Kress, Van Leeuwen and Humanitarian Efforts

Kress and Van Leeuwen have shown us how meaning is changing and that it can be effected equally by discourse, design, production, and distribution.

This is huge for Humanitarian Efforts because before the introduction of digital, interactive media the meaning of these efforts was limited to those that were there. But now, we can all - through Hypermedia - be there.

And, now that production and distribution are (at least for those of us privileged enough to have money) readily accessible this can be done by one person no matter where they are.

For instance, Sleepless in Sudan is the blog of an aid worker in Sudan that would (without the help of New Media) never have been able to be read freely by so many across the world. In fact, her efforts in New Media (blogging) could get her kicked out of Sudan if the government found her out. But, through simultaneous response she may be getting the encouragement that she needs to carry on.