Cover not available
Part of
Science Communication on the Internet: Old genres meet new genres
Edited by María José Luzón and Carmen Pérez-Llantada
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 308] 2019
► pp. 131–152

Chapter 7
The multimodal bridge between academics and practitioners in the Harvard Business Review’s digital context

A multi-levelled qualitative analysis of knowledge construction

In this chapter we study adjusting strategies employed in the transition from research-based articles to other generic forms when the same knowledge is constructed and (re)mediated for different audiences and purposes. The empirical evidence is represented by a series of articles and related digital materials about and for the practice of management from the digital context of the Harvard Business Review.

We adopt a multimodal approach in our qualitative analysis, addressing the way semiotic modes interact and are combined across genres to identify the roles of the semiotic interplay in the adjusting strategies employed for enabling the knowledge construction and (re)mediation processes. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the level of complexity of the knowledge communicated in the articles and their digital context may be investigated.

Keywords: multimodal academic knowledge, academic discourse, digital material, research knowledge construction and mediation, explanatory depth levels
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conceptual frameworks
    • 2.1Knowledge mediation processes
    • 2.2Levels of explanatory depth
  • 3.Data selection method and framing methodology
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Knowledge mediation processes in HBR’s digital articles
      • 4.1.1The knowledge expansion processes
      • 4.1.2The knowledge enhancement processes
    • 4.2Knowledge mediation processes in the accompanying digital materials
    • 4.3Levels of explanatory depth
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
  • Appendix: Material
Published online: 4 December 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.308.07mai
References
Bolter, Jay D., and Richard Grusin
2002 Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Engberg, Jan, and Carmen D. Maier
2015 “Exploring the Hypermodal Communication of Academic Knowledge beyond Generic Structures.” In Discourse In and Through the Media: Recontextualizing and Reconceptualizing Expert Discourse, ed. by Marina Bondi, Silvia Cacchiani, and Davide Mazzi, 46–65. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
2019 “Researchers’ Move from Page to Screen: Addressing the Effects of the Video Article Format upon Academic User Engagement and Knowledge Building Processes.” In Engagement in Professional Genres: Deference and Disclosure ed. by Carmen Sancho Guinda, 179–195. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, Lothar
1985 Kommunikationsmittel Fachsprache: eine Einführung. 2 ed, Forum für Fachsprachenforschung, 1. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Hyland, Ken
2009 Academic Discourse: English in a Global Context. London/New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Iedema, Rick
2003 “Multimodality, Resemiotization: Extending the Analysis of Discourse as Multi-semiotic Practice.” Visual Communication 2 (1): 29–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kalverkämper, Hartwig
1990 „Gemeinsprache und Fachsprachen – ein Plädoyer für eine integrierende Sichtweise.“ I Deutsche Gegenwartsprache. Jahrbuch des Instituts für deutsche Sprache 1989, ed. by Gerhard Stickel, 88–133. Berlin / New York: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Keil, Frank C.
2003 “Categorisation, causation, and the limits of understanding.” Language and Cognitive Processes 18 (5–6): 663–692. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 “The Problem of Partial Understanding.” In Current Trends in LSP Research. Aims and Methods, ed. by Margrethe Petersen, and Jan Engberg, 251–274. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther
2010 Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther, and Theo Van Leeuwen
2001 Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Maier, Carmen D., and Jan Engberg
2013 “Tendencies in the Multimodal Evolution of Narrator’s Types and Roles in Research Genres.” In Narratives in Academic and Professional Genres, ed. by Maurizio Gotti, and Carmen Sancho Guinda, 149–173. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2014 “Tendencies of Multimodal Gradations in Academic Genres Network.” In Reflections upon Genre. Encounters between Literature, Knowledge and Emerging Communicative Conventions, ed. by Jan Engberg, Carmen D. Maier, and Ole Togeby, 113–145. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
2016 “Challenges in the New Multimodal Environment of Research Genres: What Future do Articles of the Future Promise Us?” In Genre Studies around the Globe. Beyond the Three Traditions, ed. by Natascha Artemeva, and Aviva Freedman, 225–250. Edmonton: Inkshed Publications.Google Scholar
Norris, Sigrid, and Carmen D. Maier
2014 “Concluding remarks.” In Interactions, Images and Texts. A Reader in Multimodality, ed. by Sigrid Norris, and Carmen D. Maier, 381–382. Boston / Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Picton, Aurélie, and Pascaline Dury
2017 “Diastratic Variation in Language for Specific Purposes.” In Multiple Perspectives on Terminological Variation, ed. by Patrick Drouin, Aline Francœur, John Humbley, and Aurélie Picton, 57–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rozenblit, Leonid, and Frank C. Keil
2002 “The Misunderstood Limits of Folk Science: An illusion of Explanatory Depth.” Cognitive Science 26: 521–562. DOI logoGoogle Scholar

Appendix: Material

Meyer, Erin
2015 “Getting to Sí, Ja, Oui, Hai, and Da. How to Negotiate across Cultures.” Harvard Business Review 93 (11): 74–80.Google Scholar
Brooks, Alison W.
2015 “Emotions and the Art of Negotiation.” Harvard Business Review 93 (12): 57–64.Google Scholar
Zak, Paul J.
2017 “The Neuroscience of Trust.” Harvard Business Review 95 (1): 84–90.Google Scholar
Interview
Controlling Your Emotions During a Negotiation. Accessed December 20, 2015. [URL]
Video with graphics & explanatory voice-over
Accessed December 20, 2015. [URL]
Webinar. Neuroscience of Trust
Setting Leaders up for Success. Accessed December 20, 2017. [URL]
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Engberg, Jan
2022. LSP and Transdiscursive Knowledge Communication. In Specialized Knowledge Mediation, ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.