Information and Media: Text in Media and Information Literacy

Learning Objectives

  • Define text and differentiate the types of text.
  • Identify the principles and elements of effective text design.
  • Analyze text materials for clarity, organization, and visual appeal.
  • Apply proper formatting and design principles in revising poorly designed text media.

Activity: Text Makeover

  • Examples of poorly designed text include phrases like "DON'T MAKE TAWID HERE," "WELCOME PO KAYO DITO!," "YOU'LL GONNA BE PATAY. PROMIZ!," and "MASSAGE THE RAPIST".

What is Text?

  • Text is a simple and flexible format for presenting information or conveying ideas, whether hand-written, printed, or displayed on-screen (MIL TG by CHED).
  • Text is any "human-readable sequence of characters" that can form intelligible words (Rouse (2015)).

Formal and Informal Text

  • Formal text uses tone, word choice, and sentence structure appropriate for established institutions.
    • Formal text-based material is created and distributed by established institutions such as publishing companies and news agencies.
    • Formal texts undergo editing and evaluation processes.
  • Informal text reflects personal opinions or views on different issues.
    • Informal text-based materials come from personal opinions or views on different issues, process, etc., such as blogs, personal e-mails, SMS or text messages, inline messengers, and social media platforms.
    • Informal text accepts colloquialisms, slang, figures of speech, clichés, and incomplete sentences.

Text Sources

  • Formal: News articles, published books, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, research works, etc.
  • Informal: Blogs, personal e-mails, SMS or text messages, online messengers, social media platforms, etc.

Text Length

  • Text can be short, like a single sentence or phrase.
  • Text can be lengthy, like news articles or investigative reporting.

Consumer vs. Producer

  • Consumer: We can be consumers of text media and information.
  • Producer: We can be producers of text media and information.

Questions for Consumers of Text Media

  • Who or what institution is sending this message?
  • What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?
  • What is the language used by the writer?
  • What views are represented? Are they balanced?
  • How might the message be interpreted in different ways?

Producer's Media and Information Design Framework

  • Target audience
  • Author or sender
  • Key content
  • Purpose
  • Form/style and format

Classification of Texts (Parekh, 2006)

  • Plain or Unformatted Text: Contains only text without special formatting like bold, italics, or font colors. It is the simplest form of digital text representation.
  • Formatted Text: Text styled or arranged to enhance its visual appearance, including changes to font, size, color, and spacing, as well as addition of images and hyperlinks.
  • Hypertext: Characterized by external links embedded in the text by the writer.

Text as Visual

  • In the absence of images, text is an easy way to communicate.
  • The use of various font types can express different emotions or meaning.

Typeface

  • Typeface (also called font, font type, or type) refers to the representation or style of a text in digital format.
  • A typeface usually comprises alphabets, numbers, punctuation marks, symbols, and other special characters.

Types of Typefaces

  • Serif: Connotes formality and readability in large amounts of text. Examples: Times New Roman, Garamond, Baskerville.
  • Sans Serif: Brings a clean or minimalist look to the text. Examples: Arial, Calibri, Tahoma.
    • "Sans" means "without"; Sans Serif fonts do NOT have any flourishes at the end of strokes.
  • Slab Serif: Carries a solid or heavy look to text. Examples: Rundeck, Texture, Thicker, Destroy, March, Rough.
  • Script: Draws much attention to itself because of its brush-like strokes. Examples: Clicker Script, Bukhari Script.
  • Decorative: Caters to a wide variety of emotions such as celebration, fear, horror, etc. Examples: Butcherman Was Monster, Black and White Picture.

Principles of Text Design

  • Appropriateness: How fitting or suitable the text is for a specific audience, purpose, or event.
    • Ensure that the selection criteria (tone, style, purpose, clarity) are followed.
  • Emphasis: Importance or value given to a part of the text-based content.
    • To highlight a message, the text can be bold, italicized, heavier, darkened, lightened, or enlarged.
  • Proximity: How near or far the text elements are from each other.
    • Closely related elements are placed close together; otherwise, they are placed far apart.
    • For example, the main title and subtitle are usually placed close to each other.
  • Alignment: How the text is positioned on the page (left, right, center, or justified).
  • Organization: A conscious effort to organize the different text elements on a page.
    • Ensures that while some text elements are separated (based on proximity), they are still connected with the rest of the elements on the page.
  • Repetition: Encourages consistency by repeating some typefaces within the page.
    • Avoid using too many typefaces, as it can distract the audience. Also, avoid using just a single typeface.
  • Contrast: Creates visual interest by making elements different from each other.
    • For example, use white text on a dark brown background instead of a light yellow background.
    • Contrast can be achieved by combining large and small fonts, serif and sans serif fonts, and cool and warm colors.