Abstract
Societies increasingly use visual arts to communicate and teach about their cultures. Therefore, both visual and digital literacies are needed in order to better understand and appreciate cultural arts. With advances in reproduction and other technologies, visual messages cross traditionally defined cultures in different contexts, thus opening themselves to different cultural interpretations, further pointing out the need for visual and digital literacy to address the content, format, and context. The chapter uses a communications cycle framework to trace the intersection of visual and digital literacies, noting their universal and culturally-defined aspects. Because of the increased awareness of the importance of cultural identity and the impact of globalization, higher education needs to embrace visual cultural arts, both in terms of resources as well as instruction. The chapter provides several teaching strategies and resources to help students gain these important skills.
TopBackground
In order to address digital literacy through visual cultural arts, several concepts need to be defined.
Culture may be defined as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group” and “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization” (Webster’s Dictionary online). Expressed culture may be defined as “the shared practices of a group, community, or society, though which meaning is made out of the visual, aural, and textual world of representations” (Sturken & Cartwright, 2004, p. 3). An individual may belong to several cultures: family, worksite, neighborhood, race, profession, social club, political party, country. Likewise, a group may belong to several cultures; technicians may be members of a site staff, a union, a system, a state organization, a national organization, and an international organization. Some of these cultures may overlap or even contradict, in which case, the individual or group must either live with the disequilibrium or resolve the conflict (i.e., reject one or the other, reject both, or incorporate parts of each). A culture may also be measured in terms of how cohesive it is in terms of inside and outside pressures; if conflict arises from outside its borders, do members stay within the culture or switch allegiance to the other culture? In education, cultural issues apply to the learner, the instructor, associated resources, and the experienced environment.
Global culture “uses mass media and digital technology to produce hegomonically constructed, shared, virtual, cultural experiences” (Stuhr, Ballengee-Morris & Daniel, 2008, p. 88). This distinction is needed in today’s world as some sources have universal meaning such as Coca-Cola or Facebook. A photograph of the earth from a satellite or the Olympics Games logo exemplify visual signs that are artifacts of a global society.
Cultural arts consist of different art forms that reflect unique characteristics of specific cultures. They are original visual and performing arts that express a cultural world view, which may be the result of a single artist or a group.
Visual culture is concerned with “visual events in which information, meaning or pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology” (Mirzoeff, 2002, p. 3). Increasingly, this term involves digital production and preservation.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Visual Culture: Visible expressions that are characteristic of, and have common understanding by, a group people.
Culture: The shared customs, expressions, institutions, attitudes, and values that characterize a group of people.
Digital Literacy: The ability to access, evaluate, use, communicate, and create information using technologies.
Digital Media: Media products that are created or digitized using digital technology tools.
Global culture: Practices, values, and cultural works that are produced and consumed in common by people across countries and ethnicities.
Cultural Arts: Art forms that reflect unique characteristics of specific cultures.
Semiotics: The science of signs and symbols, including their representations, meanings and uses.
Visual Literacy: The ability to understand, create and use visual images purposefully.