Writing Skills Lab Multimodality Learning Outcomes Multimodality Define

Writing Skills Lab Multimodality

Learning Outcomes: Multimodality • • • Define and apply principles of multimodality Define and evaluate remediation and remix

Communication and Management Introduction As a participant in a connected society, you have to know how to negotiate between words, sounds, images, and gestures, and the spaces in which those exist, on a daily basis. In this module, you will have the opportunity to analyze, evaluate, and consider the nature of multimodal texts.

What is a mode? • A mode, quite simply, is a means of communicating. According to the New London Group, there are five modes of communication: visual, linguistic, spatial, aural, and gestural. • A mode is different from a medium, which is the substance through which a communication is conveyed. Examples of a visual medium, for instance, would be photography, painting, or film. • When a given text makes use of more than one mode, the text can be characterized as multimodal.

Formal and Informal Communication Systems

Practice Question What is the relationship between modes and media? Discuss for five minutes using examples from your courses or popular culture.

Activity: What Are The Five Modes? • Define the following terms and explain an example of each: • Visual • Aural • Gestural • Linguistic or alphabetic • Spatial

Examples of Multimodal Texts The linguistic mode operates in the printed written text. The visual mode operates in the formatting of the text (such as the use of fully justified margins) and in the choice of typography (such as the different fonts used for the chapter title and the use of brackets around the chapter title). The spatial mode can be seen in the text’s arrangement (such as the placement of the epigraph from Francis Bacon’s Advancement of Learning at the top right and wrapping of the paragraph around it).

Remediation and Remix Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin explore the concept of remediation in their work Remediation: Understanding New Media. According to Bolter and Grusin, remediation is “the representation of one medium in another, ” and they argue that it is “a defining characteristic of the new digital media. ” To acquire cultural significance, new media may revise, repurpose, remix, reference, and/or compete with older media. Remix, one of the tools students use most often in remediation, is altering a work from its original state by adding, removing, and/or changing pieces of the item. Forms of Remediation: • Straightforward Representation • Enhancement • Transformation

What is attribution? • Attribution is credit given to creators in accordance with copyright law. With remix and remediation, attribution offers a way to acknowledge who was responsible for creating the original work(s). • Attribution can be tricky, as different works have different licenses and thus require different forms of attribution. On one end of the spectrum, works might not require any attribution, as they are part of the Public Domain. On the other end of the spectrum, works may require special permission from the copyright holder to be used. In the image below, you can read more about Creative Commons licenses and the attribution they require. • The fair use doctrine allows students to use portions of copyrighted words and materials for educational purposes.

The Importance of Understanding Attribution Failure to get attribution right in a multimodal text can have serious real world consequences. Remix relies on work created by others, and some of the greatest works of art and media have been remediations of earlier works. In an academic context, failing to give proper attribution can result in questions of plagiarism or academic dishonesty. So, whether it’s getting sued or failing a course, discounting the importance of proper attribution can get you in real trouble.

Quick Review Keep in mind the relationship between modes and media. A mode is a means of communicating, while a medium is the substance through which communication is conveyed. • The five modes are linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and gestural. • Multimodal texts combine different modes. While often one mode will predominate, more frequently, several modes combine to communicate a message or argument • Remediation is the representation of one medium in another. • Remix, a tool of remediation, involves changing, blending, adding to, or taking away from an original work. • Attribution in remediation and remix offers a way to acknowledge who was responsible for creating the original work(s).