Blog 6

Multimodality describes the many forms of communications that have been developed throughout time. Different forms convey different ideas in terms of density and visualization. This depends on the intent of the author and the audience. This includes blogs, social media, speech, images and movies, but they are limited on what information can be sent.  New modes have been created and previous modes have evolved because of the introduction of new technologies.

Kress defines that there are two modes, one in a physical aspect and the other in a societal or cultural aspect. According to Kress, writing will always remain the most classic and densest medium of communication. He proclaims that you reading from the left, while writing approaches the right.  There is only one way to approach a mode in this version of multimodality. Kress explains that even before the age of technology, information was still spread in a linear fashion when passed down to a generation and different cultures.

Wysocki views multimodality as informative, but pleasurable, rather than limited focus group of each mode. Unlike Kress’s importance of the sequential the arrangement and linearity, Wysocki focuses on both the big and little picture of each mode. By taking this into account, you spend as much time or as little in concentrating on certain details, with multiple approaches.

Technology increases at an exponential rate and it’s difficult to determine when a new mode will be introduced in the near future. The ideas are endless as we enter an age of virtual reality. First hand experience can be replicated and transferred in an instant. This mode will obtain Wysocki’s approach of attaining information. (276)