In Understanding media, Marshall McLuhan offered a quite broad definition of a medium as "an extension of ourselves": "In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message.
More recent interpretations expand dimensions to three, involving senses (sensory), meaning (semiotic) and signal.
Therefore, transmediated works are closely linked to semiotics and technology in the context of digital media.
Leonard Shlain highlights the importance of engaging students in the process of transmediation when writing, "Digital information comes in multiple forms, and students must learn to tell stories not just with words and numbers but also through images, graphics, color, sound, music, and dance.
Bombarded with a wide variety of images regularly, students need sharp visual-interpretation skills to interact with the media analytically.