The multimodal complexity of Specialized Communication: Examples and Approaches

This chapter explores the multimodal specificities of specialized communication and the broad use of a multitude of semiotic modes and their intersemiotic interplay within a diversity of artefacts and situations in specialized domains. As described in the concept for the handbook, audiovisual and digital media have massively affected practices of specialized communication. Static, printed artefacts com-bine written text with images, diagrams, infographics, etc.; more dynamic documents include animations and dynamic visualizations; the use of moving images and virtual reality environments are nowadays typical media contexts in which specialized communication takes place – both embodied and disembodied. The chapter will first give an overview of existing work on multimodal specialized communication and show the breadth of approaches addressing all semiotic forms, processes, and activities of and in communicative settings. In a second step, the discussion of a few additional and more specific examples from three different contexts, including health care posters, explanation and science communication videos, as well as virtual reality apps, will provide ways of analyzing the multimodal complexity in its entirety.