WEEK 7: Visual Literacy

In week 7 we continued our work on Photoshop tutorial activity. I finished early so I began to work on my visual literacy Photoshop project. The visual literacy project requires us to incorporate several images into a larger image using what we've learned in Photoshop. I chose to bring the phone booth and guard into the Grand Canyon image.

Photoshop plays a large role in Telecommunications. Its used to create and edit graphics to be included in pictures and videos. However, Photoshop is nothing without a solid foundation in visual literacy. Every week I see my classmates in my telecom classes deliver technically sound productions, but completely visually illiterate. Without the ability to convey meaning in an organized and visually pleasing manner, a production, no matter how technical it is, lacks professionalism and cannot convey meaning.

TEDxDartmouth-Brian Kennedy: Visual Literacy: Why We Need It!
It's a long video, but it deals a lot with visual literacy and why its important to, well, everything. Kennedy discusses the many applications and contexts of visual literacy. He goes on to discuss the history of visual literacy before the era of literacy, beginning with cave paintings.

WEEK 8: Digital Storytelling

In week 8 we learned about digital storytelling. We focused on online technologies that specialize in digital storytelling such as Animoto and iMovie. I created a slideshow about my little sister, Sophie using Animoto. Animoto is an online web 2.0 tool that allows users to upload pictures, and now video, to their site. Upon uploading, users are then able to choose a video style and music to accompany the slideshow that Animoto creates.

Sites like Animoto are useful on more of a consumer end. From a professional standpoint, Animoto does not offer enough control over the video to use for clients. However, I sent my Animoto video out to relatives and they loved it. All in all, its a useful tool, but too simple to be used professionally in a Telecom setting.

Prezi
I chose Prezi as my resource for this week's topic of digital storytelling. Prezi is a similar resource to Powerpoint, but entirely online and easily accessible from anywhere. The site allows a great deal of customization and makes more visually interesting presentations. Overall, Prezi is a top notch web 2.0 tool for presentations and digital storytelling.

WEEK 6: Media and Information Literacy

Week 6 was a discussion of media, visual, and information literacy. Visual literacy is the ability to convey information through design, or

"the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image"

We began the week with a tutorial on photoshop and its many different tools. The tutorial called for us to create an image with different types of athletic shoes. Additionally we learned about the visual literacy project and saw examples from previous years.

In Telecommunications,  visual literacy is one of the main goals of every production. My major focuses almost entirely on visual literacy and telling a story through images. Being able to interpret and make sense of information presented is vital to delivering a finished product to clients.


Photoshop Tuts
I chose the above resource because it proved very useful for the visual literacy project. The site offers numerous photoshop tutorials and has helped me out of a bind on several occasions.