Platforms influence our communications through restrictions. One of the most important issues Gillespie brings up in the first article, is that media platforms are often quiet about what their policies and algorithms are but they are very aggressive in enforcing them. A key concept in the beginning of the article is that “Platforms matter”. The way an idea is presented to you and the way it is organized heavily affects the way you will perceive the information itself. However, the main issue Gillespie takes with social media platforms is the way they can censor or delete media that goes against its rules and how it wouldn’t be as big a problem if the platform was more clear with its policies.
On the other hand, modes refer to the multimodality of all forms of text. In the second article, the issue that Ball and Charlton attempt to correct is the common misconception that only new media or new technologies are multimodal, while in reality, all forms of writing are multimodal. A quote from Ball and Charlton’s article states, “That is, mode isn’t just words but sound, texture, movement, and all other communicative acts that contribute to the making of meaning” (Ball and Charlton). Because multimodality is simply any combination of Linguistic, Aural, Visual, Gestural, or Spatial, this quote explains how all forms of writing can be interpreted as multimodal.
My key takeaway from these articles came from “Platforms Intervene”. The explanation that Gillespie provides for how certain platforms can put restrictions on the users helps answer my personal question of how choosing a platform can influence your own outreach.
Dylan's IMS224 blog 