[artinfo] Visual Literacy of Our Images

[marc garrett]

Visual Literacy of Our Images

Article by Rachel Beth Egenhoefer.

Yesterday morning I went to get my New York Times as I do every 
Sunday. As I unwrapped the rolled up paper (yes I'm talking about the 
physical paper edition) I wondered what image would appear on the 
front page of the first day of 2012. This the leading newspaper in 
the US surely would bring in the new year with a powerful image of 
what is to come. Which is why I went through a rollercoaster of 
thoughts when I revealed this image as the front page.

A bunch of people taking pictures of a ball dropping. Seriously?! Not 
people enjoying the ball dropping, but photographing the ball 
dropping. I immediately wondered what happened in the moments after 
this photo was taken. Were people cheering and kissing and 
celebrating in the streets? Or were they instantly uploading, 
Facebook-ing, and tweeting these images? It seems as though more and 
more people are not presently enjoying events, but rather documenting 
them to share with others (either for bragging rights, or to 
genuinely share the moment) But what is better? Enjoying the New 
Years ball drop and experiencing the excitement in the moment or 
letting your entire Facebook network know that you were there? Having 
never actually been to New York to see the ball drop, I'm not sure I 
can actually answer, however this cover images is but one of many 
examples of this new behavior - our need to instantly document and 
share.

Link to rest of Rachel Beth's article
http://www.furtherfield.org/blog/rachel-beth-egenhoefer/visual-literacy-our-images

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