize composing as multimodal and to account for digital multimedia texts" (620). These goals help push the field of writing studies to consider digital texts as well as to consider the affordances of the technological...