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.

website

http://people.clemson.edu/~yuchinh/

Ch 7 & 8

In 7th chapter, the authors discussed the role of meaning making in different material production of the sign. The material production of a design is an important part of meaning making and also a crucial semiotic feature. They addressed that “Every culture has systems of meaning coded in these materials and means of production, and sign in their materiality are fully motivated by the producer of the sing in a particular culture” (p.216-217). Material production comprised the interrelated semiotic resources of surface, substance and tools of production that produced complex effects of meaning. The forms of productions are related to society’s technologies. They categorized three classes of production technologies: 1) technologies of the hand, 2) recording technologies such as audiotape, film, 3) digitally synthesized technologies. Those technologies developed different distribution media and have profound semiotic consequences. In addition, they also discussed the relationship between color and the semiotic mode. Color is a means for making representations and has been used as a semiotic resource. For instance in Chinese culture, people use the color yellow to worship Emperor.

From ideational function perspective, color can be used to denote people, place and things. For instance Clemson University uses the orange color to signal their identities. Moreover, color also conveys interpersonal meaning and constructs social relation. For example, if people go to watch football game, they will wear an orange Clemson t-shirt to represent their support for tiger team. The authors talk about the semiotic of color from different approach, such as saturation, modulation, purity. In terms of saturation, the higher saturation represent positive, adventurous, and the low saturation represent subtle and repressed. In the modulation, flat color may be perceived as simple, overly basic, simplified, and modulated color may be perceived as subtle, overly fussy, detailed. They stated that “the truth of flat color is an abstract truth and the truth of modulated color a naturalistic truth” (p.234). The semiotic of color should depend on people’s character and social value.

In chapter 8, the authors discussed the role of three-dimensional visual communication in the visual grammar framework. The visual grammar framework of two-dimensional images can be applied in three-dimensional visual communication but they pointed out a couple difference between them. For instance, the distance and angle between producer and viewer in a two-dimensional image are static, but in a moving image the relationship is dynamic. In other words, distance and angle in most film change constantly, and usually use multiple perspectives.

The image is static

The sections appear to be revolving

Ch5 of reading images

In 5th chapter, Kress & Leeuwen discussed the credibility or true value of the image. The concept of modality in linguistic has been applied in the visual context. The author stated that “modality judgments are social, depend on what is considered real (or true or sacred) in the social group for which the representation is primarily intended” (p.156). When one social group considers credible may not be consider credible by another in different culture (P.171). From the perspectives of naturalism, reality is defined as how much correspondence there is between the visual representations of an object and what we normally see of that object with the naked eye that has had cultural training in a social setting (p.158). The greater abstraction, the lower modality. Besides, the use of color, shadow, brightness, texture in an image gives the different degrees of modality. For instance, naturalistic modality increases as color articulation increase, but if the color articulation presents more than real, the modality decrease.

Moreover, the author talked about the naturalistic critical of the image and claimed that a belief of what is real and what is not on the objective correspondence of the visual image determined visual modality. However, the technology of reproduction creates a new standard for naturalism. Naturalism and realism in today society no longer merge and we need to rethink the role of new image technologies. For example, diagrams, maps and technical images do not seek to present naturalism but these still represent what is real in scientific perspectives. In addition, the author mentioned when the art became intertwined with design, the boundaries between representing reality and constructing reality became blurred.

sub-porject 3

The following link is my film project, please enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV1_fEMa8ao

Chapter 4 of reading images

In chapter 4, Kress and Leeuwen discussed the interaction between the producer and the viewer of the image that involves the represented participants and interactive participants. Represented participants are the people, things, and places that depicted in images and interactive participants are people who make sense of images and communicate with each other. Usually the producers are not physically present when the viewers interpret the image, so there is a disjunction between the producers and viewers. The author stated that “the image itself and a knowledge of the communicative resources that allow its articulation and understanding a knowledge of the way social interactions and social relations can be encode in images” (p115). In order to make the interactive meanings between the producers and viewers, there are different communicative functions to encode the image visually. For instance, the size of frame to the choice between close up, medium shot and long shot is one dimension to the interactive meanings of image. The distance also determines the social relations. Through the patterns of distance, people can be portrayed as friends, intimates or strangers.

In addition, the perspective of the image is another way to bring relations between producers and viewers. The selection of an angle implies the expressing subjective attitudes that are social determined. The point of view is the position of the viewer in relations to the image including subjective and objective images (image with or without central perspective). In subjective images, the viewer can see what there is form a particular angle, and in objective images the image reveals everything there is to know. Besides, the horizontal angle and vertical angle convey different relation between the represented participants and viewers. “Horizontal angle is a function of the relation between the frontal place of the image producer and the frontal plane of the represented participants” (p134). The Horizontal angle can encode the meanings of image as detachment and involvement. Moreover, in terms of vertical angle, a high angle makes the subject look small and insignificant, and a low angle makes it looking imposing and triumph (p140). Thus through the angle and social distance, viewer can make sense and relation to the represented participants in a certain way.

conceptual representations

In chapter 3, the authors discussed the conceptual representations together with classification processes, analytical processes, and symbolic processes. Classification process related participants to each other in terms of relation where a set of participants act as subordinates and at least one other participant act as Superordinate. In classification process, Kress and Leeuwen stated that tree structure is one kind of classification structure and they linked the relationship between visual image and social structure and mentioned that “Conceptual classification is a represented by the same structures as social hierarchy and the hierarchies of concepts are represented as being subordinate to its origins” (p. 80-82).

In addition, analytical processes relate participants in terms of part and whole structure that involve carrier (whole) and possessive attributes (parts). In analytical process, defining characteristics in specific content is one of the major purposes. For instance, in temporal analytical process, timeline represents the history of the world as successive states with fixed and stable characteristics. We could find that timeline could be used to signify human history by visual means. In dimensional and quantitative topography, chart are drawn to scale based on the quantity of aggregated to distinguish participants such as different socioeconomic groups or landmarks. Furthermore, the authors also talked about symbolic processes that are about what a participant means including symbolic attributive and symbolic suggestive. Symbolic suggestive processes have one participant, the carrier and the participant represent the meaning that coming from within. Symbolic attributive processes represent meaning and identity as being bestowed to the carrier. Thus, from reading this chapter, we could know that the visual image could be used to represent relation between people, places and things.