The overarching theme of Discourse and Technology is cutting-edge in the field of linguistics: multimodal discourse. This volume opens up a discussion among discourse analysts and others in linguistics and related fields about the two-fold impact of new communication technologies: The impact on how discourse data is collected, transcribed, and analyzed—and the impact that these technologies are having on social interaction and discourse.

As inexpensive tape recorders allowed the field to move beyond text, written or printed language, to capture talk—discourse as spoken language—the information explosion (including cell phones, video recorders, Internet chat rooms, online journals, and the like) has moved those in the field to recognize that all discourse is, in various ways, "multimodal," constructed through speech and gesture, as well as through typography, layout, and the materials employed in the making of texts.

The contributors have responded to the expanding scope of discourse analysis by asking five key questions: Why should we study discourse and technology and multimodal discourse analysis? What is the role of the World Wide Web in discourse analysis? How does one analyze multimodal discourse in studies of social actions and interactions? How does one analyze multimodal discourse in educational social interactions? and, How does one use multimodal discourse analyses in the workplace? The vitality of these explorations opens windows onto even newer horizons of discourse and discourse analysis.

1. Multimodal Discourse Analysis as the Confluence of Discourse and TechnologyRon Scollon and Philip LeVine

2. Ten Reasons Why Linguists Should Pay Attention to Visual CommunicationTheo Van Leeuwen

3. The Problem of Context in Computer Mediated CommunicationRodney H. Jones

4. "The Way to Write a Phone Call": Multimodality in Novices' Use and Perceptions of Interactive Written Discourse (IWD)Angela Goddard

5. Trying on Voices: Using Questions to Establish Authority, Identity, and Recipient Design in Electronic DiscourseBoyd Davis and Peyton Mason

6. Mock Taiwanese-Accented Mandarin in the Internet Community in Taiwan: The Interaction between Technology, Linguistic Practice, and Language IdeologiesHsi-Yao Su

7. Materiality in Discourse: The Influence of Space and Layout in Making MeaningIngrid de Saint-Georges

8. The Multimodal Negotiation of Service EncountersLaurent Filliettaz

9. Multimodal Discourse Analysis: A Conceptual FrameworkSigrid Norris

10. Files, Forms, and Fonts: Mediational Means and Identity Negotiation in Immigration InterviewsAlexandra Johnston

11. Modalities of Turn-Taking in Blind/Sighted Interaction: Better to Be Seen and Not Heard?Elisa Everts

12. "Informed Consent" and Other Ethical Conundrums in Videotaping InteractionsElaine K. Yakura

13. The Moral Spectator: Distant Suffering in September 11th Live FootageLilie Chouliaraki

14. Ethnography of Language in the Age of Video: "Voices" as Multimodal Constructions in Some Contexts of Religious and Clinical AuthorityJoel Kuipers

15. Multimodality and New Communication TechnologiesCarey Jewitt

16. Origins: A Brief Intellectual and Technological History of the Emergence of Multimodal Discourse AnalysisFrederick Erickson

17. Studying WorkscapesMarilyn Whalen and Jack Whalen with Robert Moore, Geoff Raymond, Margaret Szymanski, and Erik Vinkhuyzen