images_and_texts_series - Western Illinois University

Libraries

Images and Texts Series

This spring the Department of English and Journalism and WIU Libraries are sponsoring a series of talks on the long, complex, fruitful, problematic, and timely topic of the relationship between texts and images. "Timely?" you say. We live in a time when images and texts are in constant engagement—one we are all caught up in. Indeed, some consider this the age of the image-text, a time when we no longer engage images and texts separately, but simultaneously. Consider the smartphone, a technology that serves as a platform for texts and images and is itself with its icons, images, alerts, both textual and aural, an image-text. The ability to use a smartphone requires the ability to navigate images and texts and to engage them separately and in tandem. Likewise, Facebook is a semiotic stew of texts and images. Our series will look at the relationship between texts and images as it plays out in the news media (Bill Knight and Lisa Kernek discussing "Graphics Journalism"); via Google Earth (Christine Jach examining the "Poetics and Politics in Google Earth); in the 19th century (Sarah Horowitz opining on "19th Century Illustrated Books"); video games (Melissa Wangall and Eric Hoffman illuminating "Video Games as Narrative"); in DIY culture (Rebekah Buchanan revealing to us "Caught Looking: Zines and Images," ;and Shakespeare himself (Nataliya's Kosheleva's apostrophizing upon "Shakespeare Under Covers." All talks are at noon and in Malpass Library 180 except for Sarah Horowitz's, which is in the Sandburg Lounge.

Talk Schedule

Poetics and Politics in Google Earth: Christine Jach; January 25; Malpass Library 180; 12:00pm
Graphics Journalism: Bill Knight & Lisa Kernek; January 27; Malpass Library 180; 12:00pm
19th Century Illustrated Books: Sarah Horowitz; February 23; Malpass Library 180; 12:00pm
Video Games as Narrative: Melissa Wangall & Eric Hoffman; March 3rd; Malpass Library 180; 12:00pm
Caught Looking: Zines and Images: Rebekah Buchanan; March 30; Malpass Library 180; 12:00pm
Shakespeare Under Covers: Nataliya Kosheleva; April 14; Malpass Library 180; 12:00pm