Multimodality is a concept that plays an important role in this 3D scholarly edition. Discourse is in almost every case multimodal. This means that discourse takes place by a multiple means of communication (Van Leeuwen, 2015). These modes can include audio, video as well as textual elements that are combined with one another in several ways to communicate an idea. All these modes are also made up of various aspects that affect the communication process such as color, tone or typography (Van Leeuwen, 2015). This multimodal approach is reflected in this scholarly edition because we used a combination of text, imagery as well as audio/video recordings in order to structure the story surrounding our 3D object. This way, we aim to give the visitor a better understanding of the narrative we created and the contextualisation of our toy.
The platform Voyager features a wide array of options and affordances that accommodate a multimodal experience. Not only does it allow us to write articles, but these can be added to annotations on the 3D model and can include images, videos, audio files and can be embedded with more 3D models as well. These articles can also be ordered and collected in tours that take the user through the different aspects of the main 3D model. Therefore adding another layer of multimodality to the experience.
For example, the annotation on the left highlights an important feature of the 3D model. When this annotation is clicked on, there is text that explains the significance of the annotation. In this particular case, the mouth is of importance and in addition to the text, an audio file can be played to hear what Baby Yoda sounds like. This annotation also plays a role in one of our tours in order to explain the phenomenon of cuteness for example. Therefore providing the user with a multimodal experience.