Picture Perfect
Generation
Visual Stimulating
or Visually Literate?
Susan E. Metros
smetros@usc.edu
University of
Southern California
1
Webinar audience
2
Questions?
Questions?
Becoming
What does it meanVisually Literate
to be literate?
The role of the
visual
Affecting
change
the journey
Questions?
3
What does it mean to be
literate?
the journey
4
Literacy…
…the condition or quality of
being literate, especially the
ability to read and write.
5
6
Cultural
Economic
Language
Political
Technological
Ecological
Information
Scientific
Media
21st Century Literacies
Personal
Security
Visual
7
Visual Literacy
 Decode and interpret visuals
 Encode and compose
meaningful visuals
 Make judgment of accuracy,
validity and worth of visuals
8
Judging Validity…
“There is no such thing as
inaccuracy in a photograph.
All photographs are accurate.
None of them is the truth.”
Richard Avedon
9
Judging Validity…
Luke Frazza, AFP, USA Today, February 24, 2005
10
Fluent
Literate
Stimulated
visual literacy continuum
11





Lives is a visually saturated word
Interacts with visuals everyday
Amateur producer and manipulator
Imitates rather than innovates
Not enough knowledge to judge
Stimulated
visual literacy continuum
12
Visual Overload






Environment
Communication
Knowledge gathering
Personal interactions
Jobs
Recreation
13
Visual Overload
“Clutter and confusion
are failures in design,
not attributes of
information.”
(Tufte, 1990)
14
Amateur or Authentic?
Amateur
Authentic
 Unprofessional
 denoting an
 Producers
not
QuickTime™
are
decompressor
needed toand
seeathis picture.
emotionally
visually literate
appropriate,
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
significant,
purposive, and
responsible mode of
human life.
15
 Understands design vocabulary
and concepts
 Informed viewer, decoder, and consumer
 Effective communicator, encoder and producer
 Informed critic of visual information
Literate
visual literacy continuum
16
 Is a knowledgeable and highlyskilled innovator, designer,
composer, and producer
Fluent
visual literacy continuum
17
Questions?
Questions?
Becoming
What does it meanVisually Literate
to be literate?
The role of the
visual
Affecting
change
the journey
Questions?
18
Becoming
Visually Literate
Learning Styles
Dependencies
the journey
Vocabularies
19
Learning Styles
Visual
 A behavioral preference
 The way we perceive and
process things the best
 The way people concentrate
when they learn
Auditory
Kinesthetic
20
Learning Styles
Kinesthetic
5%
Visual
65%
Auditory
30%
(Bradford, 2004)
21
Visual Dependencies
 Communicate instantly
and universally
 Social practice
 Economic reliance
 Discipline agnostic
22
Vocabularies
 Writing
letter•word•sentence•paragraph•
rhythm•protagonist•antagonist•
setting•point of view•hyperbole•
personification…
 Journalism
article•story•beat•repurpose•lead•
kicker•spread•inverted pyramid…
 Film
scene•script•pace•narration• framing•zoom•
pan•tilt•fade•cut…
23
Vocabulary of Vision
“If people aren’t taught the
language of sound and images,
shouldn’t they be considered as
illiterate as if they left college
without
being able to read or write?”
(Lucas, 2004)
24
Vocabulary of Vision
Elements
Point
Line
Form
Attributes
Color/Tone
Texture
Volume
Size
Relationships
Structure
Balance
Contrast
Position
Motion
25
The role of
the visual
the journey
26
The Role of the Visual
 Document
 Validate
 Expose
 Communicate
 Politicize
 Inform
 Engage
 Provoke
27
Document
The War Tapes, (2006)
28
Validate
Children’s Visions of Genocide
(Human Rights Watch, NPR, 2005) 29
Communicate
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
30
Inform
World Trade Center, NYC (September 11, 2001)
31
Engage
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Spore, Electronic Arts (2008)
32
Expose
Abu Ghraib Prison (May, 2005)
33
Politicize
“Politics will eventually be
replaced by imagery.
The politician will be only too
happy to abdicate in favor of
his [or her] image, because
the image will be much more
powerful than he [or she]
could ever be.”
(McLuhan,1971)
Kennedy/Nixon Presidential Debate
(September 26,1960)
34
Provoke
A cartoon published in a Danish newspaper
depicting Muhammad's turban as a bomb
provoked…
 Protest marches and deadly riots worldwide
 Attacks and the burning of Danish embassies
throughout the Middle East
 Costly boycotts of Danish products
35
Questions?
Questions?
Becoming
What does it meanVisually Literate
to be literate?
The role of the
visual
Affecting
change
the journey
Questions?
36
 Four Models
Affecting chang
1. Come to us
2. Woven into the curriculum
3. Systemic change
the journey
4. Component of something bigger!
37
Come to us:
OSU Digital Union







New media production
Emerging technologies
Gathering place
Showcase new tools
Workshops
Research
Corporate sponsors
digitalunion.osu.edu
38
Woven into the curriculum:
USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy
 Research on the changing nature of literacy
 Teaches multimedia production
 Provides academic programs in MM scholarship
iml.usc.edu
39
Woven into the curriculum:
Visual literacy integrated into the mission
 Association of Colleges and
Research Libraries (ACRL) Guidelines…
“Library courses and instruction in information literacy
should include visual literacy and media literacy.”
 Clemson General Education Vision…
“To more fully integrate visual literacy and creativity
into the curriculum in an effort to expand
communication skills, critical thinking, ethical
judgment, and cultural awareness.”
40
Systemic change:
NMC 21st Century Literacy Summit
1. Develop a strategic research agenda
2. Raise awareness and visibility of the field
3. Make tools for creating and experiencing
new media broadly available
4. Empower teachers with 21st
century literacy skills
5. Work as a community
(NMC, 2005)
nmc.org/publications/global-imperative
41
Component of something bigger:
Emergency Preparedness
 USC Provost’s charge
 Have courses up for one to three weeks
within one week of the disaster
 Assumptions
 Campus is inaccessible
 Power and Internet up and running
 Misconception
 Blackboard is the solution
 A captured lecture is a course
42
Component of something bigger:
Scenario 1: “Gen Ed in the Can”
 Select best Gen Ed instructors
 Develop high quality online courses in Bb
 Activate in case
of emergency
Issues
 Who picks instructors?
 Who prioritizes courses?
 Who develops courses?
 Expense
 Currency of content
 Students distracted
43
Component of something bigger:
Scenario 2: “Global Crisis Curriculum”

Identify, collect, tag content related to crisis

Provide Freshman literacy skills modules to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Create a digital story
Serve as a citizen journalist
Chronicle service learning experience
Write a paper
Respond to crisis
through “lens”
of Gen Ed course
Issues
 Curricular review?
 Cathartic or painful?
 How to coordinate efforts
 How to build content
sharing infrastructure
44
Questions?
Questions?
Becoming
What does it meanVisually Literate
to be literate?
The role of the
visual
Affecting
change
the journey
Questions?
45