Written word is often my preferred method of expressing my true intentions and feelings. Writing allows me to cohesively give my thoughts physical form, and allows me to alter them until I'm confident the reader will have a clear understanding of my intentions. With spoken word I often struggle with coming across as blunt but writing allows me to "soften the edges," so my meaning isn't misconstrued.

Writing has the oppositions of formal vs. informal, structured vs. free form, face to face interaction vs. distance, and spontaneous vs. planned.

These oppositions are what allow a simple collection of two dimensional letters to express such an awe inspiring amount of depth, emotion, and clarity, or the lack-there of. I can write a formal email to a friend but it may be viewed as emotionless and robotic due to the structure. I can also send a friend an informal email that reads closer to how I would actually speak. While it may not be grammatically, or syntactically correct, my email will seem much more "human" and give my words more character.

Conventionally, writing relies on the other person to first be able to read the language you're writing in. Secondly, depending on the format, their knowledge of you and your personality will influence how they interpret your words. This is where writing becomes a paradox because as the writer you can attempt to write in such a literal and clear fashion, but the reader may still reach a different conclusion due them processing information differently. Structurally in English we rely on certain characters and symbols to give our words shape. We use periods to mark the end of an idea or sentence. Several sentences about a similar topic are grouped together in a paragraph. We also capitalize names, places, and things to illustrate their uniqueness. Question marks, and exclamation points help differentiate inflection, but so does TYPING IN ALL CAPS.

These conventions are constantly evolving in a modern day where people are communicating through text more and more. If you send a text without punctuation you are seen as irritated or short, but in the past it would have just been considered bad grammar. Written language is a very complex topic, especially as it continues to change and evolve.

"Nobody, absolutely nobody, straps a bomb on their body because they were recruited from the Internet. It takes an enormous amount of personal face-to-face contact and time in order to recruit a young person into the cause of jihad."
-Reza Aslan

The above example does a wonderful job of emphasizing the power of spoken words when coupled with face-to-face contact. There are so many micro-exchanges that take place, subconsciously and consciously, during face-to-face interaction that guide our words and actions. What spoken word may lack in eloquence and clarity, it makes up for in its ability to influence us on a more immediate and visible manner.

Spoken word uses the oppositions of: loud v quiet, high vs low, fast vs slow, first person vs third person, and abstract vs concrete.

In English volume is not as important as other languages but it still conveys meaning. Speaking loudly can imply urgency or anger, where speaking softly can imply a secret or fear. Speaking in a higher register often means excitement/friendliness and speaking low implies boredom/aggression. Speaking fast or slow is often the same as speaking high/low.

The conventions of speaking center a lot around inflections and pauses. As in writing there is a slight pause in between ideas. An upward inflection implies a question and a downward inflection often means dejection or disappointment. Words are enunciated as opposed to slurred. Conversation is generally alternating where one party will say something and then the other person responds and so forth.

In my opinion Chopin's Funeral March does the best job of demonstrating sadness. This is because music, unlike poetry, painting, or literature requires no previous instruction to "get it." The very essence of the music is a somber dirge that is very difficult to interpret as anything else. Even if you omitted the title, and the listener had no prior musical training, the music will still evoke sadness in the listener. Music, regardless of its context and purpose, will evoke different feelings and memories upon repeated listening. What I feel when I listen to Funeral March today will not be the exact same as when I listen to it in twenty years. This is because our experiences and memories affect our reception of music, and the "me" of next week will not be the "me" today. Chopin also does a great job of capturing the true essence of happiness. In the middle of funeral march there is a major section with the underlying dirge. This is a great illustration that sadness is not always stereotypical "sadness." Being sad all the time is unrealistic, there are still moments of joy and happiness, but the sadness still lies beneath the surface.

The various mediums through which my colleagues and I create these projects are a great example of different semiotic representations. Some may use Microsoft Word to type a essay, some may use Powerpoint, Prezi, create a video or use a less conventional method like Haikudeck.

With the exception of creating a video, all of these resources use text to convey meaning, albeit with different emphases. An essay is very straight forward, you convey meaning through structured paragraphs and sentences. The focus of an essay is on the words and ideas expressed. In Powerpoint words are used to convey meaning but in a much shorter, general fashion. Powerpoint's use of slides adds in the element of visuals that can add to the information conveyed or simply enhance the content through aesthetics. Prezi is very similiar to Powerpoint except you have more control over the format and transition of "slides." Prezi uses it's visuals to add aesthetic value, but its primary purpose is to either represent the content or help synthesize the information. Haikudeck takes it a step further by placing more emphasis on the pictures rather than words. The goal being to give the presentation a more ambiguous, open-ended style that will allow the viewer to come to their own conclusion on the subject. It could be argued that video is simply a collections of many pictures, but coupled with words.