See What I Mean?

 I chose to focus on an article from the Weblogs and Public Sphere link. Specifically, the article is all about the use of imagery in blogs. Imagery is an incredibly powerful resource that is utilized in literacy both online and offline as well. Why are children’s books so full of bright colored illustrations? Perhaps it’s because we want children to be interested in reading and literacy skills, so we aim to pique their interest with fascinating imagery. This practice is not limited to children’s books, but it is highly effective for all audiences. I think some of the assigned readings would be easier to understand if they were accompanied by related imagery.

                When evaluating how people read on the internet, it seems to be a very non-linear format. “The Internet, however, we tend to glance at; our eyes skim over the screen in a freefall of vision until something interests us enough to pause the plummet momentarily.” (Badger, pg.1) In such a case it is understandable that imagery would really make a blog or an article stand out from other sources without imagery. The technique being utilized on the surface is visual literacy, but it is also multiliteracies as Serafini demonstrated. Many literacy styles are being utilized together to create a well-rounded experience.

Another practice being utilized also from Serafini is the idea of visual art elements and design which also ties in with Green’s cultural theory. “The various elements of visual composition have a cultural bias, meaning that they seem to offer meaning potentials only when associated with a specific socio-cultural context, in this instance contemporary Western culture. In other words, a red rose may not symbolize the same thing from one social context to another.” (Serafini, pg. 55) While one image makes sense to us in the United States based on our experience and knowledge of the pictured item, to someone across the globe it could mean something extremely different. As Green denotes, the cultural background contributes to the development of how we make sense of literacy practices.

                One issue that Badger discusses is the validity of images as with the digital age pictures can easily be altered. In traditional media sources such as the newspaper, it usually indicates the photographer that snapped the picture and is accompanied by an article with many details. This type of media goes through editors as the company producing the information would like to maintain their integrity. In a weblog, anyone could easily create and post anything of their choosing and it would not be subject to fact checking or editing. It is now up to the reader to decide how valid the image, information, or article may be. This requires critical literacy skills as in Green’s model since audience members have to analyze and draw their own conclusions.

                This article really drew me in because I’m a visual learner. I also think that the way images are utilized is expanding. Some are used socially and in entertainment, well other images are to provoke political and economic views. 

Citation:

Badger, Meredith. (2004). Visual Blogs. University of Minnesota. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, http://hdl.handle.net/11299/172839.

GREEN’s Three Dimensions of Literacy Diagram

Serafini, F. (n.d.). Reading the visual: An introduction to teaching multimodal literacy.

All images found in a google search and belong to their rightful owners.