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

words the floor fills the space of the screen. Through this use of angle the user is
positioned in the viewing position of the kneeling animated character. From this
perspective the hand and arm of the animated character are also in view.

The user’s movement of the mouse controls the movement of the character’s arm
(whereas in the previous ‘sub-level’ the mouse controls the movement of the body of
the animated character). In other words, at this ‘sub-level’ the arm of the animated
character is a metaphor for, stands for, the ‘arm of the user’. This is a sign of the
potential for user action within the programming application. As the player character
is instructed to kneel down the toolbox ‘runs’ to the player’s side. It opens and
several tools jump out and settle onto the floor. This movement can be interpreted as
an ‘offer’.

Screen as a Compositional Resource

In Toontalk the screen in the different sub-levels of the city does not always display
all of the compositional space available to the user. At some sub-levels the screen is
the available compositional space, at others there is space ‘beyond’ or ‘off-screen’.
The ratio of the screen to the compositional space at these different sub-levels is
shown in table 5.1. In the opening sequence and when the helicopter lands, the screen
is not the boundary (frame) of the city image (the screen to compositional space is
1:4). As the character enters a house, the screen has the appearance of an interior of a
room and the boundary of the screen acts as the boundary of the wall. Upon kneeling,
the space of the floor is represented as extending beyond the frame of the screen.
Depending on the screen resolution there are in fact about twelve potential screen
spaces when kneeling on the floor of a house, 3 across and 4 down (for a screen
resolution of 1024x768).

155

<<   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   >>

More intriguing information