What is Visual Literacy, by Georgina Dimmock (University of Northampton)

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Georgina Dimmock's presentation 'What is Visual Literacy?' from the ARLIS VRC event, 'The Art of Seeing: Teaching Visual Literacy in the Library and Classroom' held on 5th June 2014 at University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus.

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What is Visual Literacy? Georgina Dimmock, 5 June 2014

What is Visual Literacy? Georgina Dimmock, 5 June 2014

What?

What? Why?

How? Who?

“…the ability to successfully decode and interpret visual messages and to encode and compose meaningful visual communications.”

Anne Bamford, 2003

What?

…the ability to successfully consciously and critically decode and interpret visual messages and to consciously and critically encode and compose meaningful visual communications.

What?

Consumption

Production

What?

'Seeing comes before words. The child Looks and recognises before it can speak'.Ways of Seeing, John Berger, 1972.

12 months of age children can read graphic images (Bamford, 2003)

Why?

12 months of age children can read graphic images (Bamford, 2003)

'Seeing comes before words. The child Looks and recognises before it can speak'.Ways of Seeing, John Berger, 1972. Why?

3 years children become produces of imagery and can use simple graphics (Bamford, 2003)

What?Why?

3 years children become produces of imagery and can use simple graphics (Bamford, 2003)

What?

Rowan with chickenpox aged 3 - self-portrait

Why?

Dates from the Neolithic period: symbol used in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Native America...

What?Why?

Typography carries semantic meaning

What?Why?

Distributed on Facebook by UK Uncut:

“27/02/14 - Above are MPs debating how disabled people have been effected by welfare reform, ruining peoples lives.11/07/13 - Below are MPs discussing proposed MP pay rise. A picture paints a thousand words” What?

Why?

Distributed on Facebook by UK Uncut: 27/02/14 – “Above are MPs debating how disabled people have been effected by welfare reform, ruining peoples lives.”11/07/13 – “Below are MPs discussing proposed MP pay rise”. A picture paints a thousand words”

What?Why?

This is an Press Associationstock image used byThe Guardian et al, to denote “A General View of MPs” No evidence it was taken on 11/07/13.

Hansard: MPs’ pay was not debated on 11/07/13. The mainitem on the agenda was Energy and Climate Change.

Question: Are we fully aware, conscious and critical of the visuals surrounding us? Or are we sleepwalking?

What?

The Somnambulist, 1871, John Everett Millais

Why?

Copernicus – Heliocentric Model, 1543

Why?

Bartolomeu Velho – Ptolemaic Geocentric System, 1568

What?Why?

Mendeleev's periodic table, 1869

What?Why?

International Visual Literacy Association Conference, Cyprus, 2010

Who?

Who?

IVLA Conference, Cyprus, 2010 – speakers’ countries of origin and their subject disciplines

Education

Art and DesignCultural StudiesInformation Science

Psychology Science Polymath

Different subject and professional lenses on visual literacy. Specialist discourse canboth illuminate and hinder.

Who?

EducationalistScience

Art & Design

Cultural Theory

Information Science

Medical Science

What constitutes information?Sensory data organised.Librarians are in the information business.

Who?

Question: Have we neglected to develop ourselves, as a profession, with regards to visual information?

Who?

Association of College & Research Libraries Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy

SCONUL Seven Pillars – Research lens, Digital Literacy lens, OER lens

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/tags/7-pillars

Fundamentally, CRITICAL THINKING. A critical attitude to visual information.

BA Graphics and Illustration, Second Years.Examination of artefacts from the Library’s SpecialCollection, looking at the visual, technical and cultural

How?

2014 Learning and Teaching Conference, University of Northampton. Role reversal:- The Graphics students teach non-arts academics.

How?

INS1018: Information Management – first yearundergraduates in the Northampton BusinessSchool. Branding visual analysis exercise.

How?

Standard Ranges, 2007 Basic Ranges, 2007

INS1018: Information Management – first yearundergraduates in the Northampton BusinessSchool. Branding visual analysis exercise.

How?

Organic Ranges, 2007 Finest Ranges, 2007

Image manipulation throughout history

(Farid, 2014)

INS1018: Information Management – first yearundergraduates in the Northampton BusinessSchool. Image manipulation throughout history.

How?

Provenance:

Who created the image? Who commissioned the image? In what context was it created?Who owns the licence? Is it plagiarised?

Cultural Context

In what context is it being viewed?Who is the intended audience?What does the image say about society?

Manipulation

What has been omitted, altered or added?

INS1018: Information Management – first yearundergraduates in the Northampton BusinessSchool

How?

Question: Do we model visual literacy to our students on a daily basis?

How?

Academic Liaision Team, University of Northampton

What?

What? Why?

How? Who?

Modeling and collaborating

Encoding anddecoding

Critical Thinking

Professional lenses

Questions?

References

Association of College and Research Libraries (2011) ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education [online]. Available from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy [Accessed on 4 June 2014]

Bamford, A. (2003). The Visual Literacy White Paper [online]. Available from www.adobe.com/uk/education/pdf/adobe_visual_literacy_paper.pdf. [Accessed on 25, November, 2007]

BBC4 (2010) Marcus Du Sautoy: The Beauty of Diagrams. BBC4 Broadcast, 2010.

Berger, J et. (1972) al. Ways of Seeing. Bath: Penguin

Farid, H. (2014.) Image Manipulation Throughout History [online]. Available from http://www.fourandsix.com/photo-tampering-history/ [Accessed on 4 June 2014]

Farid, H. (2008) Five ways to spot a fake [online]. Scientific American. Available from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=5-ways-to-spot-a-fake [Accessed on 30th January, 2013]

SCONUL (2010) SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy [online]. Available from http://www.sconul.ac.uk/tags/7-pillars [Accessed on 4 June 2014]

Tufte, E.R. (1997). Visual Explanations. Connecticut: Graphics Press.

Image Sources

McLain, R. (2014) Chairs - Image. Flickr [online] https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackdutchdoublelibra/2459796675/ [Accessed 4 June 2014]

University of Northampton (2014) Newton Building- Image. Flickr [online] https://www.flickr.com/photos/universityofnorthamptonarchives/6800384115/ [Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikipedia (2014) Ptolemaic Geocentric System - Image. Wikipedia [online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bartolomeu_Velho_1568.jpg[Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikimedia (2014) Binary Code - Image. Wikimedia [online] Available from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Binary_Code.jpg [Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikipedia (2014) Copernican Heliocentric System- Image. Wikipedia [online] Available from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/De_Revolutionibus_manuscript_p9.jpg [Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikimedia (2014) Lorem Ipsum - Image. Wikimedia [online] Available from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lorem_Ipsum_Helvetica.png [Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikimedia (2014) Mendeleev’s 1869 Periodic Table - Image. Wikimedia [online] Available from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mendeleev's_1869_periodic_table.png [Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikimedia (2014) Mona Lisa - Image. Wikimedia [online] Available from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa_face_800x800px.jpg [Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikipedia (2014) Ptolemaic Geocentric System - Image. Wikipedia [online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bartolomeu_Velho_1568.jpg[Accessed 4 June 2014]

Wikimedia (2014) The Somnambulist - Image. Wikimedia [online] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Everett_Millais,_The_Somnambulist.jpg[Accessed 4 June 2014]