Multimodal Literacies MOOC’s Updates

Section 8.2: Multimodal Meaning and Synaesthesia

Media embedded April 23, 2016
Media embedded April 23, 2016
Media embedded April 23, 2016

Meaning-making is a process of representation (sense-making) and communication (in which a message prompt is interpreted by another person). This update analyses the design process through which people take available resources for meaning, and use these as building blocks for designing new meanings. Although they are often similar, newly made meanings are never quite the same as any previous meanings. These ‘redesigned’ meanings then enter the world. At this point the world has been transformed, even if in the smallest of ways. Then the cycle of meaning-making can start over again. Even though in the schools of our recent past and still today we have separated out literacies as a singular subject that deals with the mechanics of reading and writing, our processes of meaning are always at least to some extent multimodal, bringing together written, visual, spatial, tactile, gestural, audio and oral modes. This is particularly true in the contemporary era. The new, digital media are intrinsically multimodal. This update suggests an approach to ‘design analysis’. It is a prelude to the following sections that outline a multimodal grammar, one that will help us describe and understand meaning-making across different modes.

To explore these issues further, read the supporting material on the Literacies website.

 

Multimodal Meaning Making


Comment Below: What are the benefits and challenges of a multimodal approach to literacies?

Make an Update: Describe an important site of multimodal communication in your life, or your students lives. How might a multimodal analysis of meaning prove useful? How does this compare with traditional notions of literacy?

 

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