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=VISUAL LITERACY in a Visual Culture=

While verbal literacy is a skill taught in schools to the youth of our nation, the process by which we construct meanings for images is less structured by also takes place during childhood and during the assimilation of children and immigrants to the American culture. Visual transmission of information is at a high point in modern life.  The wide spread use of visual mass media forms have led to this cultural foundation, making the need to understand visual information a very important skill.

What is a Visual Culture how have we become one? What exactly is visual literacy? What methods do we use to "read" an image? How has advertising had an affect on visual literacy? What, if any, importance does the method of information gathering have on society?

This page will express the importance of visual literacy because of the visual culture and the connected pages are meant to serve as an introductory platform for the concept of visual literacy in education and promotion.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS:

__Visual LiteracyIntoduction__ .....__Living in a Visual Culture__ .....__Ideology and Images__ .....__What is Visual Literacy?__

Related Pages: - Tools and Youth Education Click here to see: Tools for Analyzing Visual Images and Youth Education - Promotional Imagery Click here to see: The Making of the Brand and Advertising Imagery

Living in a Visual Culture


PHOTOGRAPHY  The ability to capture images in photographs has forever changed society. Prior to the 1800's there were only artistic renderings of leaders and family members, but the invention of daguerreotypes changed the way we look at things - literally. Photographs have had the mixture of "absolute truth" and artificial posing from the beginning (Adatto 43). We tend to use photos as documentation and proof that an event occurred. Photos have the ability to last longer than a lifespan and can link us to our past by creating a connection that is not the same with only a record of the written name.

Photographs have also been artificial from the beginning. Capturing only an instant takes that action out of context, and the early photos were even more staged due to the long exposure times. Advertising seems to be the apex of phony photos. In the task of selling products, photographs have a "dual power to document and deceive" (Adatto 47). A photo of the item for sale can both reveal and hide the qualities of the item depending on camera angle, scenic location, and size. Cultural conditioning has suggested the close connection between photography and reality, but photos aren't really objective (Quig). For more on this idea, please click here.

NEW ABILITIES  Digital images add a new level to the visual world becasue of easy transmission and easy editing. New cameras, with the right setting, "can slim off up to ten pounds even //before// the picture is taken" (Adatto 21) in a continuing hope of getting the image just right. Even more than ever, pictures are a representation rather than a reflection of items in our world (Sturken 14). Many times this representation tries for authenticity. Have you ever noticed cable news programs filming a reporter with a camera with another camera lens? The reporter becomes part of the news story and we are conscious of her (usually her) entering into the typical American home supposedly without any staging or planning. This shows us a camera we already know is there, but somehow, seeing the camera does have an effect on how we perceive the story. Information is transferred today through images. Colorful, artful displays of food in the menu make us more willing to try a new item because the image seemingly takes away the ambiguity of the verbal description. A food processor gadget is defined by moving images of its speed and uniformity of the food - how it performs to our visual expereince.

AN EXPERIMENT  Matt Siber has recognized the dependence on visual images in this essay, [|Visual Literacy in the Public Sphere (pdf),] which includes interesting images at the end. This project took photos of mass media signs or displays and removed all text from the photos and printed the text as a separate photograph. Notice that in the images it is easier to understand the meaning from the images than from the text alone. He ranks visual culture to be at an unprecedented high point while comparing current usage to the religious visual literacy during the Renaissance and propaganda films after the Russian Revolution to support communism. Siber claims that "Our sophistication in reading visual information has gotten so advanced that we don’t need text to get the message" (Quig). What does this instant recognition of images mean for our culture? At times the information we receive seems inherent in the images, but it is truly our experience with the meanings that have led to our understandings. Meanings for visual images are defined by the culture they are created in. Consider an individual from Rome or the Middle Ages in Europe. Would this image (of a highway sign or advertisement) mean anything to them? Conversely, are you able to recognize who and where this 14th century coat of arms is from? If you were English or French fighting in the Hundred Years War, you would likely be able to.

Images reflect and have meaning through the culture they are created in. In other words, they are dependent on that culture's ideology. Does this ideology affect how we perceive visuals? It must, since the images will support certain ideologies. For example, what do images tell us about the different groups in our society? Representations in the media of particular groups - females, teenagers, Hispanics, low-income groups - certainly may be contribute to discrimination. Can you recognize the tactics used in art, imagery or advertisements?  WASP  For many years the values of America were those of the white, protestant, and male segment. These values include hard work, respect, and liberty. Ideology "defines ideas about how life should be" (Sturken 51). If you assume something is natural or expect it in others of the same culture, it is part of your ideology. We interpret images based on ideology. There is a range of possible interpretation of the images, but they must be based on the dominate ideology. In other words, we must be in the ballpark when assigning meanings, not in outer space.

The ideology about race has changed drastically in the last 50 years, but there is still work to be done, according to this Newsweek [|article]. It explains that the accepted cultural understanding is not to talk about race to our children, and to use vague phrases when trying to talk about equality. Also a cultural force in this case is how minorities are portrayed in the media, which you can learn more about here.  IN PRACTICE <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> The trouble with the relationship to ideology and images is that it can be hard to unpack the images that we see for the ideology that is supported by them. Do you recognize your own ideologies and beliefs when they are in practice? Media sources deliver from thier viewpoint. It may be aligned with yours, or perhaps not. Only a handful of companies own media outlets in our country. This is called convergence of ownership. Another trend, known as convergence of content forms, or delivery system, is also underway. The Internet is really revolutionizing the media industry, because you, as an individual user, also have the ability to control and maintain content on a blog, social networking site or photo sharing platform. Understanding images is becoming more and more important as you have the technology and skills to produce visual content - home videos, candid photos and perhaps in new forms that are not yet developed.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">What is Visual Literacy?
<span style="color: #ff5500; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;">DEFINITION <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Visual literacy is the ability to "interpret the visible actions, objects, symbols, natural or man-made, that [one] encounters in [an] environment" (Avgerinou) and to both create and appreciate visual forms. Other concepts of visual literacy are more abstract, and discuss in general the ability for viewers to decode the meanings intended by producers (Sturken 20). It involves visual pictures or objects and how you relate to them.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> In an interesting comparison, some educators commented that a book would not be placed before a child without any instruction in how to use it (Neuman 82). They argue that in the same way, children can not be expected to automatically know how to best use television (or any images) effectively. However, the basic processing of images through the eyes is natural to humans (Messaris 138). It is when these images are placed in new contexts and captured for repeated viewing, that it becomes more complicated and worth some educational instruction. <span style="color: #ff5500; font-family: Georgia,serif;">LITERACY <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> The term literacy was first associated with verbal understanding, but it has been difficult to pinpoint what it means to be literate. Knowing how to read is one thing, but what level is considered proficient? It involves the idea of functioning well within the society (Buckingham 32-33). Why did you learn to read, and what are you using that skill for? This idea that literacy is not a definite proficiency level applies directly to visual literacy. How skilled one must be depends on the contexts it is used in.

In other words, like verbal literacy, visual literacy increases over a lifetime, as you need to add to your skills to accomplish tasks in the contexts - school, work, church, volunteer organizations - that you find yourselves in. It is such a broad skill that it cannot be completely systematically taught, and because of our cultural assimilation, partially happens naturally. Any formal instruction would need to focus on the basics that the individual must apply.

<span style="color: #ff5500; font-family: Georgia,serif;">CULTURAL <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Visual literacy does not need to be as systematic as traditional verbal literacy because seeing images is more natural than seeing letters that make up words. Some scholars argue that the only way processing visual images is different from any other types of common information processing is in the cultural connections necessary to understand images. Meanings are specific to a culture. In other words, a prior exposure and familiarity with prominent images will help explain a similar image when used in a different context (Messaris 158). Obvious parodies on political figures rarely explicitly state that the central character is a political figure. The imagery of the oval office, with presidential seal and the American flag are often used to convey this meaning. If one is unfamiliar with this scene it will be more difficult to automatically grasp the meaning, though by no means impossible.

<span style="color: #ff5500; font-family: Georgia,serif;">THE BASICS <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Any instruction in visual literacy should first focus on the common, everyday images. These are processed automatically, and assigned meanings from our experiences in the world. Citizens and consumers need to understand that each time an image is viewed, it can have a different meaning based on the context that it is placed in (Sturken 25). This includes the verbal words spoken or written with it, size, the medium it is seen in, and personal experiences that may tie to the image and makes each interpretation somewhat unique. However, most images share a level of interpretation with similar ones despite the specific differences. The nuances of interpretations involve looking at the purposes for the images among other tactics listed relating to Education and Youth.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Navigation: Visual Literacy .................................Tools and Youth Education..........................................Product Promotion

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Avgerinou, Maria. "What is Visual Literacy?" //International Visual Literacy Association//, International Visual Literacy Association. n. d. Web. 8 April 2010. <@http://www.ivla.org/org_what_vis_lit.htm >.
 * References**

Bronson, Po and Ashley Merryman. "See Baby Discriminate." //Newsweek.// Newsweek, Inc., 5 September 2009. Web. 7 May 2010.

Howells, Richard. //Visual Culture.// Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 2003.

Messaris, Paul. "Visual "Literacy" in a Cross-Cultural Perspective." Robert Kubey, Ed. //Media Literacy in the Information Age.// New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1997.

Neuman, Susan B. //Literacy in the Television Age: The Myth of the TV Effect.// Ablex Publishing Corp., Norwood, New Jersey, 1995.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Quig, Alec. "Art: Matt Siber." //bombsite.powweb.com//. BombLog, 15 April 2009. Web. 4 March 2010.

Rockenbach, Barbara, and Carole Ann Fabian. “Visual Literacy in the Age of Participation.” //Journal of American History,// 84. Web. March 16, 2010.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span class="wiki_link_ext">Siber, Matt. "Visual Literacy in the Public Sphere." //Visual Communication// 4.1 (Feb 2005) : 5-20. //Communication and Mass Media Complete.// Web. 2 March 2010.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. //Practices of Looking.// New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, 2002.