Visual Literacy: Why we need it?
Dr. Kennedy in his TEDx talk covers a lot of information about visual literacy and if you do not want to go through all the 16 minutes I picked up some highlights of it below?
- Visual literacy is the ability to construct meaning through images
- Visual literacy is not a new concept: In 1969 International visual literacy association was established
- Humanity took 2500 years to get to typing / printing information
- But only another 500 years to where we are now!
- Everything is an image and a text: Visual literacy is multi modal, multi disciplinary, interdisciplinary and collaborative.
- 90% information taken in by a human is visual
- 30% of brain cortex is dedicated to vision
- We shall look, see, describe, analyse, interpret and construct meaning
- Why is it that educational leaders do not think about including visual literacy as an interdisciplinary part of curriculum and not only as visual arts subject?
I, myself agree with Dr. Kennedy that it is through images that we learn. It has been proven time and again through so many research and educational works that visual literacy is more important than any other forms of literacy required by the human.
You might not realize it, but your brain is a code-cracking machine.
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From: LiveScience
What I have quoted above is an example of “Typoglycemia” which I believe utilises the power of visual literacy in our brain. Even the words are stored in form of a shape in our brain and as long as the outward shapes of the word are recognisable it does not matter which order the characters are arranged within!
I have so many examples to give in order to express my belief about the importance of images in our lives and the role they play in our learning. We all know subliminal messages and the research which has gone into it. We now watch more than we read. The technological revolution has assisted our ability to consume more via images. So much so that I just read this article today in BBC. What do you think about this article? Do you think we have become too visual? I am not sure of the answer but one thing I agree with. We have digital image overload!
Imagine what the reaction of world could have been if there were no handheld camera integrated devices to record the Charlie Hebdo shootings and then no TV and Internet to spread it around the world in minutes! Imagine how the political conflicts and wars are manipulated simply via images! This subject is too deep for me to cover in one post hence will continue to ponder over my thoughts on this and establish a way to communicate them with you: my audience. Excuse me if I start using imagery to convince you of my point! 🙂
3 COMMENTS
Hi,
Great post. I really enjoyed the BBC article as I feel similarly…it’s difficult! We are so connected today and part of that is visual overload! I do agree with you there. I wonder, scientifically, what this means with regard to evolution, there are huge implications. Moreover there is so much still unknown about technology (it’s all still quite ‘young’) and the implication of all of these ‘waves’… I really do wonder. The other thing is how we “disconnect” and even more important how we maintain a balance– staying connected but also balancing the stimulation that seems to be just about everywhere! At the same time, the amount of information available and the global community we have become…it’s incredible! Ahh, even as I write this I realize there’s still so much back and forth! So is the question, answer, and process!
Thanks for sharing!
I so appreciate your bulleted points highlighting Dr. Kennedy’s TEDx that you shared! Way to apply what we’ve been reading about in Course 3 in your own blog! I need to be more mindful of doing the same! I agree with you, agreeing with Dr. Kennedy that “it is through images that we learn.” 🙂
I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a colleague several years ago about how it’s important to expose toddlers to text and images, because it’s through those images that toddlers are learning to read. For example, I’m sure there are 3 year olds everywhere who know what those golden arches mean. Essentially, they’re “reading” the images! This is powerful. This article from Slate discusses this same idea, how toddlers are recognizing brands because of the images of their respective logos.
https://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2010/04/preschoolers_know_all_about_brands.html
So many great points here, Muhammad! I agree that we have so many visuals surrounding us in our every day lives. In fact, living in Japan, I think it’s almost easier to be illiterate here (and read the pictures) than it is to be slightly literate and try to read the kanji. Alex (my husband) can read lots of kanji as well as the other two alphabets, and often it takes him much longer to “read” something than me, because I just ignore the text and make context out of images… It’s an interesting feeling, for sure!