Multimodal literacy leads to better understanding ways in which media shapes the world.
Multimodal texts combine various modes such as visual, audio, and alphabetic or linguistic text.
Multimodal analysis and production foster access to more complex ways to read the texts we
encounter. Our daily lives are media-saturated as we engage with a number of multimodal texts
in variety of modes that work together to create subtle messages of persuasion and reinforcement
of cultural stereotypes. It’s important to think critically about messages directed through media.
Creating a multimodal text engages creativity. Digital remediation activates critical thinking.
Project Assignment:
Digital remediation is the process of adapting a message from its current text and page-based
medium to another medium using digital technology. In this assignment, you will need to return
to your research-based writing (Essay 3). Your task is to re-create or “re-mix” it as a multimedia
or multimodal piece. Consider the various modes of multimodal communication: linguistic,
visual, aural, spatial, and gestural. What modes will you choose to remix your argument’s
content and message? You will need to present your research and argument in Essay 3 by using a
variety of semiotic modes (alphabetic text, voice or audio files, sounds, video). Consider the
various qualities of the medium: techniques, audiences, language use, etc. that may or may not
be in a text and page-based medium. Reflect as well on rhetorical knowledge and how that may
or may not transfer in different media.
Imagine that you will share this project in a public space or venue and not just with your
professor and peers. Expand the scope of your audience beyond our class to include (possibly)
publication. Here are some examples of different media you may use:
• A audio essay or podcast version of your research essay
• A digital story using WeVideo or iMovie that illustrates your story and argument from
your previous essay
• A “mashup” (where you take images, videos, audio, etc. from other sources and represent them in new, creative ways to conceptualize your research essay argument)
In your Remediation Project you shouldinclude:
Basic Assignment: Revise your research-based argument essay for a different audience (public),
genre (of your choosing) and medium (print to digital).
Thesis/Argument: Convey your claim and the argument in your research-based essay in a new
way, using other modes of creation besides strictly alphabetic text. Your audience should not have
to guess what your argument is: your argument in your creative project should be clear as a “stand
alone piece” to an audience outside our class who knows nothing about your work.
Creativity/originality in making your argument: Be creative. Your goal is to create a piece that
engages the audience you’re envisioning (most immediately our class but also beyond) in your
argument and research. You can do this in several ways: by appeals to logic (logos) using alphabetic
text/numbers/research. You can use images and video clips to appeals to emotion (pathos). How
well do you select interesting images or video clips? How well do you arrange them to tell a story?
Sources: Use list of Works Cited if your project does not lend itself to a credits screen.
Proofreading/Grammar: If you use alphabetic text, your writing style is concise and compelling,
and you carefully edit and proofread your final draft so that your writing contains no errors in
spelling or grammar (unless you’re do so intentionally to make a point).
Length: The final version should be long enough to convey an argument (close to 3 minutes) but
not longer than 3:00 minutes.
