what I have learned in the semester

At beginning of the semester, when I looked at the syllabus, I was scared by the four class projects, especially the film project. Because of the budget constraints, the construction in Second Life was switched to the web design. The making of the film was really a challenge for me because I did not have any professional communication or digital techniques background. From developing the idea of film to the postproduction of the film, I cannot believe that I could make it. In addition, I also struggled with web design. I had hard time figuring out the code of CSS and html because there are some little tricky things. If I mess up the code, everything will put it in wrong order. Actually, I constructed the website twice, because there was something wrong in uploading the files. However, during the process of doing the sub-projects, I have had an opportunity to learn different visual technologies like Photoshop, Movie Maker, and Dreamweaver. From the developing of idea of my theme to the construction of each sub-project, I am confident that I can apply the concepts of visual communication learned from class to my area of research by communicating more effectively through visual images.

In addition, doing the class projects provides me an opportunity to link with my research interests. For instance, from the project of visual communication of self, virtual identity, I found that the avatars’ appearances can reflect people’s personalities and the virtual experience in Second Life also influences people’s behavior in real world. In addition, in my digital remix project, I have learned how to use images to present my research interest, virtual tourism, and to communicate with others. The digital remix project inspires me to think about the future applications of the virtual world in tourism. Moreover, my film project helps me to explore the issue of social networking and virtual relationships and to think about the impacts of virtual relationships and digital identity on real life. Finally, the web design project provides me an opportunity to look at how markets use the internet as a marketing media to promote virtual destinations. The web site can use various types of visual images like photos and video to communicate as an effective marketing medium.

Both Sturken and Cartwright’s "Practices of Looking," and Kress and van Leeuwen’s "Reading Images: the Grammar of Visual Design" provided me with theoretical grounding for the projects and for my general understanding of the importance of the visual. Every day we engage in looking and seeing to communicate, interact and create meaning of the world. The social worlds in which we live are full of visual images that are designed to be seen with variety of purposes and intended effects. Sturken and Cartwright investigate the meaning of images, which are constructed by social powers, ideologies, and the systems of beliefs and values in all cultures. Images can generate meanings for viewers, yet viewers may interpret the meaning of images differently in particular social and cultural contexts. In addition, they also pointed out that the meaning of images not only depends upon the work itself but is also related to the codes and conventions of the image’s structure, interpretations and experiences of viewers, and the exhibited context of the image.

Sturken and Cartwright discussed the visual technologies and virtual experiences that are related to my field, virtual tourism. The development of digital technologies influences image reproduction and also affects society the way we see the world, and the way we use the image. For instance, from postmodern point of view, “non-space” like Second Life can create virtual identities for online users and provide functions of virtual society, economics, and community that are similar to real world. Furthermore, the avatar represents an actual body in the real world that engages in the social interactions of online space. Conversely, the avatar raises questions about how we think about the impact of virtual reality on real society.

In Kress and van Leeuwen’s “Reading Images: the Grammar of Visual Design,” they discuss the notation of semiotics and sign making. In our society, we use a variety of visual signs to communicate. It is important to know how to use images to denote something to communicate with participants through signifiers (the form) and signified (the meaning). Parallel with Sturken and Cartwright, Kress and van Leeuwen stated that the meaning of the sign is constructed differently across culture. A sign may mean one thing to certain affinity people yet may have an entirely different meaning to different people, while a sign may also have common meanings in different cultures, such as the universal signs that indicate rest rooms. They stated that the image can say the same thing as language. Moreover, Kress and van Leeuwen further discuss visual representations by using linguistic structures, such as narrative representations and conceptual representations. It is interesting to know that the concept and theory used in linguistic structure can be applied in the visual context. Kress and Leeuwen discussed the interaction between the producers and the viewers of the image. Usually the producers are not physically present when the viewers interpret the image, so there is a disjunction of information interpretations between the producers and viewers. In order to make the interactive meanings between the producers and viewers, there are different communicative functions to encode the image visually, such as the perspective of the image, the size of frame, and modality judgments.

After taking this course, I have a better understanding the concept of visual communication. If we want to communicate effectively by using visual images, we need to know who our audiences are, what kind of visual language can be used, where to distribute our visual image, and how to design an interactive visual image. Visual images have great influence on our daily life and can be used in different ways such as telling a story, recording history, entertaining, or expressing ideas. Visual communication can be as powerful an equivalent as verbal communication, and in some instances information presented in visually is much better than verbally. Thus, because in everyday life we use images to express ourselves, to communicate, to learn and to experience pleasure, it is important to know visual communication culture.