Developing a More Productive Blend: On the Limitations of a Mash-Up Approach to Multimodal Analysis

• In Event: Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Writing and Literacies SIG Roundtable 9. Developing Literacy Practices and Habits of Reflection: Media, Materials, and Meaning-Making

Abstract

This presentation highlights findings from two sets of qualitative data to surface the limitations of a mashup approach to multimodal analysis in literacy studies. By investigating several prominent theories and frameworks that are commonly combined for the purpose of multimodal analysis, the authors – pulling from their own experiences using these frameworks to examine data – determine that the mashup approach is not necessarily ineffective, but that it is insufficient. The authors conclude by offering recommendations for supplementing the mashup approach through data co-construction and increased attention to researcher positionality, ultimately suggesting a new, more productive framework.

Authors

• David Eric Low, California State University - Fresno

• Jessica Zacher Pandya, California State University - Long Beach