Mutimodality

Takayoshi and Selfe bring together a compelling argument for multimodality within the the compositional education system. Multimodality is simply a word used to describe texts that go beyond just the printed word. Blogs, for example, can include words, music, pictures, and videos to express an opinion. The main argument for the article "Thinking about Multimodality" is that this ability to be multimodal as a student should be taught at the basic level of composition. They make the point that while technology is changing rapidly, composition education has remained the same. They write, "the texts that students have produced in response to composition assignments have remained essentially the same for the past 150 years." I would have to agree with this article. I believe that to be well versed in expression this day in age, multimodal composition skills are a must. This article seems to be the answer that Daley was looking for in her article. It takes Daley's ideas and creates a map of how to achieve multimodality in the educational system. Multimodality seems to have taken off with the use of blogs to express opinions. Nardi explains that blogs are the medium that many people use to express themselves. She writes, "In our sample, we discovered five major motivations for blogging: documenting one’s life; providing commentary and opinions; expressing deeply felt emotions; articulating ideas through writing; and forming and maintaining community forums." It seems that blogs have become the first step in an all inclusive multimodal expression pallet. Like everything else, blogs are constantly changing and adapting with the times. We see this through Walker's struggle to pinpoint what a web blog is in just five hundred words. It's tough to describe something that is constantly evolving. I believe that we will see blogs continue to grow in ways that will change the definition of what a web blog is still.