Re-imagining Critical Visual Literacy in Higher Education Stephanie Beene, Maggie Murphy, Dana Statton Thompson, & Mary Wegmann
Agenda
Visual Literacy ● Visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. ● Visual literacy skills equip a learner to understand and analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of visual materials. ● A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture (ACRL 2011).
Visual Literacy Taskforce ● Original Task Force ● Current Task Force (not in attendance) ○ Millicent Fullmer ○ Tiffany Saulter ○ Katie Greer ○ Sara Schumacher
Current VLTF charge The Board for the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL), in coordination with the Image Resources Interest Group (IRIG) convened the Visual Literacy Task Force in February 2018, to update the original 2011 ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and align them with the 2016 ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.
VLTF Drafting Process Vis Lit Standards 3:4b. Seeks expert and scholarly opinion about images, including information and analysis found in reference sources and scholarly publications Framework: question traditional notions of granting authority and recognize the value of diverse ideas and worldviews ○ SARA’S VERSION 1:Recognize ways in which certain creators and interpretations are privileged through access to technology and differences in cultural, design, and scholarly practices ● Google comment: KATIE: Should something be added to this about critically evaluating how authority is granted/upheld/understood in these contexts? ■ SARA’S VERSION 2: DISPOSITION “question ways in which certain creators and interpretations are privileged through access to technology and differences in cultural, design, and scholarly practices” ○ ADDED “evaluate the ways authority is granted and perpetuated in social systems throughout the process of production, dissemination, and consumption of visual materials.”
Empirical Research Project - Why? ● How do instructors and others use visual literacy/visual material now versus in 2011? ● How do instructors currently define visual literacy? ● How does the group’s definition differ from others in the field?
Empirical Research Project - How?
Participants ● Identified by: ○ Bibliography of Visual Literacy ○ Stakeholder organizations ● Total contacted: ○ 127 people ■ 115 of the 127 work at Colleges or Universities (91%); 76 are at Academic Libraries (60%)
Employment Information ● Education/Assessment/Instructional Design = 11 ● Fine Arts/Art History/Photography/Architecture = 8 ● Visual Resources = 7 ● Media/Communication/Film/TV = 6 ● Information, Library & Museum Sciences = 5 ● Math and Sciences = 2 ● Other (museums, non-academic art libraries, federal agencies) = 12
Where do they live?
Current Status Survey Response Rate Agreed to Participate 44 35% Returned Questionnaire 31 24% 68% of returned questionnaires from Received Follow up Questions 19 15% Academic Librarians Returned Follow up Questions 13 10%
Empirical Research Study Tie Into Futures Thinking ● Interviews focus on present and near future ● Futures thinking will yield a different perspective
Futures Literacy (In a Nutshell) Do you use the future? Think about it. What does it mean to “use the future”? If you plan to meet friends for coffee or carry an umbrella when you go to work, you are using the future. Because it is the image that you have invented about what might happen that shapes your choices in the present. The only thing is, most people don’t think about why or how they use the future. They just do it.
Futures Literacy Following the theory of Riel Miller from UNESCO, if we move away from the dominant approach of likely and desirable future and we start imagining the most wild, unlikely and sometimes even odd future we liberate our mindset and we open up to the new emerging opportunities.
Possible, Probably, and Preferable Futures
1st way to think about the Future ● Optimization: One future, separated from the now (going towards the future) ○ Focus on next step – incremental innovation ○ Focus on final result – planning (linear, statistical, etc.)
2nd way to think about the Future ● Contingency: More than one future, separated from the present (the future is coming upon me, from either a detectable or not detectable direction) ○ Focus on the visible, relevant, perceived aspects – I see where the future is coming from ○ Focus on less or not visible aspects – I have no idea where the future is coming from
3rd way to think about the Future ● Novelty: The future is present (the future is now) ○ Focus on ideas (concepts, values) ○ Focus on practices (behaviors, feelings, learning)
The 3 Phases of a Futures Literacy Process 1. Awareness: Change happens over time, and we are situated in moments in time 2. Choice: Build our awareness and insights to act strategically today, in line with the values we prefer 3. Rigorous imagining: What is possible, what is probable, and what is preferable
The 3 Phases of a Futures Literacy Process
Futures Thinking/Interactive Activity ● Scenarios ● Questions (tie into Framework) ● What do they need out of a standards document?
Outreach to Date Past Presentations Include: ● VRA 2020 ● AASL 2020 ● Empirical Librarians 2020 ● IVLA 2019 ● ACRL 2019 Webinars: ● IRIG Forum 2020 ● IRIG Forum 2019 ● IL Standards and Frameworks Forum 2019
VLTF Next Steps & Timeline ● Complete Empirical Research Study ● Recruit an advisory board ● Finish draft based on feedback ● Submit to IRIG
VLTF Resources Avenues for Feedback & Communication ● Website: https://acrlvisualliteracystandards2018.wordpress.com/
VLTF Bibliography ● Linked from the wordpress site under a Select Bibliography, also available at: https://www.zotero.org/groups/2264485/acrl_visual_literacy_taskforce/items ● 439 items, spanning from 1970 to 2019 ● In the following categories and folders: ○ Visual Literacy and Critical Visual Literacy (176 items) ○ Metaliteracies and Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy (105 items) ○ Futures Thinking (54 items) ○ ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and Threshold Concepts (35 items) ○ Critical Information Literacy and Critical Pedagogy (35 items) ○ Information Literacy (Pre-Framework + Project Information Literacy) (22 items) ○ Crosswalks/Competencies using both Visual Literacy and Information Literacy/Framework (and/or other Standards) (14 items)
References https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/myreformstory_riel-miller.pdf
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