#multimodality

The speculative rhetorical model posits that we can only know the world in ways bounded and contextualized by our own experience of being. For this reason, a speculative rhetoric approach tries to pay careful attention to the perspectives, roles, and experiences of nonhumans, since communication inevitably takes place among a vast array of nonhuman actants. Speculative rhetorician Andrew Reid asserts that “A speculative rhetoric begins with recognizing that language is nonhuman.” At first, I couldn’t begin to imagine what this must mean. Sure, animals communicate, but surely language—expressive, symbolic communication with defined rules—must be an exclusively human phenomenon.

I read Reid’s short list of scholars cited (Alexander Galloway, Richard Grusin, Bruno Latour, Alan Lui, and Quentin Meillasoux) aloud to GPT-4 and asked it to tell me what they were known for, in hopes that knowing the background Reid was drawing from would help me contextualize such a bizarre statement.

It confirmed that Bruno Latour is best known for actor-network theory, as I had thought. Meillasoux it introduced as a speculative realist philosopher. Lui it defined as a scholar of “language as a digital-cultural phenomenon, influenced by both human creativity and digital technology.” Grusin, it said, was known for proposing that new technologies “remediate” and refashion older ones. Galloway, it said, “explores how digital protocols, the rules and standards governing digital networks, shape interactions and communications.” A quick look at Google Scholar and the scholars’ university webpages confirmed that its characterizations were fairly accurate.

Altogether, I could only conclude that these scholars affirm language as a constructed, constantly evolving phenomenon, although I still couldn’t see how the ability to influence human actions would equate to an equal ownership of language. It may be old-fashioned, but at present I’m still prepared to embrace Kenneth Burke’s definition of man as “the symbol-using animal.” As far as I know, there’s no evidence that animals can grasp the abstract symbolism inherent in language as well as we can.

However, I do think Gunther Kress’s “Multimodality” afforded me with another avenue for making sense of Reid’s perspective, at least. Kress asserts that “all texts are multimodal”, where ‘text’ seems to be doing a great deal of heavy lifting to encompass practically anything into which meaning can be encoded and decoded. For him, the multimodality of verbal speech arises from its inclusion of “pitch variation; pace; stress; phonological units (produced by a complex of organs); lexis; sequencing (as syntax); etc.” In other words, any element which can have a role in imparting meaning is part of the mode (or means) of linguistic communication. Since some animals can intentionally adapt these facets of communication to a rhetorical context (i.e. cats having a less babyish meow around one another than humans), I can see the argument that many animals possess a kind of language in that way.

But since Kress’s many example pictures and diagrams stress the representational quality of human languages (in which he apparently includes visuals, which he says can develop a kind of grammar) even when it’s completely divorced from written or spoken words, I’m still inclined to say that animals have communicative skills but not language. I’m curious whether anyone knows of any animals capable of abstraction.

Our mission to raise awareness for COMMEET is an important one — after all, as more people get to know the organization, more people can engage with the toolkits and grow the number of benefited communities around the globe. Thus, the COMMEET Communication Strategy plan aims to support the organisation in reaching its strategic objectives in the global market of Sustainable Development, and advises on how to tell the market the right story about the COMMEET Fellowship; raising awareness about the organisation. 

Credits: Microsoft

I have a post published today on the blog of the PanMeMic Collective, a group of researchers interested in how Covid-19 is changing interaction and communication. It’s a bit of an introduction to my aims and theoretical lens of my dissertation, though I am focusing specifically on memes about the UK government’s “Stay Alert” guidance.

The main takeaway: Memes are perfect tools for communicating about Covid-19, because they fill three social functions that are particularly relevant now:

Memes are expressions of intersubjectivity, and help answer questions about how we as individuals are experiencing a collective shift in lifestyle.

Memes make us laugh - a coping mechanism that is normal and important during times of crisis.

The launch of the ‘Bitmoji’ in 2016 established a new dimension of communication between Snapchat users. By creating their own bitmoji, (a cartoon-like avatar) via an app on their smartphones, users were able to create a replica of themselves by selecting their face shape, hair cut and clothing style amongst many other qualities. This is arguably similar to the ‘Mii’ feature available on Wii gaming consoles.

The Founder of Bitmoji, Jacob Blackstock from Canada, explained that the objective behind his initiative was to “enable self-expression without the need to have artistic skills”. This self-expression is enabled by not only a user’s digital avatar (which they can frequently edit and choose to appear on the SnapMaps feature of their Snapchat), but also the bitmoji artworks which they can choose to accompany their photo messages. These artworks incorporate the user’s personal avatar with other symbols and captions which can be chosen from depending on the mood or message that the user wants to display. Let’s take a look….

Say hello to my very own bitmoji; Taz. It doesn’t say too much about the real life me, but in terms of hair colour, eye colour and dress sense I’d say it’s pretty accurate. 

The Bitmoji app provides me with hundreds of variations of my avatar in the form of creative cartoons. You can find a selection of them below. 

Want to give my friend some motivation? Ask my mum to borrow money? Tell the world how excited I am to eat the nachos I just ordered? Bitmoji have me sorted… Each of these bitmoji artworks tells its very own story through the process of symbolisation; meaning it represents a feeling or idea which I want to express to someone, without me having to be there with them. 

Bitmojis in action:

So how might we use bitmojis? Since snapchat’s incorporation of bitmojis in 2016, Instagram and Apple iMessanger have also added the avatar bank to their keyboards. Meaning bitmojis can now also be used in text conversations and Instagram stories.. This leads us to the concept of situated semiotics: dependent on where the bitmojis are used, and the purpose that they serve, their meaning can differ. 

Take a look at the below examples. Here are just a few Instagram stories which feature my bitmoji. 

Paris- The first story is an image of the Eiffel Tower which I took during my trip to Paris in December. The bitmoji that I selected to accompany the photo is polysemous in that it could express several things; my love for Paris? Paris as the city of love? my particular love for the Eiffel Tower? All of these are correct! However, it was down to my Instagram followers to decipher which meanings I meant to express.

Tapas for days- The second is a photo I took while enjoying lunch and a Pimms with my mum last summer. The bitmoji I selected for this story also includes text: “Bless you”. I chose this bitmoji to show my appreciation for the delicious food we were enjoying, as well as the company of my mum. However, to some, the words ‘bless you’ might have a religious connotation- am I literally thanking God that I am lucky enough to be enjoying the food? In this instance, the verdict is down to the relationship I have with those viewing my story. And if they know me well enough to recall that I’m not overly religious, they’ll be able to work out which meaning I was going for.

Dreamgirls- The third instagram story features the West End show Dreamgirls’ theatre billboard. The bitmoji I chose for this story also includes a caption: ‘Can’t wait’. Whilst this implies that I couldn’t wait to see the show, I was also hinting at the fact that I also couldn’t wait to share the experience with three of my friends from my stage school. 

When in Greece- The final story is of my boyfriend holding a cute-looking reptile during our holiday to Greece. My bitmoji once again includes a caption ‘totes adores’ and uses facial expression to relay the meaning of the message. Not only does the use of slang in the caption portray a certain identity of myself (the context being one which is laid back), but the language also hints at my relationship with the person that features in the photo. I also most likely chose this particular bitmoji due to the colour of the typography since it matched some of the colours in the image (I doubt, however, that this was something my viewers picked up on). 

All of these bitmoji uses seem pretty logical. They show a sense of how I was feeling at the time I took the photo. They do this without me having to explicitly write: “I’m excited to see this theatre show”, or “this combination of my boyfriend and reptile in this photo is cute”. However, there are some instances when using a bitmoji to communicate an opinion or feeling may have some constraints for the interaction. For example, bitmojis (like any other form of digital communication: text speak, emojis, gifs) can be used sarcastically or humorously. There may also be complications in instances where the cartoons don’t tell the entire story and are therefore ambiguous in their meaning. An example of when this might occur is the use of Friends Bitmojis: these are created in the Bitmoji app using a combination of your avatar with a friend’s.

Here are three examples of friends bitmojis I have access to. Due to the situated semiotics of these cartoons, I can use them to depict a variety of messages. From left to right, the use of these bitmojis could allow me to reconcile with a friend, encourage my sister to take up a job opportunity, or let my boyfriend know that I’m upset with him. In another conversation however, I might be joking with my friend over her questionable decision, persuading my sister to order us a takeaway, or sulking with my boyfriend over his decision to eat the last cookie. There are hundreds of meanings that each could entail; it’s down to the context and recipient to determine which one it is. This is what makes bitmojis so special.

A future for Bitmojis?