Bridging the gap between experts and publics: The role of multimodality in disseminating research in online videos

Abstract

The Internet provides researchers with tools to disseminate their research findings to different audiences and meet the information needs of various publics. One of these tools is online science videos, which can be addressed to audiences with different degrees of expertise and shared on various platforms. The current study analyzes a set of online videos used by research groups to inform about their research and findings and engage the audience with this research. My purpose is to analyze how multimodal strategies are used in these videos to recontextualize knowledge for a wide audience. The analysis reveals four types of strategies, which may be performed through the orchestration of various semiotic modes: (i) strategies to construct the research group’s credibility and authority; (ii) strategies to construct persuasive arguments; (iii) strategies to tailor information to the assumed knowledge of potential viewers; (iv) strategies to bond with the viewers and engage them.

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