In this section I have analysed and discussed the multimodal resources of Toontalk
game mode (at the level of the city, the ready-made games, and the behaviours) and
how these shape the resources for learning, the subjectivity of the user, and the entity
rule. In the next section I present a multimodal analysis of Toontalk program mode.
Program Mode
Toontalk is a multimodal object oriented programming system and the program mode
combines animation, still images, some written Lexis, and numerical symbols. To
show how the modal resources of the application realise the entity ‘rule’, I analyse the
realisation of a ‘rule’ which children often use in their games in each program,
namely ‘move the object to the right when the control button is pressed’. The rule
‘move the object to the right by 15 units when the control button is pressed’ is
realised through animated ToonTalk code, as shown in the sequence in figure 5.8.
The program mode includes a robot. The visual representation of the robots as having
a ‘mind’ (visually represented as a thought bubble), hands, eyes, etc. is a signifier of
them as having a ‘trace of human-ness,. The large open eyes of the robot stare out at
the user making a visual demand for something from the user, in this case a
condition. The piece of program code shown includes a series of three boxes held by
the robot - the goal of the robot’s action. The first of these boxes contains the word
‘no’ this is a sensor showing that the control key is not held down. (In the second
image in the series the key is held down and the word ‘yes’ appears in the box.) Two
of these boxes contain numerical representations of the horizontal position sensor of
the object, and the number (units of distance) to be added on to this position, that is,
to make the object move. The third object that is represented is an image of the
control key this is the anima-gadget image of the behaviour T move to the right when
the control key is pressed’. The robot is the most salient element on screen due to its
features, size and movement. The spatial arrangement of the elements on the screen is
such that there is no clear rule or reading path coded in the image.
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