Susan E. Metros smetros@usc.edu University of Southern California

1. Picture Perfect Generation Visual Stimulating or Visually Literate? Susan E. Metros smetros@usc.edu University of Southern California

2. Webinar audience

3. Becoming Visually Literate Affecting change t h e j o u r n e y Questions? Questions? What does it mean to be literate? The role of the visual Questions?

4. t h e j o u r n e y What does it mean to be literate?

5. Literacy… …the condition or quality of being literate, especially the ability to read and write.

7. Scientific Ecological Economic Language 21st Century Literacies Cultural Technological Political Information Media Visual PersonalSecurity

8. Visual Literacy • Decode and interpret visuals • Encode and compose meaningful visuals • Make judgment of accuracy, validity and worth of visuals

9. Judging Validity… “There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” Richard Avedon

10. Judging Validity… Luke Frazza, AFP, USA Today, February 24, 2005

11. visual literacy continuum Fluent Literate Stimulated

12. 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

13. Visual Overload • Environment • Communication • Knowledge gathering • Personal interactions • Jobs • Recreation

14. Visual Overload “Clutter and confusion are failures in design, not attributes of information.” (Tufte, 1990)

15. Authentic denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life. Amateur Unprofessional Producers not visually literate Amateur or Authentic?

16. Understands design vocabulary and concepts • Informed viewer, decoder, and consumer • Effective communicator, encoder and producer • Informed critic of visual information Literate visual literacy continuum

17. Is a knowledgeable and highly-skilled innovator, designer, composer, and producer Fluent visual literacy continuum

18. Affecting change Becoming Visually Literate t h e j o u r n e y Questions? Questions? What does it mean to be literate? The role of the visual Questions?

19. Becoming Visually Literate t h e j o u r n e y Learning Styles Dependencies Vocabularies

20. Learning Styles Visual Auditory Kinesthetic • A behavioral preference • The way we perceive andprocess things the best • The way people concentrate when they learn

21. Learning Styles (Bradford, 2004)

22. Visual Dependencies • Communicate instantly and universally • Social practice • Economic reliance • Discipline agnostic

23. 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…

24. 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)

25. Vocabulary of Vision • Elements • Point • Line • Form • Attributes • Color/Tone • Texture • Volume • Size • Relationships • Structure • Balance • Contrast • Position • Motion

26. t h e j o u r n e y The role of the visual

27. The Role of the Visual • Document • Validate • Communicate • Inform • Engage • Expose • Politicize • Provoke

28. Document The War Tapes, (2006)

29. Validate Children’s Visions of Genocide(Human Rights Watch, NPR, 2005)

30. Communicate

31. Inform World Trade Center, NYC (September 11, 2001)

32. Engage Spore, Electronic Arts (2008)

33. Expose Abu Ghraib Prison (May, 2005)

34. 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)

35. 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

36. Affecting change Becoming Visually Literate t h e j o u r n e y Questions? Questions? What does it mean to be literate? The role of the visual Questions?

37. Affecting change t h e j o u r n e y • Four Models • Come to us • Woven into the curriculum • Systemic change • Component of something bigger!

38. Come to us:OSU Digital Union • New media production • Emerging technologies • Gathering place • Showcase new tools • Workshops • Research • Corporate sponsors digitalunion.osu.edu

39. 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

40. 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.”

41. Systemic change:NMC 21st Century Literacy Summit • Develop a strategic research agenda • Raise awareness and visibility of the field • Make tools for creating and experiencing new media broadly available • Empower teachers with 21stcentury literacy skills • Work as a community (NMC, 2005)nmc.org/publications/global-imperative

42. Component of something bigger:Emergency Preparedness • USC Provost’s charge • Have courses up for one to three weekswithin 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

43. 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

44. Component of something bigger:Scenario 2: “Global Crisis Curriculum” • Identify, collect, tag content related to crisis • Provide Freshman literacy skills modules to: • 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

45. Affecting change Becoming Visually Literate t h e j o u r n e y Questions? Questions? What does it mean to be literate? The role of the visual Questions?