A Multimodal Framework for Computer Mediated Learning: The Reshaping of Curriculum Knowledge and Learning

In this way the students’ form of interaction with the text served to reshape the entity
character by shifting the ‘high’ literacy aesthetic of ‘novel’ to the popular textual
genre of comic and film.

The Multimodal Reshaping of Character in the Dossier Section of
the CD-ROM

The Dossier part of the CD-ROM provides a ‘file’ on each of the characters of the
novel and it draws on a range of modes. The dossier menu provides a list of names
displayed as a ‘work roster for august 30’ (figure 4.6).

Typography

The majority of the characters’ names are written in a font similar to that of an old
typewriter and are circled in red. The characters ‘the boss’ and ‘curly’s wife’ are
‘hand-written’ in red ink. The characters with typed names are in the genre of a list
and are allocated a role. Through the contrast of font-style, colour, and spatial layout,
the boss, and curly’s wife are presented as outsiders. The use of font, colour, and the
comment ‘botherin us’ in the name of the character Curly’s wife positions her as an
intruder.

The menu includes five names that are not mentioned in the novel: Frank Caster,
Richard Spitz, Felix Saltillo, Julio Vasquez, and Jack Dupac. These names are not
circled and do not link to a file. The names signify ‘ethnic diversity’, a social
historical detail about the labour force that is not present in the original novel. The
names serve to address a contemporary readership, but in a most superficial way, as
literally this is not taken further.

The written descriptions of characters in each dossier file draw directly on the novel.
These are presented in a ‘hand-written’ font in the form of a reference from the
employment agency and are ‘signed’ (see figure 4.6). Written texts in the dossiers,

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