For task #7 (Mode-Bending), I’ve chosen to link to Chris Lam’s The Last Modebender task. I loved it! I chose Chris’ task initially because I was intrigued by his use of video for a sound-based task: I was curious. I also appreciate humour and when I saw the thumbnail Chris had chosen for his video, I figured I’d be in for a treat: Chris didn’t disappoint! Although, his poor wife may have selected another image rather than a piggy to represent herself, Chris’ reasons for selecting such an image seemed good-natured and humorous, so I suppose that’s ok. 😉
Multiliteracies/Multimodalities
Chris’ thoughtful use of The New London Group’s (1996) multimodalities to present his audio task was quite clever; through video, he was able to successfully integrate, ” all 6 the elements of design: linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, spatial, and multi-modal.” (Lam, 2020). However, he was also able to successfully focus on the audio element of the contents of his ‘bag’ (pocket?) through recording the sound the objects made as he tossed them on the ground/cushion. The idea that those objects themselves can tell a story about Chris’s life, was pretty creative.
For this task, like Chris, I also relied quite heavily on The New London Group’s (1996) concept of multiliteracies/multimodalities. I think Chris and I are similar in our interest in providing our readers with a creative, unique multimodal experience (showcasing the audio element, of course). We’ve both included visual elements (Chris with his video, and I with the visualization produced by Voyant Tools) and text elements as well.
Where we differ, is in how we chose to present our audio interpretation: I used sonification to present a song-like version of Task 1, whereas Chris presented the sound his objects make when tossed on a surface. Both interpretations tell a different kind of story about the objects we both deem important to us. Chris’ audio ‘story’ might be more familiar to those viewing (and listening to) Chris’ video, whereas, my sonification might seem foreign and odd to some. However, both audio interpretations are valid and both tell a story about the objects that are important to the two of us.