Modes of Communication
DYN has found it useful to distinguish five basic modes of new media communication: verbal, visual, musical, cinematic, and procedural. The rationale for categorizing new media communication into these five modes is practical and pedagogical, rather than theoretical or epistemological. First, the categories were chosen to leverage student interest in the most popular forms of new media among urban youth. Second, each of the categories revolves around a specific set of tools and techniques. Third, the categories can be viewed as progressive in the sense that the tools and techniques associated with each mode are often incorporated into subsequent modes.
Verbal
The verbal mode revolves around the use of written (printed or displayed) and spoken (live or recorded) text. Verbal communication provides a bridge from traditional print literacy to the multiliteracies required by new media. DYN focuses on verbal genres such as journalism, spoken word, and storytelling that provide opportunities for students to develop oral language and gestural representation skills they can use in other new media modes.
Visual
The visual mode revolves around the use of graphics and still images in new media. Students learn basic elements and principles of photographic composition and visual design. DYN focuses on visual genres such as logos, business cards, and posters that are frequently used in real-world production and distribution of new media.
Musical
The musical mode revolves around the use of music and sound in new media. For many urban youth, music provides the most inviting entry point into new media. DYN leverages the intense intrinsic interest that many students have in one or two musical genres to develop a broader understanding of the basic properties, elements, and methods involved in the production of music across genres as well as audio representations (such as ambient sounds, sound effects, and alerts) used in other modes of new media communication.
Cinematic
The cinematic mode revolves around the use of moving images in new media. Certain genres of film and video, especially music videos, provide another powerful entry point into new media for many urban youth. DYN leverages intrinsic interest in film and video to develop a broader understanding of the structures and processes of pre-production, production, and post-production used to produce film and video as stand-alone new media artifacts and for use with other modes of new media communication.
Procedural
The procedural mode revolves around the use of interactive experiences in new media. Almost all students have used games, simulations, or virtual worlds outside of (and increasingly within) school. Bogost (2008) points out that video games create procedural models of real and imagined systems by imposing rules that create possibility spaces for play. “To write procedurally, one authors code that enforces rules to generate some kind of representation, rather than authoring the representation itself” (Bogost, 2008: 122). DYN leverages intense student interest in video games to develop a broader understanding of the basic components and forms of interaction involved in the programming of interactive experiences.