to mediate the action and edit state of a behaviour. The bottom-left position of the
written text suggests that its information value is ‘given and real’. Compositionally
the writing is presented as something familiar to the user and a more ‘down to earth’
explanation of the concept of bounce. In contrast the program code is presented as
new and ideal. That is, it is represented as something new and not yet known to the
user - the information that is ‘at issue’ and the generalised essence of the information
and ideologically most salient aspect of the behaviour. The compositional
arrangement suggests a valuation of the modes of representation in the context of the
behaviours, and an idealised progression to program code.
Discussion
Moving from the action-state to the edit-state is analogous with opening up a car-
bonnet and looking at its engine. The increase in the amount of writing in the edit-
state, together with the reduction in the saturation of colour and texture and context,
and the introduction of the program code combine to indicate a technical coding
orientation. This use of colour, texture and context in the sensory character of the
action-state and the Toontalk environment are more generally ‘toned down’. In this
way mode and modal resources are used to indicate a shift in the domain of
knowledge. In other words the multimodal representation of the action-state and edit-
state of the behaviours shape the entity rule and the resources for learning in
particular ways.
The modal representations of ‘bouncing’ in the action-state of the behaviour provide
different resources for the construction of the concept ‘bounce’. The static image of
the springs and the ball visually bring forth (or specify) particular meaning potentials
and at the same time, visually, dismiss others. The modal resources of image and
movement are designed to realise the potentials of ‘bounce’ as a mechanical, regular,
ordered entity, rather than as an organic, unpredictable bouncing (like that of a
rabbit). The modal resources of colour are also used as a sign of action in the
behaviour. The intense green can be interpreted as a Signifier of the energy of the
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