My Three Critical Lenses

Being a student, I look at numerous and various types of text a day. I probably look at more texts than I’m aware of. But certain texts get more attention than others, because they appeal to certain “lenses” I use.

One way that I examine text is through relevance and appeal. If I don’t find something appealing or interesting, chances are I’m going to overlook it. Why I examine text for relevance and appeal is because it’s easy for me to follow or I simply enjoy finding something that I can relate to. If I read something I like, or read something by an author that I find interesting, chances are I am going to read more of that author. [This happened with Bill Bryson, love that guy.] Relevance and appeal are almost always a lense people use to examine content. It’s a lot easier for me to read something that I can relate to, whether it’s a past experience, or something I find intriguing. If I were to start reading about Astronomy and Physics… It wouldn’t really appeal to me because I lack experience and knowledge in that context. Another example would be that I enjoy music, I mean in this day and age, who doesn’t? So I like to read about some of my favorite artists either in magazines or online. One site I like to go to is Pitchfork and read about some of my favorite artists, see if there are any of them on tour, and so on. If there are artists on there I don’t recognize or don’t necessarily listen to, I will most likely scroll down the page and find something that sparks my interest.

One other example of this would simply be checking the weather everyday. Of course I’m going to check the Normal, IL weather forecast, rather than the St. Louis, MO forecast.

Another way I examine text is if I find it funny or not. Humor is a great way to examine text; people like to laugh. It’s good for you. Something I find humorous is a book I read this summer by one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson. Bryson is known for his witty remarks and making his readers chuckle in almost every excerpt. In Bryson’s 1999 Book, I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to American After Twenty Years Away, the author describes many things he has forgotten or found out about America. One excerpt says, “Here’s a fact for you: According to the latest Statistical Abstract of the United States, every year more than 400,000 Americans suffer injuries involving beds, mattresses, or pillows. Think about that for a minute. That is almost 2,000 bed, mattresses, or pillow injuries a day. In the time it take you to read this article, four of my fellow citizens will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding.” When I read things like this I find it.. A) To be darn right ridiculous on how so many people can hurt them selves with what we perceive to be nice fluffy comforting objects, and B) His language style and ideas are written in a way that I find to be dry, funny humor.

And of course, since this is titled “My Three Critical Lenses,” I’m inclined to tell you that the third way I examine text is if I find it to be visually stimulating. I am a Visual Communications major, and I often find things to be attention-grabbing. We’ve all heard that saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This maybe true. In some cases, a visual may not be engaging and worth the thousand words if you haven’t captured the viewer’s attention. I feel that if you’re going to say something with an image or visually for that matter, you should make sure it’s moving, and captures a certain aesthetic that the viewer can find.

This is Kevin Carter’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a young girl struggling to make it to a food center during the Sudan famine. While in the background, a vulture watches the painfully disturbing scene. This photograph certainly is worth a thousand words. This image evoked so much distraught and uncomfortable feelings in Carter, that shortly after he won the award, he committed suicide.

Isn’t it intense how visuals can affect people?
That’s why visualyl stimulating (in this case, in a rather uneasy stimulating way) is a way I examine content.

I hope my examples are either similar to ways you connect with content or have shed light on a way you’d like to become more aware of noticing when you examine content of any sort.