Infographic design for whistleblowing: Systemic functionalmultimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA) of interpersonal meanings in an online newspaper infographic on ivory poaching Introduction Information graphics, or infographics, have long been regarded as a data visualisation format to turn mass data into systematic, comprehensible information. The infographic content in printed and online news media has provided substantial news value to enhance the credibility of news agency (Meyer, 2004) as they provide objectivity, accuracy and aesthetic values. The voices of infographic designers are thus often hidden behind the vividly presented information. It is admitted that understanding infographics is a discourse-level problem (Carberry et al, 2003). However, little has been to explore the discourse functions the elements serve in the infographics, alongside more empirical explorations on content and automatic recognition (Carberry et al, 2003; Holsanova, 2007; Huang and Tan, 2007; Keefer, 2011; Meyer, 2004). In view of this, this paper investigates the interpersonal meanings construed in the visual and verbal elements of one infographic from an online local newspaper about hunting endangered species. The present study first adopts systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA) (Bateman, 2008; Kress and van Leeuwen, 1998, 2006; Martin, 2002; Martinec, 2005; O Halloran, 2008, Royce, 1998; Unsworth, 2001) to identify the compositional meaning of the infographic. Then, the present study deploys the visual and verbal APPRAISAL theories (Economou, 2009; Macken-Horarik, 2004; Martin, 2001; Martin and 1
White, 2005) to compare the distribution of evaluative meanings among the visual and verbal elements. In addition to the implications, the potential further studies arising from the limitations are discussed to conclude this paper. SF-MDA: Compositional meaning in infographics The present study adopts the notion of compositional meaning in infographics based on Kres and van Leeuwen (2006) to identify how the visual and verbal elements relate to each other as a unified text. The composition meaning is first determined upon the placement of elements as information value that suggests the prominence of the elements in a text. The horizontal arrangement highlights the elements on the left as the known, presupposed information namely Given, whereas what is placed on the right is highlighted as New, offering new or sometimes contestable, problematic information to arouse attention. The vertical arrangement places the empirical, generalised information at the top as Ideal, and the bottom part of the visual text posits the practical, represented information as Real. Information value can also be arranged in the circular structure, in which the nucleus of the information is placed at the Centre and the dependent elements orbit around the nucleus as Margin. The second variable of compositional meaning is salience, suggesting how one element takes up a higher hierarchy of importance as more important, more worthy of attention than others (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p.201). The third variable in compositional meaning is framing, depicting how the elements in the visual text are connected as a single unit or separate units of information. 2
APPRAISAL framework Another framework the present study adopts to examine how interpersonal meanings are negotiated in verbal texts is APPRAISAL (Martin and White, 2005). The APPRAISAL framework categorises the discourse semantic resources that represent interactants explicit attitudinal positioning (ATTITUDE) and alignment of readership to take the writer/speaker s position (ENGAGEMENT). The ATTITUDE and ENGAGEMENT systems are further organised into more delicate sub-categories. ATTITUDE originated from emotions are organised as AFFECT, and the institutionalised evaluative meanings to valuate people and things are JUDGEMENT and APPRECIATION respectively. ENGAGEMENT resources can open up (EXPAND) or close down (CONTRACT) the dialogic spaces for alternative authorial positioning. Dialogic expansion involves degrees of modalities ENTERTAINING possiblities or obligations, in addition to ATTRIBUTING other voices into the discourse. Dialogic contraction involves authorial intervention that DISCLAIMS a proposition through denial or counter-expectancy. Meanwhile, the writer/speaker can PROCLAIM a proposition through concurring, pronouncing his/her authorial presence and endorsing external voice as warrantable. The ATTITUDE and ENGAGEMENT values are gradable through GRADUATION by the degree of intensity (FORCE) and specificity (FOCUS). APPRAISAL as discourse semantic resources spans across grammatical categories, and can be realised explicitly as inscribed or implicitly as invoked values. Visual APPRAISAL 3
The interpersonal meaning construed in visual texts is examined with Economou s (2009) modification of Martin and White s (2005) APPRAISAL framework. The three subtypes of ATTITUDE (AFFECT, JUDGEMENT and APPRECIATION), which can be inscribed or evoked, are by the large similar to the verbal attitudinal values. Meanwhile, the JUDGEMENT values has a low potential to be realised (Swain, 2012). ENGAGEMENT is simplified that only EXPANSION ENTERTAIN and ATTRIBUTE is present, with the addition of a new option as SUGGEST. SUGGEST implicates the attitudes and values in the associated image to the suggesting image element (Swain, 2012, p.85). Visual GRADUATION still retains the value of FORCE and FOCUS that can up- or downscale an item under evaluation. FORCE deals with QUANTIFICATION in terms of SPACE, NUMBER, MASS and EXTENT (with PROXIMITY and DISTRIBUTION); and with INTENSIFICATION in terms of BRIGHTNESS and VIVIDNESS. Under FORCE, a new option REPETITION is added, that the item repeats in the visual text to evoke attitude. Meanwhile, FOCUS includes the option of SPECIFICATION categorised into CLARITY, SUBSTANTIATION and COMPLETION. Data and methods of study The infographic of the present case study was titled Everything you need to know about ivory poaching, designed by the South China Morning Post graphic designer Adolfo Arranz (Figure 1). The infographic illustration was collected from the Infographics Section of the SCMP online edition, dated 7 January 2014 1 (see Appendix 1 for the full text of the infographic). The infographic was also available in the printed newspaper edition, spreading the whole page of the 1 http://www.scmp.com/infographics/article/1399263/everything-you-need-know-aboutivory-poaching 4
broadsheet. As the digital version of the printed edition enabling magnification, the online infographic also incorporates with other interactivity such as commenting and sharing to other social media. Figure 1. Arranz s (2014) infographic Everything you need to know about ivory poaching (http://www.scmp.com/infographics/article/1399263/ everything-you-need-know-about-ivory-poaching) 5
The selection of Arranz s (2014) infographic for the present case study is due to the highly interpersonal title Everything you need to know about ivory poaching. The vocative you in the title targets to engage readers by addressing them directly. Then, the high modality need to suggests the issue in the infographic is worth the attention. The adverb everything as a GRADUATION value intensifies the extent of the issue readers need to know. Poaching, despite the implicitness, has the intrinsically negative JUDGEMENT value invoking the meaning of this activity being illegitimate. Therefore, it can be seen from the infographic title that this type of data visualisation is not merely an objective presentation of figures. It is designed for a social purpose to align readers with the designer s discernible stance through multimodal semiotic resources. Arranz s (2014) infographic shows a rich combination of verbal text of different font types and sizes, alongside a wide range of visual elements, e.g. maps, graphs, diagrams, drawing and photographs. In order to investigate how the evaluative meanings collaborate between verbal and visual elements holistically, the whole infographic is regarded as a unit of analysis. The present study thus analyses infographic by first determining the composition of both the verbal and visual elements. Next, the present study identifies and analyses the APPRAISAL resources in the verbal texts, followed by the visual APPRAISAL analysis. The last part of the analysis examines the relationship of the APPRAISAL values between the verbal and visual texts to achieve an overall evaluative stance. Analysis and Discussion Composition values of the infographic 6
From Arranz s (2014) infographic, the information value can be seen as arranged in the Ideal-Real or the Centre-Margin structure. The Real-Ideal arrangement (Figure 2; left) suggests that the main text with the title at the topmost provides a generalised overview of ivory poaching issues in Africa and Asia. Also, the statistical visualisation in maps and graphs targets to depict the world in reality with objective figures. Furthermore, the elephant head on the top right presents the generic appearance of what the audience generally known as an elephant, instead of a specific elephant. Meanwhile, the elements at the bottom inform the readers the specific, practical issues of the poaching the anatomy of a tusk, ways of hunting elephants and extracting the ivory tusk, along with the market value of the tusks and other illegal animal trades in Asia. The Centre-Margin structure (Figure 2; right) provides that the nucleus of the infographic is the elephant tusk. The surrounding elements are then the ancillary, dependent components satelliting the centre, explicating the poaching issues. 7
Figure 2. (Left) Real-Ideal placement; (Right) Centre-Margin placement In the infographic, the title text and elephant head are of the highest salience, given the title s enlarged font size and the placement of the elephant head illustration across the infographic to the centre position. In addition, the salient elements in the infographic are foregrounded through the hues of red, suggesting points of attraction contrary to the scale of blue, associated with coldness, distance and backgrounding (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p.235). The framing of the elements in the infographic is strong. This may be due to the nature of the infographic to provide data visualisation with clarity and preciseness in addition to visual engagement. The elements can be identified easily as they are separated clearly with white spaces as boundaries 8
To summarise, the composition of the infographic reveals that the meaning is primarily construed through graphics and data visualisation, while the verbal text is marginalised. However, the compositional meaning does not stipulate a navigation path, but rather implicates the author s intention to organise the elements into a coherent, carefully structured infographic text. The compositional meaning also determines the salient visual and verbal elements in the infographic. The composition relates interpersonal meanings in different positions as dual points of departure: verbally at the top (title and the main text) and visually towards the centre (the elephant tusk). The following sections analyse and discuss the visual and verbal APPRAISAL resources identified in the infographic. APPRAISAL analysis of the verbal text In Arranz s (2014) infographic, both ATTITUDE and ENGAGEMENT values, adjusted by GRADUATION values, play a significant role in expressing evaluative meaning from the designer. In the ATTITUDE values (Table 1), JUDGEMENT resources prevail (N=17) especially foregrounding the negative SOCIAL SANCTION values to evaluate the elephant hunters illegitimate hunting activities. JUDGEMENT appraising the poachers positively is present, but only on their capability to kill the elephants with a high calibre rifle ( to make an effective shot ). Elephants in the infographic verbal text are portrayed as obvious victims, evaluated with the negative JUDGEMENT of NORMALITY related to the elephants suffering and death. 9
Meanwhile, positive SOCIAL SANCTION values are entitled to the ones not visible in the text but who proposed a ban to stop elephant poaching. AFFECT is not identified in the verbal text, while APPRECIATION values (N=4) are scarcely distributed across the verbal text, representing the impact of the issue to the author ( a sad reality ), elephants weakness points ( its vital organs) and the market value of ivory tusks ( ivory tusks plays an important role ). The attitudinal values facilitates the construal of the author s evaluation regarding ivory poaching, sympathising the elephants while condemning the unethical elephant poachers. 10
Table 1. ATTITUDE resources in the verbal text ATTITUDE JUDGEMENT Positive Negative N CAPABILITY 1 0 1 NORMALITY 0 3 3 PROPRIETY 4 9 13 Total 17 APPRECIATION IMPACT 0 1 1 QUALITY 1 0 1 VALUATION 2 1 3 Total 5 Despite the rare occurrence (N=6), ENGAGEMENT resources predominantly occur in the main text at the top of the infographic, countering against the positive effect of the ban against ivory poaching (Table 2). The only proclaim resource here we examine in the main text works as PRONOUNCE to engage the readers in reading on. These ENGAGEMENT resources thus function to contract the dialogic space to align the readers with the author s disapproval of ivory poaching, and arouse readers attention to be engaged in examining other elements closely. Table 2. ENGAGEMENT resources in the verbal text ENGAGEMENT: DISCLAIM ENGAGEMENT: PROCLAIM Counter Deny Pronounce N 4 1 1 6 The frequency of GRADUATION resources (N=8) was also insignificant compared with attitudinal resources (Table 3). However, all the GRADUATION resources of FORCE are upscaling the entities mentioned in the verbal text, while no values of FOCUS are identified. For instance, the rate of elephant population decline is found to be increasing alarmingly ( rapid (force) decline ); the cruelty of the poachers is intensified with the use of multiple kinds of weapons ( use chainsaws and axes (force) ). The graduation values also quantify entities in terms of numbers 11
( worth HK$8.2 million ) and extent of time ( for thousands of years ) and space ( global demands ). Despite the low frequency, the verbal GRADUATION contributes to magnification of the poaching problems presented in the infographic. Table 3. graduation resources in the verbal text Force Focus N Verbal 7 1 8 The verbal APPRAISAL analysis presented above indicates that the author deploys ATTITUDE values to overtly display his negative evaluation to ivory poaching. The JUDGEMENT resources are inclined towards condemnation of the ill practice by the poachers even this label poachers implies a negative JUDGEMENT towards the ivory hunters and traders. The ENGAGEMENT values further positions the author in the foreground, inviting readers to examine the problem together. In general, the negative evaluative meanings are accentuated by GRADUATION resources, suggesting that the endangered species are at daunting risks. APPRAISAL analysis of the visual text Following the verbal APPRAISAL analysis is the examination of the APPRAISAL resources in the visual text of the infographic. Different from the verbal APPRAISAL analysis findings, GRADUATION is predominant (N=24) in the visual text, suggesting their relative prominence and contribution to graduating evaluative meaning in the infographic. All the FOCUS resources represent the CLARITY of the illustrations, for instances, the photographic items showing an ivory statue and a tusk (high), the annotated cross section of a tusk (high), and an outline sketch of two types of elephants (low). The FORCE values indicate a more varied choices. 12
For example, the elephant head with the tusk spanning across the page shows a higher value of MASS, suggesting the focus of attention. The data visualisation also plays an important part in graduating quantification. The Africa map illustrating the shrinking range (EXTENT) of the elephant population marks a sharp decline over 28 years. The recent rocketing figures of the seizure of ivory in Asia (NUMBERS) affirm the alarming rate of illegal ivory trades. Moreover, the other illegal animal trades shows a range of endangered animals (REPETITION), apparently proclaiming the increasingly rampant illicit activities. Table 4. GRADUATION resources in the visual text Force Focus N Verbal 10 14 24 Table 5. ATTITUDE resources in the visual text ATTITUDE JUDGEMENT Positive Negative N CAPABILITY 0 0 0 NORMALITY 0 5 5 PROPRIETY 0 3 3 Total 8 APPRECIATION IMPACT 0 0 0 QUALITY 2 0 2 VALUATION 0 0 0 Total 2 The visual elements also contribute to the attitudinal meaning, despite the lower frequency and more evoked instances than verbal ATTITUDE. Similar to the verbal texts, affect is not found in the visual text, while the JUDGEMENT value is surprisingly prominent (N=8), contrary to Swain s (2012) argument of the limited potential of JUDGEMENT in visual items. The elephants and the poachers are apparently the appraised. The negative NORMALITY emphasises the suffering of the elephants, including the portrayal of the elephant feet stepping on the 13
traps. The cruelty of the poachers are imbued with negative PROPRIETY values, e.g. the illustration of the poacher aiming for a head shot at an elephant for extracting the tusks. Meanwhile, the two APPRECIATION values describe the qualities of the ivory products as luxurious goods. The attitudinal meanings embedded in the visual items are also conflated with the GRADUATION values, accentuating their salience in support of the overall evaluation. In terms of ENGAGEMENT, ATTRIBUTE is the overall visual option as the designer endowed the evaluative meanings to the participants depicted in the infographic. The illustrations is proximate to a realistic portrayal of the elephants and other animals. The diagrams and graphs target to provide a professional, scientificlooking presentation for an objective reading, even though the explanatory and statistical elements are also embedded with GRADUATION values. The above visual APPRAISAL analysis indicates the sparse attitudinal meaning in the visual elements, despite the high salience of the graduation values suggesting the prominence of the visual elements in the infographic. The salient visual text, highlighted with graduation, does not only aim to arouse readers attention, but also possibly evoke attitudes for readers to identify with the author s evaluative position. Relating verbal and visual APPRAISAL The verbal and visual APPRAISAL analyses of Arranz s (2014) infographic reveal the striking differences in evaluative resource distribution between the verbal and visual elements. While the verbal attitudinal meanings are found discernible, the visual GRADUATION options are more obvious and varied in comparison. This 14
conspicuous contrast may be due to the nature of the infographic data visualisation in news media. The production of infographic for news media requires clarity and accuracy, as Giardina and Medina (2012) put it, with aesthetics as the third criterion. The ostensible objectivity of the data visualisation would add credibility to the infographic, and in turn the news agency. The requirement for preciseness thus targets at providing visualisation to inform readers as the priority instead of engage them with the author s evaluative position. Therefore, the evaluation of the visual elements is implicit with the authorial presence backgrounded. However, the overt verbal evaluation allows the readers to be engaged in the authorial position more effectively, despite their relatively lower prominence in the infographic. The main text establishes an overall attitudinal meaning, traversing across the infographic to spread the evaluation to other visual and verbal units. In other words, the verbal APPRAISAL at the beginning of the infographic bestows the evaluative values to other verbal texts, while affirming the evoked attitudes embedded in the visual texts. The visual GRADUATION values feed back to the verbal ATTITUDE resources, accentuating their evaluative power. The verbal and visual elements in the infographic of the present case study each plays a distinctive yet complementary role, synergising the evaluative resources to establish an overall stance. The verbal APPRAISAL in the main text (the lead paragraph) is the attitudinal source for the visuals. The visual APPRAISAL generates graduating values, starting from the salient elephant head occupying the centre of the infographic, to further upscale the attitudes in the verbal text. 15
Conclusion The present study has examined and discussed the evaluative meanings of an infographic from an online news media by adopting verbal and visual APPRAISAL analysis. The prominence of the evaluative meaning is determined by the compositional meaning structuring the visual-verbal text. The major APPRAISAL resources are ATTITUDE and GRADUATION, while the authorial ENGAGEMENT is less explicit. The verbal ATTITUDE is prevalent with JUDGEMENT resources with SOCIAL- SANCTION on the poachers illegitimate hunting and poaching activities (PROPRIETY), alongside SOCIAL-ESTEEM on the elephants suffering (NORMALITY). GRADUATION is more prominent in visual texts, with a variety of selection of FORCE and FOCUS values. The GRADUATION values are largely deployed to upscale the prominence of elephants and tusks, suggesting the focus of the subject matter and the problem in the discussion. These APPRAISAL resources intertwine with one another to establish an overall stance of the infographic. The identification of the evaluative values in the infographic suggests that data visualisation as objective images (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006) is value-laden. Meanwhile, the present study poses some limitations which pave ways for future studies. The units comprised of both visual and verbal texts can be recognised as distinctive genres, forming a larger text namely macrogenre (Martin and Rose, 2008, p.218). The composition of infographics as a macrogenre has yet to be examined to further understand how the small genres are rhetorically structured to achieve coherence and unity (Mann, Matthiessen and Thompson, 1992). 16
Understanding the coherence of infographics would allow examination of how interpersonal meanings traverse across the multisemiotic text. Also, identifying the genres and their relations in infographics could enable empirical explorations for understanding the common choice of genres constructing the infographics. To facilitate empirical analysis of the infographic structure, expansion of the sample size for generalisable compositional patterns is thus necessary. The present study suggests some important implications despite the limitations addressed above. Pablos and Manuel (1999) propose that the infographic designer has to possess data analysis and graphic design skills, plus artistic and creative dispositions. In view of the APPRAISAL analysis in the present study, I would suggest criticality as an important aptitude for infographic designers in the news field. The infographic designers should possess more than just information and visual literacies, the sets of abilities that enable individuals to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2000, 2011). They should also have the critical insight into the subject matters they select, to arouse readers awareness and critical reading of the social issues in question. 17
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