Channels, Fall 2016

Page 64 Kenniv • Visual Rhetoric: A Case for Visual Literacy in the Classroom Similarly, Florence Nightingale’s Rose Diagrams had an impact on society. “For Nightingale, statistics were not merely numbers; they revealed patterns that would allow human beings to control destiny” (Brasseur 2005, 164). Nightingale understood the significance of the data she researched. Her audience, however, did not. In fact, she had tried several times to present and publish her findings via reports. It was not until she creatively displayed the tabular data with an easily-understood diagram that people understood how great the problem really was. Brasseur (2005) notes that “tabular data was not likely to persuade au- diences at the time, in part because these audiences were unlikely to be schooled in the use of data in social science.” Her diagrams showed the progression of the Crimean war and compared the deaths on the field to those in the hospital. With the abstract data in concrete form, Nightingale’s audience saw the truth of her argument. Brasseur (2005) says that “Nightingale’s rhetoric in her use of the rose diagrams is an important example of how vis- ual abstraction of data can help further an argument.” As Kimball (2006) so aptly states, “We should not underestimate the power of this visual rhetoric on its viewers.” So, images have value in a persuasive argument and sometimes have the advantage over text. In the Booth and Nightingale examples above, textual data failed to incite people to ac- tion; the visual representation of this data did. Since images have so much potential persua- sive power, students need to first recognize this fact and then be burdened by the weight of responsibility of choosing and crafting images carefully, not haphazardly. In a visual rheto- ric course, professors should stress the power of the image, providing examples like the two above. They should impress upon students that the popular motto, “With great power comes great responsibility,” applies to how the professional writer uses images. Images and Text: A Symbiotic Relationship As demonstrated by the power of visuals, visuals are not subordinate to text. In fact, they can persuade more effectively than text at times. Yet, oftentimes, the underlying assump- tion about images is that they are somehow subordinate to or merely supporting the text. Most do not recognize the persuasive power in the visual alone, defining images as “prod- ucts that tell a story that is single, static, and—if the writer is ethical—true” (Rosner 2001, 392). Yet, we must be careful not to elevate the image to a position above text either. Both are ef- fective in their turn, and most often they work together to accomplish their persuasive goal. For example, Nightingale used the Rose Diagrams and verbal explanations of the diagrams to “create an appeal that went beyond merely exciting inquiry to exciting action (Brasseur 2005, 180). This exemplifies the symbiotic relationship between images and text. In biol- ogy, a symbiotic relationship is where two organisms mutually benefit and depend on one another. Such is the case between images and text; they benefit and help one another. Their relationship is dynamic, not stoic. It takes a knowledgeable student to determine where and when images or text are appropriate within an argument. Students will gain this