Multimodal Dig

This is the post for the Monday, September 28, 2015 class meeting.

Important Dates

• October 2: Portfolio Deadline (end of grace period, no work accepted after 11:59 PM)
• October 21: Project 3 Peer Review (tentative)
• October 26: Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source due by 11:59 PM

Projects 3 and 4

The next projects that we will work on are connected. Project 3 will be an in-depth analysis of a source text that you will use as you create Project 4. I will provide a full description of the two projects later this week (or Monday, if we run out of time). Meanwhile, you can rely on the short descriptions on the Assignment page if you want to begin thinking ahead.

Five Modes of Communication

Today’s activity explores multimodal texts that you interact with every day. I have a slideshow that includes short definitions of the major concepts we will explore as we read Writer/Designer. To get started, we will examine the five modes of communication:

Image from page 4 of Writer/Designer

Multimodal Dig

To practice identifying the modes of communication, we are going on a multimodal dig, a sort of personal inventory of multimodal texts.

1. Begin by digging through your backpack or bag to locate all the multimodal texts that you have with you. Think broadly and creatively. One item may have more than one way that it is (or contains) a text. For instance, your smartphone could be a multimodal text, but Candy Crush Saga is a multimodal text that might be on that device. So you have multiple texts there.

2. Go to the "Multimodal Dig" Discussion in Canvas for your class time, and create a Reply that lists the multimodal texts you have with you (or on you). It doesn’t have to be an exhaustive list. Aim for at least 10 texts, and look for the unusual.

3. Once you have your list, label the items with the modes they include. You can use the first letters (e.g., L=Linguistic, V=Visual). See the image above or page 4 of Writer/Designer if you need a refresher.

4. Once everyone has posted, I will ask you to share your most unusual text with the class and how modes are used by writers as they create texts.

Homework

For today, please do the following:

• If you didn’t complete your "Multimodal Dig" Discussion Reply in Canvas, please use the grace period to finish by 11:59 PM Tuesday (9/29).

For Wednesday’s session (9/30), do the following before class:

• Review the information on affordances and constraints in Chapter 1 (starting on page 14).

For Friday’s session (10/2), do the following before class:

• Read Chapter 2 of Writer/Designer and be ready to apply what you read about rhetorical and design choices.