A Multimodal Framework for Analyzing Websites as Cultural Expressions

Abstract

Departing from a broad conceptualization of culture and the need for a more adapted and sophisticated tool to disclose the internet as a rich cultural data source, this article provides the foundations of a multimodal framework for analyzing websites from both a medium specific and socio-cultural perspective. The 6-phased framework of website signifiers contains both a structured repository of potential cultural signifiers and a methodology for moving from salient aspects to more implicit meanings. While the framework may help researchers to make more and better use of the many layers of potential meaning that reside in the rich multimodal nature of websites it does not provide a shortcut to determine the cultural meaning of these signifiers and their interrelated effects.