“Filming in Progress”: New spaces for multimodal designing

Global trends call for new research to investigate multimodal designing mediated by new technologies and the implications for classroom spaces. This article addresses the relationship between new technologies, students’ multimodal designing, and the social production of classroom spaces. Multimodal semiotics and sociological principles are applied to a series of claymation movie-making lessons in an upper primary school in Australia. The analysis focuses on the social meanings embedded in the multimodal spaces of the classroom—dialogic, bodily, embodied, architectonic, and screen spaces. The findings demonstrate how the uses of new technologies and the students’ multimodal learning were tied to important transformations of space.

Shrek meets Vygotsky : rethinking adolescents' multimodal literacy practices in schools

Recent research has emphasized the multimodal and digital nature of adolescent literacy practices. These practices cross multiple social spaces, particularly settings outside of schools. This article re-examines current research to yield three caveats that counter assumptions about the pervasiveness, relevance, and spontaneity of youths’ multimodal practices in the digital communications environment: 1. It is incorrect to assume that today’s adolescents are all “digital natives”; 2. Engaging adolescents in multimodal textual practices must involve more than conforming the curriculum to their interests and practices, extending students’ repertoire of skills and genres; and 3. While some new multimodal practices are taken up by adolescents with minimal instruction in informal contexts, greater emphasis should be placed on expert scaffolding of these literacies in school settings.

Optimising container processes at multimodal seaport terminals : an integrated approach and application

A Multimodal Seaport Container Terminal (MSCT) is a complex system which requires careful planning and control in order to operate efficiently. It consists of a number of subsystems that require optimisation of the operations within them, as well as synchronisation of machines and containers between the various subsystems. Inefficiency in the terminal can delay ships from their scheduled timetables, as well as cause delays in delivering containers to their inland destinations, both of which can be very costly to their operators. The purpose of this PhD thesis is to use Operations Research methodologies to optimise and synchronise these subsystems as an integrated application. An initial model is developed for the overall MSCT; however, due to a large number of assumptions that had to be made, as well as other issues, it is found to be too inaccurate and infeasible for practical use. Instead, a method of developing models for each subsystem is proposed that then be integrated with each other. Mathematical models are developed for the Storage Area System (SAS) and Intra-terminal Transportation System (ITTS). The SAS deals with the movement and assignment of containers to stacks within the storage area, both when they arrive and when they are rehandled to retrieve containers below them. The ITTS deals with scheduling the movement of containers and machines between the storage areas and other sections of the terminal, such as the berth and road/rail terminals. Various constructive heuristics are explored and compared for these models to produce good initial solutions for large-sized problems, which are otherwise impractical to compute by exact methods. These initial solutions are further improved through the use of an innovative hyper-heuristic algorithm that integrates the SAS and ITTS solutions together and optimises them through meta-heuristic techniques. The method by which the two models can interact with each other as an integrated system will be discussed, as well as how this method can be extended to the other subsystems of the MSCT.

Reading in the Australian curriculum English : describing the effects of structure and organisation on multimodal texts

The recently introduced Australian Curriculum: English Version 3.0 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2012) requires students to ‘read’ multimodal text and describe the effects of structure and organisation. We begin this article by tracing the variable understandings of what reading multimodal text might entail through the Framing Paper (National Curriculum Board, 2008), the Framing Paper Consultation Report (National Curriculum Board, 2009a), the Shaping Paper (National Curriculum Board, 2009b) and Version 3.0 of the Australian Curriculum English (ACARA, 2012). Our findings show that the theoretical and descriptive framework for doing so is implicit. Drawing together multiple but internally coherent theories from the field of semiotics, we suggest one way to work towards three Year 5 learning outcomes from the reading/writing mode. The affordances of assembling a broad but explicit technical metalanguage for an informed reading of the integrated design elements of multimodal texts are noted.

Multimodal and monomodal discourses of marketization in higher education : power, ideology, and the absence of the image

The ubiquity of multimodality in hypermedia environments is undeniable. Bezemer and Kress (2008) have argued that writing has been displaced by image as the central mode for representation. Given the current technical affordances of digital technology and user-friendly interfaces that enable the ease of multimodal design, the conspicuous absence of images in certain domains of cyberspace is deserving of critical analysis. In this presentation, I examine the politics of discourses implicit within hypertextual spaces, drawing textual examples from a higher education website. I critically examine the role of writing and other modes of production used in what Fairclough (1993) refers to as discourses of marketisation in higher education, tracing four pervasive discourses of teaching and learning in the current economy: i) materialization, ii) personalization, iii) technologisation, and iv) commodification (Fairclough, 1999). Each of these arguments is supported by the critical analysis of multimodal texts. The first is a podcast highlighting the new architectonic features of a university learning space. The second is a podcast and transcript of a university Open Day interview with prospective students. The third is a time-lapse video showing the construction of a new science and engineering precinct. These three multimodal texts contrast a final web-based text that exhibits a predominance of writing and the powerful absence or silencing of the image. I connect the weightiness of words and the function of monomodality in the commodification of discourses, and its resistance to the multimodal affordances of web-based technologies, and how this is used to establish particular sets of subject positions and ideologies through which readers are constrained to occupy. Applying principles of critical language study by theorists that include Fairclough, Kress, Lemke, and others whose semiotic analysis of texts focuses on the connections between language, power, and ideology, I demonstrate how the denial of image and the privileging of written words in the multimodality of cyberspace is an ideological effect to accentuate the dominance of the institution.

Optimising container transfers at multimodal terminals

The use of containers have greatly reduced handling operations at ports and at all other transfer points, thus increasing the efficiency and speed of transportation. This was done in an attempt to cut down the cost of maritime transport, mainly by reducing cargo handling and costs, and ships' time in port by speeding up handling operations. This paper discusses the major factors influencing the transfer efficiency of seaport container terminals. A network model is designed to analyse container progress in the system and applied to a seaport container terminal. The model presented here can be seen as a decision support system in the context of investment appraisal of multimodal container terminals. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Genetic algorithms to schedule container transfers at multimodal terminals

Optimising the container transfer schedule at the multimodal terminals is known to be NP-hard, which implies that the best solution becomes computationally infeasible as problem sizes increase. Genetic Algorithm (GA) techniques are used to reduce container handling/transfer times and ships' time at the port by speeding up handling operations. The GA is chosen due to the relatively good results that have been reported even with the simplest GA implementations to obtain near-optimal solutions in reasonable time. Also discussed, is the application of the model to assess the consequences of increased scheduled throughput time as well as different strategies such as the alternative plant layouts, storage policies and number of yard machines. A real data set used for the solution and subsequent sensitivity analysis is applied to the alternative plant layouts, storage policies and number of yard machines.

Multimodal approaches to reflective teaching and assessment in higher education

Reflection is not a new concept in the teaching of higher education and is often an important component of many disciplinary courses. Despite this, past research shows that whilst there are examples of rich reflective strategies used in some areas of higher education, most approaches to and conceptualisations of reflective learning and assessment have been perfunctory and inconsistent. In many disciplinary areas reflection is often assessed as a written activity ‘tagged onto’ assessment practices. In creative disciplines however, reflective practice is an integral and cumulative form of learning and is often expressed in ways other than in the written form. This paper will present three case studies of reflective practice in the area of Creative Industries in higher education – Dance, Fashion and Music. It will discuss the ways in which higher education teachers and students use multi-modal approaches to expressing knowledge and reflective practice in context. The paper will argue that unless students are encouraged to participate in deep reflective disciplinary discourse via multi-modes then reflection will remain superficial in the higher education context.

“Freer than we Feel” : Applying the Critical Dimension of Consciousness to Children’s Multimodal Encoding

Reports of children and teachers taking transformative social action in schools are becoming rare. This session illustrates how teachers, while feeling the weight of accountability testing in schools, are active agents who can re-imagine literacy pedagogy to change elements of their community. It reports the critical dimensions of a movie-making unit with Year 5 students within a school reform project. The students filmed interviews with people in the local shops to gather lay-knowledge and experiences of the community. The short documentaries challenged stereotypes about what it is like to live in Logan, and critically identified potential improvements to public spaces in the local community. A student panel presented these multimodal texts at a national conference of social activists and community leaders. The report does not valorize or privilege local or lay knowledge over dominant knowledge, but argues that prescribed curriculum should not hinder the capacity for critical consciousness.

The kineikonic mode : a multimodal analysis of students’ claymation movies

Globalised communication in society today is characterised by multimodal forms of meaning making in the context of increased cultural and linguistic diversity. This research paper responds to these imperatives, applying Halliday's (1978, 1994) categories of systemic functional linguistics - representational or ideational, interactive or interpersonal, and compositional or textual meanings. Following the work of Kress (2000), van Leeuwen (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996), and Jewitt (2006), multimodal semiotic analysis is applied to claymation movies that were collaboratively designed by Year 6 students. The significance of this analysis is the metalanguage for textual work in the kineikonic mode - moving images.

Writing the visible page : a multimodal approach to graphic devices in literary fiction

This practice-led project has two outcomes: a collection of short stories titled 'Corkscrew Section', and an exegesis. The short stories combine written narrative with visual elements such as images and typographic devices, while the exegesis analyses the function of these graphic devices within adult literary fiction. My creative writing explores a variety of genres and literary styles, but almost all of the stories are concerned with fusing verbal and visual modes of communication. The exegesis adopts the interpretive paradigm of multimodal stylistics, which aims to analyse graphic devices with the same level of detail as linguistic analysis. Within this framework, the exegesis compares and extends previous studies to develop a systematic method for analysing how the interactions between language, images and typography create meaning within multimodal literature.

Literacy Theories for the Digital Age: Social, Critical, Multimodal, Spatial, Material and Sensory Lenses

Literacy Theories for the Digital Age insightfully brings together six essential approaches to literacy research and educational practice. The book provides powerful and accessible theories for readers, including Socio-cultural, Critical, Multimodal, Socio-spatial, Socio-material and Sensory Literacies. The brand new Sensory Literacies approach is an original and visionary contribution to the field, coupled with a provocative foreword from leading sensory anthropologist David Howes. This dynamic collection explores a legacy of literacy research while showing the relationships between each paradigm, highlighting their complementarity and distinctions. This highly relevant compendium will inspire readers to explore new frontiers of thought and practice in times of diversity and technological change.

Critical review of time-dependent shortest path algorithms: A multimodal trip planner perspective

A multimodal trip planner that produces optimal journeys involving both public transport and private vehicle legs has to solve a number of shortest path problems, both on the road network and the public transport network. The algorithms that are used to solve these shortest path problems have been researched since the late 1950s. However, in order to provide accurate journey plans that can be trusted by the user, the variability of travel times caused by traffic congestion must be taken into consideration. This requires the use of more sophisticated time-dependent shortest path algorithms, which have only been researched in depth over the last two decades, from the mid-1990s. This paper will review and compare nine algorithms that have been proposed in the literature, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm on the basis of five important criteria that must be considered when choosing one or more of them to implement in a multimodal trip planner.