Multimodal vs Multimedia

     I do believe that there is a difference between the terms "multimodal" and "multimedia." Multimodal is a term that describes using the different modes- visual, aural, linguistic, spatial, and gestural- together to communicate. Multimedia refers to the different forms of mediums used to express the communication created by the modes. For example, the internet could be considered a form of multimedia. A website found on the internet, the medium, would be the multimodal text, containing different modes in order to reach out to its audience.

Linguistic Mode "Process!"

     The extension "Jailbreak the Patiarchy" does use linguistic content to make people think and get a different perspective on the world. By swapping all the gender related words, such as switching "men" to "women" the person browsing the web is made to see the world how it would be if society was "switched" so to speak. As I looked around the web with this extension on, I found it interesting to find that "God" had been changed to "Goddess." I think the linguistic choices like these, that are thought provoking and surprising, makes you realize the large role gender plays in our view of the world, politics, religion, news, and so on. The one problem I found with this linguistic choice was that at times it was confusing to read news articles and such because, obviously, the actual people in the articles were being gender swapped. This could lead to problems as you are misgendering people.

Visual Mode "Process!"

     The first visual difference I see between the two Twitter profiles are the backgrounds. The first profile has a light blue color with a bare tree on the side, giving the profile a calm, soft look. The second has a bit more of a vibrant green color with an animated tree with green leaves and a small cloud on the side. This gives the profile a bit more of an upbeat feel. The other difference I noticed visually are the profile pictures. The top profile picture is of an animated panda, leading me to believe that maybe this person does not want their face associated with their profile, or maybe they are more shy of showing their picture on the internet. The second profile has a picture of a woman with a child, showing me that the woman who runs the profile is most likely a mother.

Aural Mode "Process!"

     The video has a soft, slow, industrial sounding music in the background, while a young woman narrates the video in a pretty calm and positive voice. This helps create the productive, creative, and inspiring message that the video is trying to get across. If there had been a country or bluegrass song, the video would have been very thrown off. A fast bluegrass song would not have gone with the gray colors of the video or the voice of the young woman narrating, making the audience confused and not quite sure what the video is trying to get across. I might even think that the video was trying to be humorous if it had that kind of music.

Spatial Mode "Process!"

     Examining the Netflix homepage, at the very top of the page are the drop down menus for categories of shows and movies that you can browse, a link to your profile, and some links to your taste preferences and renting DVDs. Immediately, though, my eyes are drawn to the pictures of movie titles and images lined up in rows all along the page. At the top of the page, going horizontally, are the "Popular on Netflix" shows and movies. The next row below that is the "New releases" movies and shows. This is a spatially good idea because these are movies and shows that people will be more likely to want to watch, and therefore they should be the first images you see. If what was at the bottom of the page, which is the rows of sports movies and foreign movies, had been at the top, I would definitely not be as interested and would find it a hassle to have to scroll to the bottom to browse all the categories or the more popular categories.

Gestural Mode "Process!"

     Obama has a pretty serious facial expression the entire speech, which helps support the strength he is trying to show and the seriousness of the points he is making. He makes a fist a lot when making his points, also to add strength and to emphasize his confidence in the points he is making. Both Rice and Obama make sure to gesture to the whole room, turning from side to side to front, making sure to include and face the entirety of the audience. Rice's gestures are not as big as Obama's, and her facial expression is a lot more softer. This might be due to her trying to give off a more approachable or feminine look, while Obama was going for strength and confidence.