introduction |
cognitive linguistics |
technopoesis |
reusable images |
conclusions
Conclusions
The Pegasus, as a reusable
image that has occurred across a surprising range of sites (fantasy,
banking, sewers etc.) draws on some common elements in each:
- The upward direction in our culture is associated
with being and good and successful.
- The movement
implies progress, getting somewhere (source-path-goal).
- Both of these, movement and direction, send
of message of upward mobility, of reaching new heights, of either
inspiration or (in the case of banking) financial success that means
one can realize one's wildest dreams by being able to afford them.
On the banking site, the text over the image highlights the site's
high volume, thus linking hits with success.
- Even on the sewer site where they claimed that they "just liked
the name" it seems likely that part of the reason for liking
the name is because associations and connotations the Pegasus has
a symbol.
- That the Pegasus is a horse with wings (why
not a bird, right?), ties all this movement and success to human ingenuity
and control – just as horses have become domesticated, so too do companies
and artists seek to domesticate and control (or hone and develop)
imagination, creativity, and upward motion.
So, while the image itself may be repeated on
the pages, what is significant is that the reason behind that use seems
linked to the metaphors invoked by or applied to the image. It taps
into the type of message Web writers might like to send.
The vast numbers of recurring images on the Web
perhaps indicate that Web authors draw on a similar pool of meaning
and metaphor, borrowed meaning, borrowed metaphor. Cognitive linguists
claim that this is what everyone does anyway, any time they use ordinary
language. But rather than diminishing any significance examining these
metaphors might have, perhaps that's why it's important to notice them
on the Web as well.
The reuse of images can be seen as a type of
coding (here defined as using interchangeable elements to achieve a
variety of different results, just like HTML or language itself assembles
bits of code in various ways to produce a wide array of effects). Reuse
is simultaneously borrowing and an act of new creation as it recombines
symbolic meanings prevalent in the culture with new foci for those meanings.
A Final Question
As Web writers attempt to program (rhetorically influence) audiences
with their choices in how they appropriate images and metaphors, will
they also develop the awareness of how they themselves have been "programmed"
by the influences surrounding them as the select the pre-made components
they choose to include in their work?
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