Meaning-making made aloud: From a printed version to an audio version of a multimodal popular science journal

First, the printed journal is analysed in accordance with Unsworth (1997), focusing on how the resources of text, images and graphics are deployed in scientific explanation and how the meaning is constructed by the visuals. Second, the interpretative process of meaning-making is uncovered by think aloud protocols. In order to produce an aural version of the complex text, the interpreter must assess what to describe, how to describe it, and when to describe it (Holsanova 2015). The audio describer combines the contents of the available resources, makes judgements about relevant information, ways of verbalizing it, fills in the gaps missing in the interplay of the resources and re-arranges the order of information for optimal flow and understanding. In this way, he contributes to multimodal literacy (Walsh 2010, Kress & Jewitt 2003). The aural version of the journal is finally compared to the printed version to show how the semiotic interplay has been realized for the end users.