Multimodality and Publishing

Visuals in Multimedia: Texts and Contexts

A. Cranny-Francis.

What Is Multimodality?

1. Cultures always rely on more than one mode of representation.

2. All modes of representation are themselves multimodal. Meaning, they also consist of more than one mode of representation.

Visceral Reading

“.... understood to be a social practice. Instead of being located solely in the head, it is understood to be located in social settings and, like images, instead of being located in texts themselves, it is understood to be located in contexts.”

(Duncam on Visual Literacy)

Particular images or shapes, incite instinctive reactions in a viewer

Knowledge formed though placing raw information into a context in which someone may understand and find significance in it.

Visual literacy is understood from so many different disciplines all with its own set of technical languages which has helped contribute to the understanding of it but has also made it difficult to form clear discussion on modalities

Visual Literacy

Discourse: Defined by Focault is a set of statements which articulate a particular way of thinking it can be applied to any mode of communication- giving ways to discuss their meaning making power.

Print newspapers use an old calligraphic font to give an old world news feel which is part of a paper’s identity. It gives it a sense of history and credibility.

Visual Literacy

Genre: Study of genre enables us to create meanings through interpreting how texts are read and meanings extracted.

Understanding how strategies are used in each genre allows us to utilise or omit them in order to create particular effects

Singh Twins

Singh Twins

Juxtapose contemporary iconography with traditional Indian miniature art to communicate tension between their English and Indian identity.

Cultural & Historical positioning to create the work’s meaning

H.R Giger

Creates artistic work based on surrealism, gothic art and European Grotesque.

Explores darker human emotion and instinct e.g. fear, sex, death, desire and bodily mutilation in works incorporating darkness, fragmentation of bodies and bodies in extreme states of pain or pleasure.

Alien Movie: challenges conventions of sexuality and feminine power through imagery.

H.R Giger

Fonts

Challenges idealised images to tell a story beyond words.

Website: History Wired http://historywired.si.edu

User’s ability to self guide their own movements through the site, gives them a democratic position which reflects the values of the U.S & positions them as an active learner which fulfils the site’s museological function.

Layout: Visually positions objects within a network of related objects which give user a clear image and context of the history which has shaped the state

Focus on access to objects.

Multimodal: Verbal and Visual text.

References

http://www.singhtwins.co.uk/PROFILE.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality http://historywired.si.edu http://www.hrgiger.com/ http://www.singhtwins.co.uk/zero_hero.html Lehtonen. M, Herkman. J, 2002, Next Stop: Multimodality: Report

on the Multimodality and Culture conference 2002, Convergence: International Journal of Research Into New Media Technologies

Duncam. P, 2004, Visual Culture Isn’t Just Visual: Multiliteracy, Multimodality and Meaning, Studies In Art Education: A Journal of Issues and Research http://vassarliteracy.pbworks.com/f/Duncum_visual_cultural.pdf

Cranny-Francis. A, 2005, Visuals in Multimedia: texts and Contexts, London, SAGE

Albers. P, Harst. J.C, 2007, The Arts, New Literacies, and Multimodality, English Education

Howells. R, Visual Culture http://books.google.com/books?id=386rdRM24iYC&pg=PA1&dq=visual+text#v=onepage&q=visual%20text&f=false