Visualizing science: the reception of powerpoint presentations

Abstract

Presentations with PowerPoint, made possible by digitalization, are another step towards more visualization in the history of science communication. This new genre of communicating scientific knowledge to an audience combines several semiotic sign systems and therefore can be analysed as a form of multimodal discourse that integrates pictures, text, design, etc. on the slides, as well as spoken language, gestures, acts of pointing, etc. by the speaker. This study approaches the problem of multimodal discourse -how meaning is constituted by the different modes -empirically from a recipient's perspective. To reconstruct the meaning-making process, the authors apply eye tracking and other methods of reception research in reallife scenarios as well as in laboratory settings.

Visualiseringens roller i klimatkommunikation – ett mottagarperspektiv

“…Seeing that representation and interpretation are two key elements in multimodal communication, meaning-making can be analysed from production as well as reception perspectives (Holsanova 2012;Bucher & Niemann 2012). The reception stage of multimodal communication has, nonetheless, received much less attention in the scholarly literature, leaving the realm of interpretation of multimodal signs, as explored in the present study, largely unaddressed (Bucher & Niemann 2012).…”

“…Information visualization plays an important role in science, serving both analytical and communication purposes (Tufte 1990;Bucher & Niemann 2012;Grainger et al 2016). In general terms, visualization of scientific data and information is described as a multifaceted field that involves the development, production and communication of science with the use of "imagery, schemes, graphical representations and computer renderings" (Pauwels 2006a, 1), and is closely linked to the field of information visualization, which is described by Tufte (1990) in the following words:…”

“…For the purposes of this thesis, I draw on a strand within visual communication that defines visual communication, and communication in general, as essentially multimodal (cf. Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006;Kress, 2010;van Leeuwen 2011;Bucher & Niemann 2012;Jewitt et al 2016;Zhao et al 2018). Multimodality is a research domain that takes an integrative approach to the study of visual communication, and the research carried out in this domain is informed by theories of social semiotics (Kress 2010;Adami 2017;Hodge 2017).…”

“…He distinguishes representation from communication, defining communication as a wish to make the represented meanings available to others. Communication, in this view, is thus always motivated by the sign-maker's interests and intentions and by the wish to make a representation available to others (Bucher & Niemann 2012;Adami 2017). Essentially, representation explains the link between the sign, i.e.…”

The Communicative Effectiveness of Education Videos: Towards an Empirically-Motivated Multimodal Account

“…Figure 3), where the extent over which a visual macro-theme is visible generally falls together with the presentation of individual slides that the speaker is discussing at any point in the video. Audiences typically orient to what is shown on each slide as a visual scaffold for what is being said (e.g., [43]) and so treating slides as visual macro-themes is well motivated. For Video 2, where there are Prezi-like transitions across slides, the situation is similar: the visual extents of visual macro-themes are the video segments depicting individual frames before panning to the next.…”