Redesigning the first task into a different semiotic mode invited both creative and theoretical reflection on what it means to “compose” in a multimodal environment. The original “What’s in your bag/phone” task relied heavily on the visual mode, using a spatial layout, images, and symbols to construct identity through objects. In this attempt, I reimagined the task through an aural mode, creating a short audio piece composed of ambient sounds and spoken fragments rather than visual description. The focus shifted from seeing to hearing—inviting the listener to infer meaning through tone, rhythm, and pauses. This process required not only a translation of content but also a reorientation of how meaning is perceived, aligning with the New London Group’s (1996) call to consider design as an act of transformation, not replication.

This mode shift highlights the interpretive role of the listener. Without visual cues, sound became a tool for conveying atmosphere, emotion, and context. Each sound was an “available design” (New London Group, 1996) or an existing resource reused for a new communicative purpose. For instance, the sound of a phone unlocking replaced the image of a phone and the ticking of a clock with the ambient noise of a house replaced visual clutter. This redesign highlighted how multimodality extends literacy beyond text and image to include embodied, temporal, and sensory dimensions of communication.

From a theoretical standpoint, this exercise reinforces the view of Dobson and Willinsky (2009) that digital literacy represents a continuum rather than a revolution; a layering of traditional literacy practices with emergent multimodal forms. The process of translating a visual artifact into sound was not a rejection of textual literacy, but an expansion of it, requiring similar cognitive acts of structuring, sequencing, and interpreting. Rather than abandoning writing, I found myself writing with sound, using a process that bridges the digital and the literary.

In the context of the “information age,” this redefinition of literacy feels especially relevant. As data and information multiply exponentially, the ability to navigate across modes and to design meaning using the most effective medium for the moment—becomes increasingly vital. The challenge is not simply one of technical skill but of imaginative adaptability, the kind of approach emphasized by Dobson and Willinsky (2009) and the New London Group (1996), positioning the learner as an active designer of meaning rather than a passive consumer of information.

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References:

Dobson, T. M., & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital literacy. In D. R. Olson & N. Torrance (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of literacy (pp. 286–312). Cambridge University Press.

The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92.