Katie Lafferty

Part One
1. Examining a Simple Multimodal Text
a. I did not expect to see another woman in the second picture; she’s there to be a
kind of surprise to the viewer. You wouldn’t normally expect to see another
woman, but this element is against the typical norm. The author used these
photos to his advantage to show a multimodal text that was against this norm of
women liking men. A stock photo relationship would be considered this norm of
women liking men which is why I think that these elements are used to poke fun
at this norm, going against the average stock photo of a relationship.
b. In image three the author used spatial modes in order to put the women close
together to amplify their supposed love. The linguistic mode is the caption “Yes,
they’re in love.” This shows a sarcastic voice coming from the author like “I know,
surprise! They actually love each other.” The simplicity of the black and white and
the women’s facial expressions and the way the first woman is longingly looking
at the other shows their love by using visual and gestural modes.
c. The man is in last picture to show how society feels about same sex
relationships. He looks disappointed and confused as if the fact that the two
women are in love is just not how it’s supposed to be in the world. If he were
frowning I think the picture would convey a more mean and disrespectful tone, if
he was smiling I think the picture would still seem like the man is really confused
and unapproving of the relationship.
d. The framing is very simple and it shows a black and white photo. If you look
deeper at the framing, not only noticing the fact that it is thin and simple, you can
assume that the simplicity is similar to the simplicity of a same sex relationship. It
shouldn’t really be disapproved of because it is the same as any other
relationship.
e. If the photos had a different title or different subtitles on them the pictures could
easily be confused with a couple of best friends just talking to one another and
the last picture of a man could be thinking “what are they up to?”
2. Mode, Media, and Affordance in Everyday Text
a. Throughout the day I have seen many types of texts. The two I can remember
most clearly are a menu and a receipt. The texts are completely different
because they are conveying different things. The only similarity is they both have
numbers. I’ve also looked ups song lyrics today.
b. They probably come from a similar time period because where there is a menu
there has to be some sort of recollection of what you bought, a receipt. The song
lyrics are probably from an older time period because music has been around for
such a long time.
c. One could say they are making similar types of arguments because they both list
what you’re paying for and how much your paying, but when you see a menu
you’re excited about eating and not necessarily looking too deeply on what the
price is. When you see a receipt you’re full of disappointment wondering why you
just spent that much money when you could’ve just cooked at home.
 d. The menu and receipt is completely different from the song lyrics; they are
conveying and involving entirely opposite ideas.
e. None of the texts are organized in an entirely interesting way. They are just using
the different modes to show the message they are reflecting on the most
effectively. There’s really no color or special spacing unless it is to make it
clearer to read and understand. The only text I would say is appealing to the eye
or uses the different spatial and visual modes is a menu because it has to look
appealing to whoever wants to purchase the food off of it.
f. I would suggest people who are writing out sound lyrics do it in such a way that is
easier to understand and remember. Maybe if the author used certain visual
modes such as highlighting and color, their text would be more memorable.
3. Multimodal Literacy Narratives
a. A specific text that comes to mind right now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. You
never really think about the effort and time put into a book especially as a child,
but the pictures and the texts in this book are magnificent.
b. I had a good experience with learning how to drive. I read many books and the
relationship between the pictures and words, or the use of different modes, made
it really easy for me to understand and learn how to appropriately operate a
vehicle.
c. I struggle with technology because it is extremely difficult to use the different
modes, especially spatial and visual and make something look good. It takes a
lot of effort to create something that is attractive to the eye.
d. If something is unorganized and is not fun to look at, it makes me not even want
to take the time to read it or understand what it means.
e. We all use multimodal texts more than we realize, they are in our everyday life.
There is a lot of effort put behind everything we see, from our teachers
powerpoints to the menus we choose our food to eat off of.
This shows spatial, visual, and linguistic mode.