This strand of MODE activity focuses on the manner in which digital technologies produce data and responds by developing multimodal methods which support transcription, re-representation and dissemination of digitally generated research (e.g. Flewitt, 2006, 2009; Knoblauch et al., 2006; Dicks and Hurdley, 2009). The use of digital video technology, poses what has become a key challenge for social research, namely how to transcribeor re-present multimodal data (e.g. movement in time and space). Increasingly, the topic of transcription is subject to innovation and experimentation in multimodal approaches. This might range from the inclusion of line drawings and stills from video footage, the use of software such as Comic Life and Transana (e.g Mavroua, Douglasa and Lewis, 2007; McDermott and Raley, 2008; Plowman and Stephen, 2008). The Strand also addresses the use of digital technologies in disseminating multimodal research within the social science community.

Indicative topics: transcribing multimodal video data; conventions in multimodal transcription; ‘screen-capture’ and  transcription of multimodal data; multimodal frameworks for data sampling and management; digital methods for multimodal data coding and analysis; multimodal digital dissemination.

Indicative research questions: What are the issues for multimodal transcription, sampling and analysis? What multimodal sampling and data management processes can support social researchers in working with digital data? How can digital technology be used to support the dissemination of multimodal research?

Click here for an overview of research and training activity in this strand.