Both readings emphasize the importance of communication and the need for contemporary writing practices that reflect the diverse modality. Even though they are both different and address distinct aspects of writing. Melanie Gagich focuses more on multimodal writing. Klein and Shackelford focus more on document design and the formatting of students’ understanding of effective communication.
For my understanding of both readings, Gagich promotes creativity and the strategic approach of tools such as images and videos. She wants students to analyze audience expectations, and design projects that can effectively communicate their thoughts. I believe that this can shift challenges of authorship and requires students to act as curators of content. Her framework helps students to see multimodal composing not as a replacement for writing but as an alternative. The reading by Klein and Shackelford, is mainly about the formatting such as on how to layout, typography and the impact of writing texts. Effective communication is not only about content but presentation as well. Their main focus is to advise students of the goal of graphic design, for instance, balance, alignment, and contrast to improve the persuasiveness of our writing. Both authors advocates for the expansion of traditional writing to include non textual elements and reflecting more towards multimodal. Gagich wants students to experiment with emerging technologies and foster creativity. While for Klein and Shackelford, provide a more structured approach for document design that can be applied across multiple contexts. And as a fundamental part of written communication. I think this highlights the importance of teaching us students to have a better understanding of the complexities of modern communication.
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