4.3 Multimodality
According to Gunther Kress (2000), “Communication is always and inevitably multimodal” (5). Multimodality is so important, Kress explained, that “it is no longer possible to understand language and its uses without understanding the effect of all modes of communication that are co-present in any text” (337).
How does space affect multimodality for students?
While learning to write well is a critical part of our core curriculum, it’s not alone; instead, our curriculum focuses on multiple modes as a means of representation (i.e., writing, speech, images, gestures, posture, music, or new configurations of these or similar elements) and multiple media as means of dissemination (i.e., printed books, newspapers, films, TV, radio, CDs, websites, Prezis, PowerPoints, podcasts). Our broad view of modality (high tech and low tech) and media melds the digital and the humanistic, respecting social values and highlighting social issues by focusing on three processes:
- Translation involves adapting information for a new audience.
- Transformation involves changing and re-shaping ideas and information—for example, changing genre, scale, medium, scope, color palette, and pacing.
- Transference involves applying communication strategies from one context to another.
Because writing and communication classes and technical classes (whether architecture, business, engineering, or science) alike often require poster projects, the Communication Center has been outfitted with a poster table, which provides individuals and groups with a large area to spread out a two-by-three-foot poster to be viewed by tutor and tutee or by a group. The Smart Boards located in the space can also accommodate posters that have not been printed, and the Smart Board technology allows tutors to make notes on the digital file of the poster, which can then be emailed to the student. This provides the opportunity to comment directly on a primarily visual document without ruining a printed copy of a poster.
To tutor students on the numerous types of projects assigned—not only by English 1101 and 1102 instructors but also by the departments across campus (from architecture to music, from engineering to biology)—the space must accommodate projects designed in many different modes and media.[5] The Communication Center includes reconfigurable table space for one-to-one and small-group tutoring. This area is used most commonly for tutoring related to traditional writing assignments. Students may work with the tutors at these tables on printed copies of their papers or on laptops; floor outlets placed around the area allow students to charge any technology needed for their projects. The tables can be separated to provide private sessions or can be joined together to accommodate larger groups.
Traditional classroom spaces incorporate individual desks, which work well for individual writing assignments but do not accommodate other modes or media, and because communication projects are never singly written, oral, visual, electronic, or nonverbal, the space needs to be able to accommodate projects that encompass many modes and media. This is a benefit of reconfigurable classrooms. For example, a technical communication class assigned to the laptop classroom used a client-based approach. The client—Read Aloud Chattanooga, a nonprofit to promote reading to young children—requested several artifacts to promote childhood reading, including a series of billboards. At the end of the semester, the laptop classroom was transformed into a large presentation space for the client and his guests, which included representatives of the target audience, an entire class of fourth and fifth graders. Figures 10.11 and 10.12 show a technical communication student presenter introducing the recommended billboards (in the background) to the client and his guests in a professional way in a space that could be transformed from a classroom into a large meeting room to accommodate them.
Figure 10.11. Read Aloud Chattanooga (a nonprofit to promote reading to young children) was the client of a technical communication class. One of the projects for the client was to design a series of billboards to promote reading. In the laptop classroom, a student introduces the recommended billboards (in the background) to the client and his guests. Photo credit: R.E. Burnett © 2010. Used with permission.
Figure 10.12. The client brought along fifth graders from an elementary school to represent the target audience. They were polite, attentive, and enormously excited to be on campus. Photo credit: R.E. Burnett © 2010. Used with permission.
How does space affect multimodality for professionals?
All postdoctoral fellows have a research agenda that results in both presentations and publications. The Writing and Communication Program supports multimodality and interdisciplinarity in this research. One way of assisting scholarship is the Hall Building’s DevLab (figure 10.13), which provides space to experiment with high-end technologies for digital pedagogy and scholarship.
DevLab is also the physical home for creating and managing TECHStyle (see figure 10.14), the e-magazine designed and maintained by the Brittain Fellows.[6] As is noted on the site’s “About” page, TECHStyle is the hub of the Brittain Fellowship.
Here readers will find posts from Brittain Fellows on topics related to teaching, research, technology, and life in academics. Posts range from scholarly articles in development to brief reflections on new teaching strategies. TECHStyle is also a venue for debate on questions related to pedagogy and scholarship as well as a message board for news, announcements, committee reports, and calls for participation. TECHStyle gives voice to a vibrant community of innovative scholars and teachers and opens up that conversation to the world. (http://techstyle.lmc.gatech.edu/about/)
Figure 10.13: The Hall Building’s DevLab is an R&D space for Writing and Communication Program faculty to work on curricular projects and to advance their own research. DevLab is currently managed by Dr. Jonathan Kotchian and the Media and Technologies Committee that he chairs. Here (right to left) Associate Director Dr. Andy Frazee collaborates with Dr. Diane Jakacki, Dr. Christina Van Houten, and Dr. Patrick McHenry at the collaborative table in DevLab. R.E. Burnett © 2013. Used with permission.
Figure 10.14: Brittain Fellows produce TECHStyle, an e-magazine that offers opportunities for publication (e.g., feature articles, columns, commentaries) and conversation (e.g., a Twitter feed). Dr. Rebecca Weaver is the current editor of TECHStyle; Dr. Christine Hoffmann is the immediate past editor.
Notes
[5] For extended discussion of space in writing centers, see Nathalie Singh-Corcoran and Amin Emika (2011); the authors explain that “our treatment of writing center spaces follows a continuum. We move from the material, tangible, physical writing center to the more ethereal, digital space. We explore what it means to occupy a particular space and what identity constructions are possible in our physical and digital spaces.” For further information on digital space, particularly space in audio-visual-textual conferencing, please refer to Yergeau, Wozniak, and Vandenberg 2008.
[6] Current statistics show that Brittain Fellows published 212 articles on TECHStyle in a twenty-month span across 2012–2013. The TECHStyle site was visited 900 times by 625 unique visitors during February; 62 percent of visitors were new, and 10 percent of site visits were from mobile devices and smart phones.