Memes about climate change, TikTok videos on vaccines, and Instagram reels addressing gender-neutral language illustrate how communication about scientific topics has reached a new level of complexity within multimodal information environments. Multimodality refers to the assumption that “meanings are made, distributed, received, interpreted, and remade in interpretation through many representational and communicative modes” (Jewitt, 2017, p. 15). These modes are rooted in sensory functions such as seeing, hearing, or feeling, and give rise to modalities including spoken and written language, visual representations (images and videos), and audio signals. This complexity has intensified with the proliferation of digital media, which increasingly integrate text, visuals, audio, video, interactive elements, and gamification to convey scientific information. Consequently, there is a growing need to systematically examine how scientific issues are negotiated across different modalities.
In this research seminar, we examine how various controversial scientific topics are communicated online through diverse multimodal forms. Using content analysis, we analyze material from platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. In the first part of the seminar, we develop the theoretical framework and review the current state of research in the field. Building on this foundation, a research design is developed, which is then implemented in the second part of the seminar. At the end of the seminar, students are required to write a research report.
Required coursework: Active participation (reviewing and researching the literature, developing the research design, methodological implementation and data analysis), short presentations Degree-relevant examination: Research report
- Lehrende/r: Julia Metag