Personally, I need visual stimulation to read, such as the CD-ROM version of Of Mice and Men. Having pictures with the text may provide certain connotations for the reader that may differ from reading the print version. However, the stimulation my mind needs in order to stay focused is there. The technology, the text, and the images are all vital for my digital native characteristics.
One area where I believe multiple modes is truly beneficial is poetry.
Read Anne Sexton's Her Kind:
I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.
I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.
I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.
Now, write down your interpretation of the poem. Don't cheat! Just jot down a few words that help you remember how you felt or what sense you made of the poem.
Now press play on the video below and read the poem along with Anne Sexton. I would hope that you, as a reader would gain a completely different aspect. While Anne Sexton's sanity is questionable, her tone while reading Her Kind is dark and may differ from your original notes on your feelings or interpretation of the poem.