Visual Literacy of Our Images Article by Rachel Beth Egenhoefer.
Yesterday morning I went to get my New York Times as I do every Sunday. As I unwrapped the rolled up paper (yes I’m talking about the physical paper edition) I wondered what image would appear on the front page of the first day of 2012. This the leading newspaper in the US surely would bring in the new year with a powerful image of what is to come. Which is why I went through a rollercoaster of thoughts when I revealed this image as the front page. A bunch of people taking pictures of a ball dropping. Seriously?! Not people enjoying the ball dropping, but photographing the ball dropping. I immediately wondered what happened in the moments after this photo was taken. Were people cheering and kissing and celebrating in the streets? Or were they instantly uploading, Facebook-ing, and tweeting these images? It seems as though more and more people are not presently enjoying events, but rather documenting them to share with others (either for bragging rights, or to genuinely share the moment) But what is better? Enjoying the New Years ball drop and experiencing the excitement in the moment or letting your entire Facebook network know that you were there? Having never actually been to New York to see the ball drop, I’m not sure I can actually answer, however this cover images is but one of many examples of this new behavior - our need to instantly document and share. Link to rest of Rachel Beth's article http://www.furtherfield.org/blog/rachel-beth-egenhoefer/visual-literacy-our-images Community Blog Stream http://www.furtherfield.org/blogs Furtherfield http://www.furtherfield.org _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
