As pictorial-based social media (e.g., Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr) continue to encourage and sustain contemporary culture, the future success of America's democratic experiment may increasingly depend on its citizens' ability to critique visual information and take informed action. Promoting critical, historical analysis of…

Visual criticism is a major component of the new visual communication. Visual communication has changed through the advent of new technology which allows images to be combined and manipulated with relative ease. Visual criticism analyzes the forms and practices of image production and examines the roles of images in society creating a new dialogue…

The purpose of this manual is to show teachers a variety of creative ways to capitalize on the high interest value of photographs for communication skills. The first section of this volume contains sketches to motivate deeper study of photojournalism: "Development of Photojournalism,""Time to Remember: Matthew B. Brady,""Dates in the History of…

Because of the importance of television in the lives of our children--they spend more time with it than in school--it makes sense that they should learn to process the vast input from television and become knowing and active about the media. This collection of essays presents ideas by contributors outside of the "painfully vague conclusions of the…

Contemporary society is an "information society" where much of the information has a visual nature. This text uses semiotic and psychological concepts to help students gain understanding of how meaning is found in visual phenomena and how minds process images. Focus is upon mass media and popular culture. Theoretical discussions are…