Abstract:

Throughout the history of media, technological transformations have continually reshaped both the modes of representation and the epistemic frameworks through which knowledge is encoded, navigated, and understood. This paper foregrounds transduction – the translation of meaning across semiotic modes – as a generative process of learning and knowing. In narrative contexts, transduction reveals how a single story, when expressed through prose, film, or interactive media, enacts distinct epistemic logics that may overlap: the sequential reasoning of print, the temporal montage of cinema, and the procedural interactivity of digital form. Drawing upon theories of multimodality, social semiotics, and generative learning, the paper argues that translating narrative across or within semiotic systems fosters deeper cognitive engagement, as learners and audiences actively reconstruct meaning through processes of interpretation, manipulation, and reformulation. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI), however, complicates this dynamic. The automation of transductive processes risks displacing the interpretive labour that has historically underpinned epistemic growth and creative understanding. To address this tension, the discussion turns to Janet Murray’s theorization of digital narrative, particularly her concept of the replay-multiform story, in which users explore multiple narrative trajectories and perspectives. This model embodies a recursive and exploratory mode of cognition that resonates with contemporary conceptions of deep, participatory, and reflective learning. To ground this framework, the paper analyses Kathryn Bigelow’s film "A House of Dynamite" (2025) as a case of latent multiform storytelling. Through its compressed temporal structure, networked perspectives, and recursive editing, the film embodies the epistemic logic of the replay-multiform story. Although linear in cinematic form, "A House of Dynamite" illustrates how storytelling can model systems of knowledge that are procedural, relational, and open-ended. The paper concludes by proposing a set of design principles for AI-augmented transduction that preserve human interpretive agency and foster participatory learning – a creative engagement that reaffirms the passion for learning within an increasingly automated media ecology.

Keywords:

Transduction, replay-multiform design, “A House of Dynamite”, generative AI, participatory learning.