This article presents a social semiotic framework for the multimodal analysis of website interactivity. Distinguishing it from interaction, it defines interactivity as the affordance of a text of being acted (up)on, thus including hypertextuality. The author introduces the notion of ‘interactive sites/signs’ as the loci of interactivity in digital texts; these have a two-fold nature and a two-dimensional functioning. In their two-fold nature, they are both places enabling actions producing effects and forms endowed with meanings. Notwithstanding the non-direct correspondence between forms, actions and effects (which makes any specific association between the three significant within a webpage design), and in spite of their many possible forms (encompassing still and dynamic images, shapes and writing), a small range of actions can activate them (click/click+type/hover), producing a restricted set of textual effects (access/provide/transfer text). In their two-dimensional functioning, interactive sites/signs function both syntagmatically, on the page where they are displayed, in their relation with other co-occurring elements, and paradigmatically, opening to optional text realizations, hence in their relation with these. The framework adapts Halliday’s three metafunctions to the analysis of the two-fold nature and two-dimensional functioning of interactive sites/signs. It provides a fine-grained account of the interactive meaning potentials of digital texts, distinguishing between a text’s aesthetics of interactivity – as visually communicated before it is activated, performed and experienced – and its functionality, in the configuration of interactive possibilities offered by a page. Designed to complement the extant practices of text analysis of webpages, the framework can be used comparatively, as exemplified in its application to the analysis of two blog pages, and can provide a more refined assessment of the interactive meaning potential of a webpage than traditional methodologies such as content analysis.
On the video-sharing website YouTube, the ‘video response’ option triggers a new interaction practice, i.e. communication threads started by an initial video, built up by video responses and resumed by a video-summary. This article examines a video-thread that starts from one of YouTube’s ‘most responded’ videos; by using a social semiotic multimodal analysis, the author investigates how video responses relate to the initial video and how the video-summary selectively transforms the resources of the responses while presenting itself as a resume of the video-thread. This analysis helps to explore the notion of ‘interest’, which shapes sign-making in a chain of semiosis in video-interaction, thus creating an approach to communication in which traditional notions of coherence and relevance are reshaped in terms of an interest-driven prompt—response relation.
Until universal influenza vaccines become available, pandemic preparedness should include developing classical vaccines against potential pandemic influenza subtypes. We here show that addition of SWE adjuvant, a squalene-in-water emulsion, to H7N9 split influenza vaccine clearly enhanced functional antibody responses in ferrets. These were cross-reactive against H7N9 strains from different lineages and newly emerged H7N9 variants. Both vaccine formulations protected in almost all cases against severe pneumonia induced by intratracheal infection of ferrets with H7N9 influenza; however, the SWE adjuvant enhanced protection against virus replication and disease. Correlation analysis and curve fitting showed that both VN- and NI-titers were better predictors for protection than HI-titers. Moreover, we show that novel algorithms can assist in better interpretation of large data sets generated in preclinical studies. Cluster analysis showed that the adjuvanted vaccine results in robust immunity and protection, whereas the response to the non-adjuvanted vaccine is heterogeneous, such that the protection balance may be more easily tipped toward severe disease. Finally, cluster analysis indicated that the dose-sparing capacity of the adjuvant is at least a factor six, which greatly increases vaccine availability in a pandemic situation.
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