Through the Lens of a Tetrad: Visual Storytelling on Tablets

What are the boundaries between traditional and new media, between ability and disability, and between the artist and the processes for making art? This article reports findings from a study of tablet devices as media for self-expression and visual storytelling by adults with intellectual disabilities and examined whether or not artmaking processes were altered by the use of tablet devices when compared with the use of more traditional paper-based media. Using McLuhan’s tetrad as an analytical lens we identify processes simultaneously altered as users engaged with tablet devices. Social interaction and self-initiated communication were observed when tablets were used to create art.