The Rhetorical Work of Multimedia Production Practices: It's More than Just Technical Skill

Calls for multimodal communication are being heard with increasing frequency in composition and professional communication. Oftentimes, however, teaching multimedia production is viewed by those outside of the field as simply a matter of imparting technical skill rather than facilitating development of diverse and significant literacies. A closer look at these practices reveals how the complex choices made during production regarding audience, content, technology, and media can dramatically affect the final text and its reception by users. Rather than viewing multimodal production work as just technical skill, I argue that it requires careful attention to both traditional and technological rhetorical considerations. Better understanding these varied rhetorical practices specific to new media supports us in helping students to appreciate the constraints and possibilities of composing and offers support for the value of our work with multimedia to colleagues in other areas of English studies.