So hows this for a complex multimodalrhe torical

So how's this
for
a
complex
multimodalrhe-
torical event? The
day portfolios
were due, Lind-
say Freeberg2 arranged
to have a
large
blue
bag
containing
eleven numbered
gift
boxes delivered
to
my
office
along
with a card addressed
"To
whom it
may
concern"
(Fig. 1).
The left side of the card functioned as the
table of contents,
listing
which
pieces
of
Lindsay's
work would be found inside which boxes, while
the
right
side contained a set of
explicit
instruc-
tions for
receiving
and
recirculating
that work.
In
keeping
with the context of
gift-giving
that
Fig.
1.
Lindsay's portfolio
Lindsay
had established, her semester's worth of work had been
repurposed
as
a collection of valuable "tokens."
Lindsay
wrote:
Dear Receiver of Tokens,
Hi,
my
name is
Lindsay Freeberg.
You're
probably wondering
what the heck is
going
on and
why you
have a
bag
filled with numbered boxes. I'm
sorry
to
say
that
this isn't a
present just
for
you,
it's for
everyone,
but I'll
get
back to that later
[...].
All
right,
back to how these tokens are for
everyone.
You're
probably wondering
how
everyone
is
going
to see this. Well, here's what
you
have to do. Read
every-
thing,
but don't
just
read it
quickly,
let is
[sic]
soak in for awhile and read it
again.
Sign
the card somewhere, comment if
you
want to. If there isn't
any
more room,
add
pages
to the card.Now,think of someone. Got them? Good.
Secretlygive
the
bag
to them as I
gave
it to
you.
All I ask
you
to do is
keep
this
going.
279
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CCC 57:2 / DECEMBER 2005
Or this? After
completing
a task that
requires
students to research the
history
of a word
using
the online version of the
Oxford English Dictionary,
PrakasItarut turned in a manila
envelope containing
an unmarked
floppy
disk
and a
typed, text-only
treatment of the word
"scare."
At the
top
of this text the
following message appeared:
**To
get
a true
experience
of what I am about to tell
you, please
read this
paper
at
night
and follow the directions
exactly
as it is told.**
There is a disk included withthis
paper.
Please insert it into a PC that is
equipped
with sound.
Now
open
this
paper
in Microsoft Word.
By
now,
you
should be
reading
this
message
on a
computer
screen. If
you
haven't
done what I mentioned
above,
please
do so now.
Had I been brave
enough
to set aside the
typed
text and
experience
the re-
maining portions
of the
piece
in the
way
Prakas recommended, the first
thing
I would have encountered in the on-screen version was a
sampling
of the vari-
ous
meanings
and uses of the word
"scare"
that Prakas had
excerpted
from the
OED. I would also have encountered the
option
to
"click here," which,
in turn,
would have taken me to a file on the disk
containing
the OED's full
entry
for
"scare,"
Following
this, I would have found another set of instructions
prompt-
ing
me to execute the
"MC
Program"
file contained on the
floppy.