Another issue which I have been thinking about in relation to multimodality is whether this approach adds something to CMC research, or whether other CMC approaches already account for this. The fact that the verbal mode is not the only means of communication is something which has been acknowledged by researchers of computer-mediated communication over the years. Examples include theories such as social presence, media richness and the cues filtered out approach. However, these schools of thought have always seen face-to-face communication as the perfect role model, and argued that the modes should imitate face-to-face communication as closely as possible.

Multimodality theory does not necessarily claim that fewer modes equals less efficient communication, but rather different media have different affordances and are thus suited for different types of interaction. According to Sigrid Norris (2004) it does not make sense to count the modes available. In her approach to multimodality she is more interested in how the modes available interrelate and how modal density is created. According to Norris, again, modal density relates to levels of attention, and there is no inherent hierarchy among modes, but it all depends on the situation. In line with some of the CMC theories which are sceptical to the notion of media richness (see Walther, for instance) this would indicate that in fact only one mode is needed in order for modal density to occur

I have now returned from the conference on multimodality in Gothenburg with even more questions regarding the topic than I had before I left. Most presentations in the conference concerned how to make computers communicate like humans. Some approached this from a technological perspective and demonstrated different technical solutions, whereas others took as their point of departure face-to-face interaction and argued that only by learning how face-to-face interaction works will we be able to build computer applications that follow the same principles. Even though many presentation were quite far from my area of interest, some of the presentations in this last category did prove useful to me, since some of the analytical approaches presented could also be applied on CMC (for instance, Allwood et al.

In the course of these last few weeks I