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Recontextualization
As soon as you write a text, you will create a context, a connection. What happens if you take the text out of this context and insert it into another?
In some occasions, a text will be taken out of its initial context and used again in a completely different place. In such cases, the text - when placed in this new context - will form a new context. This is called recontextualization.
Example
How often have you read about people who complain in the press that something they have said or done in a given situation is wrong because the statement has been "taken out of context"? It is easy for a radio or TV producer to cut sound and image from a report and then insert it into another. Photographers do the same with pictures. There are rarely storm clouds in the estate agents' photos because they are replaced by sun and blue skies.
Not all words and expressions can be recontextualized. These are often phrases that have unique historical, symbolic or cultural significance. Nevertheless, elements of Winston Churchill's famous war speeches have been reused in countless music recordings. Common information elements, on the other hand, can easily be reused, which is often used within modular writing in technical documentation.
Example
An information element with multimodal text may be designed to be used in a conceptual description. The same information element can – without changing the content – be recontextualized (read: reused) in the introduction to a procedure. The same text can then be regarded as a theoretical explanation in one context and an introductory explanation in the other. This reuse, of course, assumes that the element is initially written so that it can be used again.
As an alternative to this recontextualization, a page reference or a hyperlink can be used (explicit intertextuality). This action will force the reader to take his attention away from the immediate context. This lack of attention is often unfortunate and disturbing. In topic-based publications, the whole purpose is that all necessary information should be contained within the framework of the particular topic. In such contexts, it is not desirable to include relationships to information that is necessary.
The term recontextualization is not only used for texts. Gjermund Kolltveit (2008, [REF]) is a researcher, musician and instrument builder. He works to record the archaeological material of animal bells in Scandinavia. The animal bells represent ancient traditions. They can be traced back to prehistoric times when they were not only supposed to help locate animals but also protect them from evil and supernatural forces. Kolltveit points out an interesting recontextualization of animal bells when he registers the ever-increasing use of such bells at sporting events. This use took off during the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994 when over 200,000 bells were sold to the spectators.
(Photo: Norwegian Olympic Museum. Used with permission)
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A concrete example of the practical use of recontextualization is reuse. One of the most important purposes of modular and topic-based writing is precisely the reuse of information elements. Reuse means using these items over and over again. If your tool and infrastructure allow it, there is a lot of time and money to be saved on reuse. |
Reuse
Reuse is defined as the electronic recontextualization of separate information elements (multimodal text fragments). The information elements must be established as separate data files or as addressable elements in a source file. The elements are inserted into one or more of the main documents using electronic references (links). In the event of changes to the source file, the information in all the main documents will automatically change accordingly.
TipsOne of the most important purposes of modular and topic-based writing is reuse of information elements. Reuse means using these items again. Reusing text is not the same as copying and pasting it somewhere else. |
References
- Kolltveit, Gjermund, Animal Bells in Early Scandinavian Soundscapes,www.musark.no, 2008 (Link to PDF)
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