The Multimodal Affordances of Voyager

Multimodality refers to the way in which various semiotic modes are combined in a single communicative event (Van Leeuwen, 2015). Voyager allows for a multimodal visitor experience by combining an interactive 3D model with text, images, audio and video. The colour palette, design of icons and typography also add to its multimodality (Van Leeuwen, 2015). This multimodal approach gives visitors an immersive and interactive experience. Visitors to this scholarly edition can click and drag on the 3D model allowing them to view it from various angles. Unlike text, which is read sequentially, 3D models provide immediate contextual and spatial understanding (Schreibman & Schoueri, 2024). By clicking on annotations on the model visitors can read further information to develop their understanding. These annotations can be linked to articles to provide a more in depth multimodal experience. Voyager also allows for tours, groups of articles tied together by theme that combine with views of the model to create a sequential narrative. These articles can be further enhanced with images, videos and audio to strengthen the multimodal experience. These multimodal affordances work in tandem to enhance the narrative and communicative potential of Voyager. The use of a manipulatable 3D model creates different multimodal affordances to traditional static text and images. As users can move the object around themselves they have greater agency over how visual information is acquired and processed. One area where users have less agency is in the tours, which are in a sequence predetermined by the author. In this way Voyager is closer to the fixed hierarchical narrative of traditional static articles.