For this week's multimodal experiment, you'll explore and remix your own writing process. In Alvarez et al.’s article, you saw examples of creators and writers illustrating their composing process through screencasts, voiceovers, video, and text. Take some time here to think through your own experiences with multimodal composing, keeping in mind that even composing that is heavily focused on one mode (such as writing a paper focused on the linguistic mode for a class) is still drawing on the other modes, even if those choices are backgrounded (or made for you, in the case of assignments with pre-determined formatting).
For this experiment, try changing an element of your writing process that relates to one of the modes. Here are some options, but feel free to go beyond them:
Create a new playlist for writing (using Spotify, Tidal, YouTube, etc.)
Rearrange your writing space (either your physical space or the digital space of your laptop or other writing device)
Try out a writing journal for a week, where you take a few minutes each day to record the kinds of writing you did and reflect on how they went. (Check out the treadmill journal for one way to approach this)
Try writing in a new location, on a new kind of device, or while standing instead of sitting
Write something down that you normally don't record. Reflections from a conversation with a friend. A script to the videos you usually make up as you go. Your schedule for the day.
Take a short dive into a new genre or type of writing. Always wanted to try writing fan fiction but never got started? A sci-fi short story? A story from your life that you've been meaning to record? An idea for a business, product, or game that you've been kicking around? Song lyrics?
Try using a speech-to-text tool to write (You can do this in Microsoft Word, just click "dictate" in the home tab and start talking. Or you can try a free online speech-to-text tool like this one.)
Create a digital or physical mood board before getting started, or try brainstorming in a more multimodal way, using a tool like Miroboard (I recommend Tumblr, Pinterest, or Padlet for your mood board)
Try writing a first draft by hand before going digital, or switch up the way your writing is represented visually
Change your approach to time, for instance by spacing out an assignment over just 10 minutes a day, or by trying a pomodoro timer.
Some of these options are focused on a particular writing task, while others are focused on your general writing environment--either will work well for this assignment. Feel free take up a writing practice that you noticed in Alvarez et al.
Then, document your process remix in a multimodal way. Here are some options for how you might approach this, but again, feel free to go beyond them:
Use a screen recorder (Here's the one I use, which has a few more features but is a bit trickier to set up. Or you could also use your on-board screen recorder: here's how to do that with Mac and Windows) to create a video as you write, or film a timelapse as you hand-write, draw, or design something
Create a short vlog where you explain what you changed and how it affected your process
Share a link to your playlist, Miroboard, mood board, or writing journal
Record yourself talking through your writing process change before and after (you could include a sound clip if you took the text-to-speech option)
Create a social media post with the before and after photos of your writing space remodel
Write a blog post about your process
Whichever option you choose, make sure to include a documentation component that shows or explains what you changed, as well as a reflective component that walks through how the change affected your process and what you learned from it. The reflective component could be a comment or annotation on your journal or blog post, a voiceover for your timelapse video, or an additional paragraph that you include with your submission on Moodle. You can always combine the documentation and reflection if it's appropriate, just as long as you have both parts.
Submit your response through Moodle, either as a link or file, by Sunday, September 6 at 10pm. Check with me if you're not sure how to share your response in a way I can access.
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