Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication

by ;
Edition: 1st
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2009-12-10
Publisher(s): Routledge
  • Free Shipping Icon

    Receive Free Shipping To The More Store!*

    *Marketplace items do not qualify for the free shipping promotion.

  • eCampus.com Device Compatibility Matrix

    Click the device icon to install or view instructions

    Apple iOS | iPad, iPhone, iPod
    Apple iOS | iPad, iPhone, iPod
    Android Devices | Android Tables & Phones OS 2.2 or higher | *Kindle Fire
    Android Devices | Android Tables & Phones OS 2.2 or higher | *Kindle Fire
    Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
    Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
    Mac OS X | **iMac / Macbook
    Mac OS X | **iMac / Macbook
    Enjoy offline reading with these devices
    Apple Devices
    Android Devices
    Windows Devices
    Mac Devices
    iPad, iPhone, iPod
    Our reader is compatible
     
     
     
    Android 2.2 +
     
    Our reader is compatible
     
     
    Kindle Fire
     
    Our reader is compatible
     
     
    Windows
    10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
     
     
    Our reader is compatible
     
    Mac
     
     
     
    Our reader is compatible
List Price: $64.39

Buy New

Usually Ships in 5-7 Business Days
$64.33

Rent Textbook

Select for Price
There was a problem. Please try again later.

Rent Digital

Rent Digital Options
Online:180 Days access
Downloadable:180 Days
$48.18
Online:365 Days access
Downloadable:365 Days
$56.94
Online:1825 Days access
Downloadable:Lifetime Access
$87.59
*To support the delivery of the digital material to you, a digital delivery fee of $3.99 will be charged on each digital item.
$48.18*

Used Textbook

We're Sorry
Sold Out

How Marketplace Works:

  • This item is offered by an independent seller and not shipped from our warehouse
  • Item details like edition and cover design may differ from our description; see seller's comments before ordering.
  • Sellers much confirm and ship within two business days; otherwise, the order will be cancelled and refunded.
  • Marketplace purchases cannot be returned to eCampus.com. Contact the seller directly for inquiries; if no response within two days, contact customer service.
  • Additional shipping costs apply to Marketplace purchases. Review shipping costs at checkout.

Summary

The twenty-first century is awash with evermore mixed and remixed images, writing, layout, sound, gesture, speech and 3D objects. Multimodality looks beyond language and examines these multiple modes of communication and meaning-making.

Author Biography

Gunther Kress is Professor of Semiotics and Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. His numerous titles include Reading Images (co-author with Theo van Leeuwen, 2nd edn, 2006), Early Spelling (1999), Before Writing (1997) and Learning to Write (1993); all published by Routledge.

Table of Contents

List of illustrationsp. xi
Prefacep. xiii
Acknowledgementsp. xvii
Where meaning is the issuep. 1
Multimodality: simple, reallyp. 1
From semiotic system to semiotic resourcep. 5
Cultural difference and communication: the 'reach' of the theory and the 'reach' of modesp. 8
The politics of namingp. 12
A satellite view of languagep. 15
The social environment of contemporary communicationp. 18
An ethical approach to communicationp. 18
Assumptionsp. 19
Environments for communication: social frames and communicational possibilitiesp. 19
Power, authority and authorshipp. 21
Social and theoretical consequences: ruling metaphors of participation, design, and productionp. 22
Personal choices: existential insecurity or agency through participation and connectionp. 23
Communication and meaning: fluidity, provisionality, Instabilityp. 23
A prospective theory of communication: rhetoric, design, productionp. 26
From language and grammar to semiotic resourcesp. 27
Mobility and portabilityp. 28
A word on 'pace'p. 29
The need for apt metaphorsp. 30
Communication: shaping the domain of meaningp. 32
Communication as semiotic work: a sketch of a theoryp. 32
'Reading' and the reader's design of meaningp. 37
Provisionality in communication: rhetoric and design, newly configuredp. 43
Environments of communication: a historical viewp. 46
Refashioning social and semiotic domains: rhetoric and designp. 49
A social-semiotic theory of multimodalityp. 54
From a linguistic to a multimodal social-semiotic theory of meaning and communicationp. 54
Linguistics, pragmatics and a social-semiotic approach to representationp. 56
Horses for courses: apt theories, useful framingp. 60
The motivated signp. 62
The everyday, the banal and the motivated signp. 65
Interest and the partiality of representationp. 70
Mimesis, signs and embodied experiencep. 76
Modep. 79
Materiality and affordance: the social making of modep. 79
The 'reach' of modesp. 83
What is a mode?p. 84
Is layout a mode?p. 88
Mode, meaning, text: 'fixing' and 'framing'p. 93
Mode as technology of transcriptionp. 96
Meaning as resource: 'naming' in a multimodal social-semiotic theoryp. 103
Naming aptlyp. 103
New frames, new namesp. 105
Making signs: resources, processes and agencyp. 107
Processes and effects:-making and remaking meaningp. 120
Design and arrangements: making meaning materialp. 132
Design in contemporary conditions of text-makingp. 132
Design an essential (re)focusingp. 133
What is design? A homely examplep. 135
Design in social-semiotic environmentsp. 137
Changes in design: a brief look at recent historyp. 141
Arrangements: making meanings materialp. 145
What else is framed?p. 153
Discourse: ontological and epistemological framingp. 157
Multimodal orchestrations and ensembles of meaningp. 159
The world arranged by me; the world arranged for mep. 159
The world arranged by me, the world arranged for me: orchestrating ensembles, staging of movement, motion, 'pace'p. 162
Aesthetics, style and ethics in multimodal ensemblesp. 169
Applying the theory: learning and evaluation; identity and knowledgep. 174
Learning and identity in a communicational framep. 174
Reading as designp. 175
Semiosis, meaning and learningp. 178
Recognition, metrics and principles of assessmentp. 182
The social semiotics of convergent mobile devices: new forms of composition and the transformation of habitusp. 184
The social frame for the semiotic analysisp. 184
The affordances of Smartphones: a social-semiotic accountp. 185
Affordances of the hardwarep. 186
'Shape': designers' intentions and social implicationsp. 187
The representational affordancesp. 187
The functionalitiesp. 189
Mobile Web access and usability: changes in social habitusp. 190
Implicationsp. 193
Gains and losses: some open questionsp. 195
Referencesp. 198
Indexp. 205
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.

This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.

By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.

Digital License

You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.

More details can be found here.

A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.

Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.

Please view the compatibility matrix prior to purchase.