The use of quotations around the word "gilded" in the explanation made in "Seeing through the Interface: Computers and the Future of Composition," by Nancy Kaplan and Stuart Moulthrop is relevant. Moulthrop and Kaplan's claim that maps, diagrams, titles, headings, etc., have always "gilded" publications refers to the observation made by Marcia Peoples Halio in her article "Student Writing: Can the Machine Maim the Message?" Halio states that, "many students in the Macintosh sections [of Halio's freshmen composition class] created highly expressive images which they used as gilding for their papers"(19)

I think Moulthrop and Kaplan are correct in pointing toward Halio's rhetoric in the Maiming article. The term gilding essentialy prevents readers from considering the students' use of graphics as part of the content of the compositions themselves. In these terms, a map of the solar system in an astronomy book, for example, becomes merely a frivolous exercise in decoration. This seems to be patently false and furthers the point that Moulthrop and Kaplan, as well as Bolter and myself are trying to make. The point is that graphics may well be considered as an integral part of the composition. In these terms, if Halio's students' graphics are seen as gilding, it is not because of the nature of graphics in general, but merely a case of poor implementation. Return to Moulthrop and Kaplan.