Weekly Reading #5

Chapter 3:
“Perception plays a central role in our understanding of the world. In our engagements with the world around us, our perceptual system, or what we call our senses allow us to gather information that helps us understand our experiences. Perception is a transaction between the qualities of the environments in which we lie and the experiences a person brings to those qualities…” (Serafini, 2014, p. 31).

This quote, to me, crystallizes the essence of what we are trying to achieve in this class. Our goals as educators include getting our studetns to see beyond what they have been doing as interpretation to date; to show them that there is a distinct difference between merely looking and actually seeing. Just as we repeatedly have told (and been told) that there is a difference between hearing (i.e. noticing a sound) and listening (paying attention to that sound and interpreting it/responding to it), there is a similarity with regard to noticing/being perceptive to the components of multimodal ensembles. It is our job to get our students to see how their own experiences and perceptions shape their personal conceptions of ideas and how each other individuals may interpret a concept in a myriad of different ways from what they themselves have interpreted a concept. We must help our students realize that all interpretations are constructed via our senses, experiences, and personal traits. Interpretations are also shaped through (and embedded in) historical, political, and social contexts; no concept/interpretation stands alone.

Chapter 4:
“These three metafunctions [the ideational metafunction, the interpersonal metafunction, and the textual metafunction] provide a ‘conceptual framework for representing the social context as the semiotic environment in which people exchange meanings’…” (Serafini, 2014, p. 46).

I chose this quote because, although I was previously aware of some of the context in which meaning takes place, the three metafunctions which make communication work across time and contexts were new to me. While I was aware of the “how” language is used to represent ideas and concepts (the ideational metafunction), the interpersonal metafunction (of how language establishes relationships between the producer and the receiver), while making sense, was not a concept that I had considered.

Obviously a relationship between communicator and communicatee DOES exist; however, I had not been exposed to the details behind it before outside of how information/communication is presented. The third metafunction, textual metafunction, is another concept that, while it is understandable that it exists, it was never fully explored in previous arenas. This framework provided the basis for the multimodal metafunctions, which we present to our students within which utilize verbal and visual cues for interpretation of meaning.

Chapter 5:
“…students need to consider the basic elements of art, design, and visual grammar used to compose visual images and multimodal ensembles to better understand how these entities work. As educators, we need to help students experience the qualities of works of art and other visual images and use these experiences to better understand the features and meaning potentials of multimodal ensembles…” (Serafini, 2014, p. 55)

This quote actually provoked a strong negative reaction; however, it was not with regard to the information that it presented. I strongly agree that, as educators, we need to help our students interpret various facets of visual images to better understand the variety of meaning behind the multimodal ensembles. That said, I found it rather disturbing that the educators are taking on, to some degree, the role of an art teacher: look at the “visual grammar” (the elements of visual art) that contribute to the visual composition. While I understand that there is much more to the elemental makeup of the ensemble than this, I find it interesting that we are taking on the role of teaching students about the artistic composition – an area of education that could have been furthered by the role of the now-defunct art educators (in many school systems).

  2. Image:

3. Content Analysis:

What do you see?
I see several matriarchal families who are living in severe poverty. Their homes are tarp-covered, cave-like dwellings. There is no happiness in these faces. All are serious, including the children. However, despite their obvious poverty, they are neatly dressed in clean garments, worn but clean. They surely struggle to survive, but they have a definite pride as well.

What is the image about?
I found this image on a site that works to provide developing world producers a fair price for the products that they produce (hand-made jewelry, wooden boxes, scarves, and cards). In addition to providing a fair market price, Fairtrade Inspires (the organization) promotes the fair treatment of workers as well as a safe working environment.

This image is a representation of a group of such workers who stand to benefit from those who are more prosperous to help the workers. The women are working to support their families through this trade organization, and the picture serves to illustrate not only that the women are the sole support of their families but also to demonstrate how deplorable the conditions are in which the workers live.

Are there people in the image? What are they doing? How are they presented?
There are people in the image. It appears that they are waiting for someone to come to their aid and to help them in their plight to have a better life for themselves and their children…waiting and hoping that their children can have safe, clean housing and purified drinking water so that they can life long, healthy lives. The people are presented as heavily in need of help through their forlorn faces and tattered housing and clothing.

Can the image be looked at in different ways? Explain how the image might be interpreted from two different socio-cultural perspectives? Which perspective is dominant?
 Although it is quite a stretch to find more than one perspective in this image, I tried: One interpretation could be that the females (gender-based) are in need of help because they are alone with young children who are in need of help (food, clothing, education). Adding to this is the cultural factor: this is in a slum in Dehli, India, one of the poorest nations (nationality).

Looking at the two older gentlemen in the background, a second perspective could be considered: men exploiting the women of their slum to make money to support their families. The men are not looking at the camera, and they seem to be trying to avoid being in the picture. One could interpret this as the women being in a servitude position, being forced into labor by the males in the area.

That said, I believe that the first perception is dominant: women who are in need and are producing whatever that they can to better their families’ circumstances.

How effective is this image as a visual message?
 I feel that this image is very effective in its goal of persuading customers to purchase the products of this village; as a mother, I have difficulty looking at the children in the image as they are dressed in tatters and live in deplorable conditions. I feel for the mothers who surely want something much better for their children.

4. Conduct a visual analysis:
How is the image composed? What is in the background? The foreground?
The image is composed with the main focus being on the women and children. In the background, one sees what appears to be a shanty in which the families appear to live. In the foreground, the women and children are the focus.

What are the most important visual elements in this image? How can you tell?
The most important visual elements in this image are the women and children; they are front and center in the image, and they are the focus of the organization’s mission.

How is color used?
The women are dressed in bright saris; this, to me, conveys an image of hope in what is an otherwise grey/dull picture. The children, the homes… the entire background is relatively neutral/dark which allows the focus to be on the women.

Can the image be looked at different ways?
I do not believe so. I believe that, no matter how much one tries to analyze the image, the main message here is the poverty of the women and children.

What meanings are conveyed by design choice?
 With a lack of border or text, the focus remains on the women and children; this conveys that those individuals are the center of attention for this image. Relative in size, the people in the image are the largest elements of the image; this reinforces their importance in the image.


Citation:
Serafini, F. (2014). Reading the visual: an introduction to teaching multimodal literacy. New York: Teachers Collage Press.

Image:
“Some Fair Trade Producers.” (n.d.) Fairtrade Inspires Retrieved 21 June 2014, from http://www.fairtradeinspires.com/info.php