[spectre] Visual Literacy of Our Images

[marc garrett]

Sorry for any cross posting...

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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