Introduction

Specificity is vital in all forms of science, that includes the humanities. One part of specificity is the specification and standardisation of terms. Models can be made first when the parameter for that model has been created. These terms can often seen strange or alien for those outside of a specific field. These terms are often used differently from how they are used in everyday speech. I will over the course of a few essays present a series of terms that I have found invaluable in my work as a media analyst, starting with the term Text.

What is a text

The term text, in its simplest more basic form denotes the object that will be analysed or deconstructed. This text is any set of symbols that carry meaning, and can as a result be analysed. The text varies from street signs, to novels, movies and music. The form of the text takes is not important, the fact that it carries meaning is. The term text is a clear denoter of meaning, and can be applied to a large number of items, objects and concepts.

Why use text

There are several reasons to use the term text, chief amongst them is to create a unifying term of discussion forms of material. By crating and using a unifying term will the author not need to reiterate what kind of media that is being discussed. While any analysis of course needs to discuss what kind of media form that is being presented, will the term text make it easier to call back to the specific object.

A clear tie is created between the analysis the analysed and the rest of the world, a clear object with boundaries and properties. This is another use of the term text, as it can be used to specify cut off objects in otherwise loose and sometimes arbitrary collections of symbols. A text can be an entire website, or it can be a single blog post. A text can denote a single episode of a series, or the entire series.

Finally does the term text allow the researcher to make judgements and carry out tests between different forms of expression. For example can books and movies from the same series be presented in the same discussion without the need to specify that each object is a form of media at every part of the analysis. Instead can text 1 and text 2 be used for comparison purposes.

How to use text

The term text is a flexible tool, but as any tool does it have its limits. For example is it still vital to explain what form of text you are discussing. The text itself must first be fully and clearly be presented and defined. The term text should only be used to specify what artifact, or series of artifacts that are going to be discussed in the analysis. Due to the fact that all form of expression and information has their own language, can the term not be unclarity used to make blanket statements regarding for example, all romance novels. The text, in this case, romance novels, must be clearly defined
beforehand. Just like with the term canon and author is it vital to present the context that the term text is used within. This specificity is especially important with the term text, as it can be used on everything from bulletin boards and street signs to novels and long form TV series.

Final thoughts

I have hopefully been able to show a number of uses and functions of the term text, as well as limits in this essay. This is a short introduction to the term and does not come close to covering everything that the term can be used for. I point towards my essays on pop culture for more practical example of its use. It is my hope that my media literacy essays can be used to gain a fuller understanding and appreciation of not only media analysis, but of media and its discussion in general.