Blog Post #4

    According to Charles Suhor, Transmediation is the translation of content from one sign system to another. Marjorie Siegel describes how Transmediation is helpful because it allows us to have less verbocentrism so we aren't just relying on language to understand ideas. Siegel's article made me think a lot about teaching itself, and not just in an academic setting. There's a popular idea that the true indicator of one's knowledge of a subject is their ability to explain complex concepts in simple, un-academic terms so that even someone not versed in the subject can understand, and I think transmediation is a form of this concept. 

    While transmediation is mostly about different sign systems specifically - which could be symbols, pictures, music, etc - I believe it can apply in a smaller scale to different language systems. Or, in my example, different levels of knowledge about the terminology of a subject. Siegel even suggests that language still "nearly always accompanies meanings constructed through alternative modes" (Siegel, 460), which, to me, means transmediation can apply to difference in languages. The translation of difficult terms and concepts into general, easier-to-understand ideas exemplifies the ideas of transmediation.

Siegel, Marjorie. “More than Words: The Generative Power of Transmediation for Learning.” Canadian Journal of Education, vol. 20, no. 4, 1994, pp. 455–475., https://doi.org/: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1495082.