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Formal analysis
Timeline JS and the ACLU utilize multiple design tools, which can be described
using Scott McClouds Understanding Comics.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Word/media relationships
The way the text and other media combine to create meaning fall
into two of McClouds word/picture categories as described in
Understanding Comics. The still photos used on most slides share a word
specific relationship with the text a combination where pictures
illustrate, but dont significantly add to largely complete text (McCloud,
1994, p. 153). Figures 3 and 4 demonstrate this combination as used in the
timeline. The photos contribute little to understanding the slides. In this
relationship, the role of images is very weak in comparison to the text.
Timeline analysis // NITSCHKE, ERICA
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 6
CONTENT Analysis
Purpose, Audience
The timeline is a tool designed to serve two purposes: to educate
and to mobilize. The bulk of the content is strictly informative, meant to
educate the audience about the history and impact of the VRA. The last
few slides, however, demonstrate the intent to persuade the audience
that the VRA remains to be an important piece of legislation and
encourage passage of the Voting Rights Amendment Act. These two
goals align with the larger goals of the organization to raise awareness
of individual and civil liberty problems and to mobilize citizens and political
agents to act in support of reform efforts.
The intended audience is those who have lobbying or policymaking
power and the ability to donate to the cause or those who have future
potential to do so. The simplified nature of the content suggests that the
Timeline analysis // NITSCHKE, ERICA
EVALUATION
Overall, the ACLUs timeline serves its purpose and its audience well.
Because of its use of additional forms of media, and the ease of navigation
through content, the timeline effectively engages an audience in a way static
timelines produced in print publications cannot. The design of the timeline is
clean and clear, making it easy to consume information as you progress through
its slides. Its purpose is clear and executed well. The persuasive nature of the
timeline is revealed somewhat subtly it is not understood as a purpose of the
timeline until the end when the audience has invested time which is an
effective strategy. The proportioned use of ethos, pathos and logos, and
reliance primarily on logos, works well for the medium. The primary critique I
have of the timeline is in its overall weak use of word/picture relationships.
McCloud emphasizes the need for a strong relationship between the two in say,
Indeed, words and pictures have great powers to tell stories when creators
fully exploit them both (McCloud, 1994, p. 152). The word specific and additive
relationships are both combinations in which the role of text greatly outweighs
that of the image. The use of Timeline JS provides so much potential for user
interaction and incorporation of multiple forms of media. The ACLU should be
striving to use that potential to its full extent. Most slides used still images that add
little or nothing to understanding its message. The more the ACLU can move
toward interdependent, parallel, or montage relationships, the more engaged
its audience will be.
Works cited
American Civil Liberties Union. (2014). Voting Rights Act: Major Dates in History.
Retrieved from: https://www.aclu.org/timelines/history-voting-rightsact?rct=&redirect=node/4525
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York:
HarperPerennial, 1994. Print.
Northwestern University Knight Lab. (2015). Overview: Timeline JS: Easy-to-make,
beautiful timelines. Retrieved from: http://timeline.knightlab.com/