Can an app for making viral dances point us to our next steps in how we communicate with each other?
In the digital era, we are seeing a push to leverage the new technologies we use to better communicate. From comics to social media, many experts are showing that the limitations of pen and paper can be circumvented online if we only take them seriously.
Our writing can go beyond words. We have already have been sharing emojis and memes to communicate meaning for years. While some apps like Twitter are changing how we write, we are seeing a resurgence of ideograms and symbols from apps such as TikTok. Apps like these use audio, visual, and writing at the same time to communicate meaning. For example, this TikTok’s meaning can only be fully grasped with sound, visuals, and writing.
Here we see what Scott Mcleod was talking about in reference to comic books and graphic novels: expansion beyond what physical media can give us. But, these new combinations of media open up an entirely different problem: accessibility. People with disabilities may find it hard to grasp the full meaning or create media like this. But, many users and Tiktok itself work to address this issue, such as creators who work to caption their videos or the new speech to text feature. Here are examples of both these features being used on the app.
As one can see, social media apps like TikTok are expanding what we consider writing and how we use the tools in front of us to communicate. By making it easy to combine multiple forms of media, apps like these show what language in the digital age can look like, and how we can better increase accessibility for all.