I see the terms filmic texts and digital argument as nearly interchangeable. They both imply a media item that uses the registers of word, sound and image and thus combine features of books and films.  There are few differences however, and these have mainly to do with intent: While a filmic text may be one that was originally a film limited to theatrical release but is now digitized giving it more book-like qualities, a digital argument is one that is born-digital and uses the various affordances of emergent technologies intentionally.

In this piece I use the term filmic texts to describe materials that provide fodder for curricula, and digital argument to indicate the projects students create in response to them. While the former circulate in culture with relative levels of scholarly potential, the latter are meant to represent academic argument.

Comment on this page