Multimodality and Digital Ethnography

Bibliographic Data

ID23749066
AuthorsVinicio Ntouvlis (0000-0002-0219-7674, corresponding author)
Year2025
Pages1-7
Publication date2025-12-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueEncyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal20813
OpenAlexW4416918218
ISBN9781405198431
LanguageEN
References cited16

Multimodality is a field of enquiry in which communication is seen as involving multiple meaning‐making systems, or modes, alongside and beyond language. With the popularization of digital technologies, digitally mediated communication is also being examined through a multimodal lens. At the same time, digital communicative practices are commonly explored in situ through ethnographic methods, in the field of digital ethnography. This entry presents how the concerns of digital ethnography and multimodal research are connected and mutually beneficial to each other. Two multimodal approaches are explored in particular: social semiotics and multimodal mediated theory (MMT). For each approach, its theoretical foundations and some key concepts are presented, focusing on their relevance to digital ethnographic work. First, the complementary role that (digital) ethnography can play in social semiotic research is introduced. Areas of interest for social semiotic work in an ethnographic vein are discussed, such as (a) digital texts as multimodal entities tied to literacies, and (b) semiotic software as a key component of semiotic practices involving digital media. Second, MMT is presented as an alternative approach to multimodality focused on real‐time actions. Its concepts of mediated actions, practices, and modes are introduced, stressing how they provide a practice‐based multimodal perspective for digital ethnographic research.

Ethnography · Field (mathematics) · Key (lock) · Multimodality · Perspective (graphical) · Semiotics · Visual semiotics

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