Publics, Forms, and Futures of Multimodal Scholarship

1 Course Unit

In this course, we take stock of the current practices, emerging potentials, and unacknowledged histories of what is currently called “multimodal scholarship,” the presentation of scholarly knowledge in modes beyond the written academic journal article. In particular, we approach multimodal scholarship as a series of questions regarding "forms" and "publics". How do media such as audio, video, or interactive design contribute differently to the articulation of intellectual ideas? Who gets to engage with multimodal scholarly productions, and how? What sorts of literacies do multimodal projects demand? Finally, what types of infrastructures are needed to create and maintain these types of projects? Throughout the semester, we critically examine a variety of multimodal projects as both academic endeavors and media texts in their own right. Seminar participants will workshop their own research through a variety of media forms (e.g. podcasts, video essays, visual graphics, interactive texts, etc.) to critically examine the affordances and limitations of each. Familiarity with some kind of media production, though ideal, is not required. 1 Course Unit