Multimodality boosts
credibility?!
After the lecture, I was thinking about
the word “multimodal” and trying to link it with the information I’ve heard on the
radio that morning. The DJ said in these days, all the text had to be
integrated with pictures and videos, otherwise, there is no news. He used a secret video of Romney,
Republican presidential candidate, as an example to show that the ‘conviction’
was simply non-defendable by Romney. Imagine if there was only text supporting
the news, the news could not be a scandal at all, as not many people would
believe it as it’s been.
The tricky thing was that at the
same time, a historian from Harvard found a passage showing that Jesus had a wife and people were debating over it, or even trying
to use it as a legitimate reason for priests to get married. This really shows
the contradictory picture- only text, not multimodal- can create more rows. So,
I believe that multimodal representations are far better than just dull text because
it can, of course, increase the credibility, but also can intrigue all readers
to read through your whole passage – is that your ultimate goal?
What do you think about
multimodality, or you just want to read the text instead, to grab the main idea
without any room for ‘imagination’, given by videos and images?
Maybe the smartest answer is “It
Depends”.
Without video and image support, do you think Gangnam Style can
be that well-known overseas, and even have lots of remix versions?
Specific Layouts for certain types of Sites?!
‘Different
layouts convey different meanings,’ said Christoph. I was surprised that there
are different names and types of layouts – what is more surprising is that
different types of websites use different types of layouts.
The most frequently-browsed
website of mine must be Google. In fact, it seems to have the most complex
layout compared to others, because it is centre-margin dominated, but clusters
with left-right (Search, Images, Maps and so forth) and top-bottom (the search
engine separating the top and bottom). The trickiest thing is that most search
engines choose this type of layout, like Bing and Baidu (maybe they just copy
Google, who knows.)
The top-down layout is so common
among all extravagant fashion labels, like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
‘Shopping For Labels, Shopping
For Love…’
It really only appears on those
big brand names? Maybe the so-called relatively lower class labels, like Bossini
and Uniquo, are using this type, but maybe so much information is on top that
blurs readers’ eyes. Personally, I do love the websites of ‘Extravaganza’s
brand names’ because they are so elegant and grand. This is truly a type of
layout that can catch readers’ eyeballs. Maybe those relatively lower class
labels can imitate this type of layout to attract more customers.
The typical left-right layout
always pops up on the ‘log on’ page of your emails. Have you ever noticed it?
No matter what accounts you are using, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo mail or whatever
mail, you can find this type of layout. Maybe some experts have found some clues
that people are get used to this type of layout for logging on their emails.
It’s so interesting to find out
they are all using the same type of layout, but is it possible to interchange
their typical layouts? Let’s say, Louis Vuitton is using the centre-margin one,
while Google is using the left-right one only.
Will we get lost??!!!! I think it
is still possible for us to navigate, maybe.
An innovative blog's layout is like classic newspaper.
to see more innovative blogs' layouts: click here
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“Be Critical!” Hypertext said.
I’ve learned
that there are various internal and external organizations on a web page, like
hierarchical, hypertextual and linear structures. And what I am surprised is that
most of the websites of newspapers’ organizations, like SCMP, have mixed all
these various types with external links, like ‘people may also read’. There is also a ‘Comment’ box for all the
readers to type what they feel about the current issue, which is really amazing
as it’s no longer one-way, but two-way communication between the writers and readers.
What a fascinating deed NEW MEDIA can make!!!!!
Although hypertext can guide us
to explore more, it has its own bias that readers should pay attention to. This
is also what I was inspired a lot throughout the lecture-criticism on
hypertext. Like the example of Diaoyu Islands, it’s interesting to find out
that the position of a well-known online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is pro-Japan,
as it deliberately named the Islands as Senkaku Islands, and when I flipped through
the references below, most of them are in the US and Japan’s perspectives. But
ironically, if it is in Chinese, it will say as ‘Diaoyu Islands’. That’s the trickiest
thing.
What I’ve learned is “Be Critical”!!
No matter how the hypertext links you to whatever websites, “Be Critical” of every
simple click on the blue text, otherwise, you’ll be trapped, misguided,
confused and bamboozled.
To know more about criticism of hypertext: click here
