An activity-based multimodal theory provides an individual with a variety of open-ended tasks that challenge them to think about how a simple communication objective can be told through various means, using a plethora of resources depending on how they frame or coordinate their response to the communication objective. The individual will be responsible for products they formulate in response to given task (a printed text, film, website, performance), the operations (process of creating the multimodal project), and the resources that will be used to create the project, and the conditions under which the audience will experience the final project. This is a very out-of-the-box approach to the typical communication people may choose. So instead of writing a paper on the objective, one may choose to write it in a series of emails, which might be more effective in getting their message across.
Creating an imaginary space. The story of the student who thought of an American museum of greed was fascinating. As she didn’t have the means to create the space, it remained an imaginary space – but she created other supporting materials to support this imaginary space she could not build in Beverly Hills. She created an audio guide through the museum and a transcript of the tour of the museum. This helped make this project very multi-dimensional – it was no longer just a museum plan on paper. It made the space more imaginative.
De-contextualizing and re-contextualizing your work. The students in the reading were asked to re-think their works, as they were both not completely satisfied with their initial project. This is a very interesting assignment – having gone through the objective once, one may have a better understanding of the message they want to convey. Also, understanding the multi-modal nature of the project better, one may now have even more creative ideas to express their objectives.
Writing Across Media! 