Reading Blog #1

The article, “Re-Viewing Visual Literacy in the "Bain d' Images" Era” by Maria D. Avgerinou, the ideas of visual literacy and its importance are reviewed. Based on the article, visual literacy can be described as the ability to interpret, create, and use visual materials effectively and thoughtfully. As I was reading the section “The Rear View Window: Visual Literacy (VL) Definitions,” Averinou lists the different aspects of visual literacy (e.g. knowledge of visual vocabulary, knowledge of visual conventions). The one that stood out to me most was reconstructing meaning and constructing meaning. In the writing comics course that I am taking, we went over the concept of closure, the human ability to connect two panels together without needing every single moment that happens between (see figure). I feel that a lot of the other aspects of visual literacy help play into this ability we have to close different images together and is something that I want to be more aware of while I create art. I believe that using this tool, though it emits more detail, it allows for artist to create much more meaningful images that are more personal to each of the viewers.

Excerpt from Understanding Comics The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud about closure

Something Avgerinou emphasizes is how much more integrated technology needs to be in the modern schooling systems. As a young college student, I can say that I fully agree with this. I can see that there is still a lot of disconnect between technology and class, which is quite unfortunate. There is still rules that enforce the idea that using technology to the best that it can be used is bad, how its prohibited in exams and likewise. Though I do think that it is good to have these rules sometimes, I feel a lot of professors who enforce them are unwilling to be open to the idea that technology is what is highly used, and they end up prohibiting it all the time rather than finding ways to integrate it into class in a valuable way.