In this update I will present two different multimodal media platforms, Twitter and Instagram, and provide my thoughts on how they offer multimodality, and how they could be used for pedagogical and educational purposes.

Both platforms support text, image and video with sound as user inputs, and  are primarily meant to be used from a smartphone device. The platforms are meant for instant updating, focusing on quick posting and more or less minimal editing of the userinput. The way the three platforms differ are in their way of presenting and archiving user posts, as well as their emphasis on either text, images or video.

In keeping with the overarching subject of multimodality in presentation, videos from youtube is attached to each of the following presentations.

Twitter

Twitters claim to fame is the concept of microblogging. The service is very popular among pundits, bandits and presidents a like, but is also used by millions of users world wide. Each user has a profile and post short and sweet updates from this profile. The updates are restricted to 140 characters, which have made users phrase themselves in abbreviations and from this a certain type of twitter language have evolved. The microblog posts, so called tweets, can be linked to trending topics, other tweeters etc. through the usage of hashtags. Eg. “#multimodallearning. These tags creates connections between all posts bearing the same tag, making the posts searchable by tag. Any user can create a new tag, and any user can reply to other users posts. In this way Twitter functions as a enormous and open conversation among all users. This conversations is primarily focused on text. Even though both video and image integration is possible, the way the user experience these media is some what external to the twitter interface. Images opens in a different tab in your browser on both the PC and a on a handheld device, and the same goes for video.

In an educational perspective Twitter has been used in different ways. A key feature is that the platform allows for simultaneous input from multiple users. Through posting with a certain hashtag communities of learners and teachers could be established. Teachers could post assignments or questions as tweets, and learners could respond and comment with tweets. The character limitation would naturally make use of links and special phrasing necessary, but this might make for interesting obstructions.

Teaching and learning through Twitter automatically links the class to Twitters vast network of worldwide trending topics. Classes could revolve around these topics, and the learners could learn about a subject and at the same time participate in the discussions with the rest of world.

Article on Twitter in education

Videos:

Instagram

Instagram, as the name implies, is for instantly sharing of images, but it also supports videos up to 15 seconds long. Both video and image posts can be accompanied by short text, which may contain links. Users on this platform are only able to post from a handheld device, and the the service is not available through a browser, but can only be displayed through an app. The service utilizes hashtags, and much like twitter this makes users posts searchable across the platform. Users posts are cataloged as a timeline, making it possible for other users to access earlier posts.

Instagram is known for the way it lets users apply flattering and mood changing filters on their image posts, giving the users a degree of ability of manipulation and improvement of the images. This has been subject of some critique, and the platform is somewhat synonomous with superficiality and the highly aestheticised parts of popculture.

Used for educational purpsoses Instagram offers much of the same features as Twitter in terms of searchable hashtags and the ability to gather communities of posters through hashtags. In contrast to twitter the Instagram community lacks the deep connection to worldwide or local politics and sciece, and is more popculture oriented. This might be a hindrance if learners are to engange in subjects outside popcultural phenomena. 

Where twitter is great for textbased communication, Instagram is image focused, making it more useful for solving visual assignments in eg. art history, geometry or the like.  

Article on Instagram

Article on Instagram in education

Video: