Visual Literacy is an elephant, we are like the six blind... Meaning, Message and Medium Revisited

PS. Before we go to visualize the complexities, here are illustations of using the elephant in real time visual literacy training:

I. Lesson 7, Description:

Have students work in pairs. Ask them to choose an object to study the parts of, the way the blind men studied the elephant. For example, if they choose a car, they may study the tires, windows, headlights, and bumpers. Have them write:

A ____ is like a ______.

SAY:

Work with a partner. Choose an object and describe a few of its parts. For

each one, write:

A ____ is like a ______. [source: Unit 6 - Pearson Longman]

II. Developing Visual Literacy in Science: "Suppose you were to ask your students (before showing them the photograph) this thought-provoking question: “What do you think a jungle looks like to a person riding on the back of an elephant?” What might they say?" [source: Developing Visual Literacy in Science K-8 - PB279X  by  Jo Anne Vasquez]

The term Visual Literacy is not so simple, given the shades of meanings it brings in the eyes of the beholder....




What people say:

• VISUAL LITERACY is an elephant. We are ljke the blind men. [source: Visual Literacy White Paper Website @ A Supplement - visdesignoced]
• Just like media literacy, visual literacy is about analyzing and creating messages [source: Visual literacy - ISTE]
• Visual literacy is about teaching people to understand the power of visual imagery to persuade, and to understand that the purveyors of media are using that power to persuade viewers with every image that they publish.[source: The Myth of Visual Literacy & Why Mass Consumption is King]
• Visual literacy is about interpreting images of the present and the past and producing images that effectively communicate the message to the audience [source: LARSONart - Visual Literacy]
• If pictures can express what words alone cannot, and if that 'something' is what visual literacy is about then it may be difficult to define visual ... [source: Visual Literacy And The Arts - SlideShare]
• “Visual Literacy is about getting that image in front and having people make meaning from it.” [source: Visual Literacy | Musing - CoETaIL]
•  Visual literacy is about interpreting images of the past and producing images that effectively communicate the messages to an audience. [source: visual literacy by Maureen Keegan on Prezi]
• "I attended this Webinar and found the title misleading. The subject is not visual literacy, how to interpret images, but rather about using visual elements in instruction. If you are interested in the second topic, the Webinar is quite good." [as illustrated by Prof. Robert P. Holley @ [collib-l] Visual Literacy, in relation to a  webinar: Leveraging Visual Literacy for Communication By Nicole Brown]
• "What does it mean to be visually literate? Does it mean different things in the arts and the sciences? In the West, in Asia, or in developing nations? If we all need to become "visually literate," what does that mean in practical terms? The essays gathered here examine a host of issues surrounding "the visual," exploring national and regional ideas of visuality and charting out new territories of visual literacy that lie far beyond art history, such as law and chemistry. With an afterword by Christopher Crouch, this groundbreaking collection brings together the work of major art and visual studies scholars and critics to explore what impact the new concept of "visual literacy" will have on the traditional field of art history." [source: Visual Literacy  by James Elkins / Visual Studies: A Skeptical Introduction  by James Elkins]
• See also: Media Literacy: Thinking Critically About Visual Culture (Media Literacy Series Ser)   Peyton Paxson
• Dr. Bamford states, “Any form of literacy, but especially visual literacy, is not about simply learning a fixed set of skills or grammars. [source: Research related to visual literacy]
• ...  visual literacy is not about passive reception. It also involves creativity, construction, manipulation, and an ability to communicate. [source: ufetcontent / Visual Literacy - PBworks]
• “Visual literacy in its broadest sense will be understood as the process by which images are constructed, organized, and expressed to communicate meaning, as well as the competencies
  associated with these processes” (Nelson 66). The key element from this definition is the idea
  that images are used to communicate meaning. Visual literacy is not about eye candy. It is about knowledge. [source: Designing YouTube Instructional Videos to Enhance Information Literacy, by Robert Monge in Brick and Click Libraries Symposium Proceedings November 2, 2007]
• 'Nowadays, with verbal literacy rates so high, visual literacy is not viewed as a vital form of communication. In truth, it is so vital a form that "computer-based communication," which includes visual elements, "has been called the 'fourth cognitive revolution' after speaking, writing, and printing" (Stafford 92)'.  [source: Visual Literacy by Katherine Seiffert]

On the same shelf:

• Six blind men is a parable that has crossed between many religious traditions and is part of Jain, Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu lore. Read more
• Six blind men and an elephant, by ben vershbow ideas from the famous Librarian, Thomas Mann: The Oxford Guide to Library Research.  quoted in Database Searching -- Information Literacy for Library Technicians
• The Blind Men and the Elephant Musings on INTERFAITH