The Theory Gestalt psychology is based on the observation that we often experience things that are not a part

of our simple sensations. The original observation was Wertheimers, when he noted that we perceive motion where there is nothing more than a rapid sequence of individual sensory events. This is what he saw in the toy stroboscope he bought at the Frankfurt train station, and what he saw in his laboratory when he experimented with lights flashing in rapid succession (like the Christmas lights that appear to course around the tree, or the fancy neon signs in Los Vegas that seem to move). The effect is called the phi phenomenon, and it is actually the basic principle of motion pictures! If we see what is not there, what is it that we are seeing? You could call it an illusion, but its not an hallucination. Wetheimer explained that you are seeing an effect of the whole event, not contained in the sum of the parts. We see a coursing string of lights, even though only one light lights at a time, because the whole event contains relationships among the individual lights that we experience as well. Furthermore, say the Gestalt psychologists, we are built to experience the structured whole as well as the individual sensations. And not only do we have the ability to do so, we have a strong tendency to do so. We even add structure to events which do not have gestalt structural qualities. In perception, there are many organizing principles called gestalt laws. The most general version is called the law of pragnanz. Pragnanz is German for pregnant, but in the sense of pregnant with meaning, rather than pregnant with child. This law says that we are innately driven to experience things in as good a gestalt as possible. Good can mean many things here, such a regular, orderly, simplicity, symmetry, and so on, which then refer to specific gestalt laws. For example, a set of dots outlining the shape of a star is likely to be perceived as a star, not as a set of dots. We tend to complete the figure, make it the way it should be, finish it. Like we somehow manage to see this as a "B"...

The law of closure says that, if something is missing in an otherwise complete figure, we will tend to add it. A triangle, for example, with a small part of its edge missing, will still be seen as a triangle. We will close the gap.

The law of similarity says that we will tend to group similar items together, to see them as forming a gestalt, within a larger form. Here is a simple typographic example: OXXXXXXXXXX XOXXXXXXXXX XXOXXXXXXXX XXXOXXXXXXX XXXXOXXXXXX XXXXXOXXXXX XXXXXXOXXXX XXXXXXXOXXX XXXXXXXXOXX XXXXXXXXXOX XXXXXXXXXXO It is just natural for us to see the os as a line within a field of xs. Another law is the law of proximity. Things that are close together as seen as belonging together. For example... ************** ************** ************** You are much more likely to see three lines of close-together *s than 14 vertical collections of 3 *s each. Next, theres the law of symmetry. Take a look at this example:

][

][

Despite the pressure of proximity to group the brackets nearest each other together, symmetry overwhelms our perception and makes us see them as pairs of symmetrical brackets. Another law is the law of continuity. When we can see a line, for example, as continuing through another line, rather than stopping and starting, we will do so, as in this example, which we see as composed of two lines, not as a combination of two angles...:

Figure-ground is another Gestalt psychology principle. It was first introduced by the Danish phenomenologist Edgar Rubin (1886-1951). The classic example is this one...

Basically, we seem to have an innate tendency to pereive one aspect of an event as the figure or fore-ground and the other as the ground or back-ground. There is only one image here, and yet, by changing nothing but our attitude, we can see two different things. It doesnt even seem to be possible to see them both at the same time! But the gestalt principles are by no means restricted to perception -- thats just where they were first noticed. Take, for example, memory. That too seems to work by these laws. If you see an irregular saw-tooth figure, it is likely that your memory will straighten it out for you a bit. Or, if you experience something that doesnt quite make sense to you, you will tend to remember it as having meaning that may not have been there. A good example is dreams: Watch yourself the next time you tell someone a dream and see if you dont notice yourself modifying the dream a little to force it to make sense! Learning was something the Gestalt psychologists were particularly interested in. One thing they noticed right away is that we often learn, not the literal things in front of us, but the relations between them. For example, chickens can be made to peck at the lighter of two gray swatches. When they are then presented with another two swatches, one of which is the lighter of the two preceding swatches, and the other a swatch that is even lighter, they will peck not at the one they pecked at before, but at the lighter one! Even something as stupid as a chicken understands the idea of relative lightness and darkness. Gestalt theory is well known for its concept of insight learning. People tend to misunderstand what is being suggested here: They are not so much talking about flashes of intuition, but rather solving a problem by means of the recognition of a gestalt or organizing principle. The most famous example of insight learning involved a chimp named Sultan. He was presented with many different practical problems (most involving getting a hard-to-reach banana). When, for example, he had been allowed to play with sticks that could be put together like a fishing pole, he appeared to consider in a very human fashion the situation of

the out-of-reach banana thoughtfully -- and then rather suddenly jump up, assemble the poles, and reach the banana. A similar example involved a five year old girl, presented with a geometry problem way over her head: How do you figure the area of a parallelogram? She considered, then excitedly asked for a pair of scissors. She cut off a triangle from one end, and moved it around to the other side, turning the parallelogram into a simple rectangle. Wertheimer called this productive thinking.

The idea behind both of these examples, and much of the gestalt explanation of things, is that the world of our experiencing is meaningfully organized, to one degree or another. When we learn or solve problems, we are essentially recognizing meaning that is there, in the experience, for the dis-covering. Most of what weve just looked at has been absorbed into mainstream psychology -- to such a degree that many people forget to give credit to the people who discovered these principles! There is one more part of their theory that has had less acceptance: Isomorphism. Isomorphism suggests that there is some clear similarity in the gestalt patterning of stimuli and of the activity in the brain while we are perceiving the stimuli. There is a map of the experience with the same structural order as the experience itself, albeit constructed of very different materials! We are still waiting to see what an experience looks like in an experiencing brain. It may take a while.
Visual Perception 7

There is nothing like a camera to make a molehill out of a mountain - Anon.

Gestalt Principles of Visual Organization In discussing the 'selectivity' of perception I have alluded to foregrounding and backgrounding. We owe the concept of 'figure' and 'ground' in perception to the Gestalt psychologists: notably Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Wolfgang Khler (1887-1967) and Kurt Koffka (1886-1941). Confronted by a visual image, we seem to need to separate a dominant shape (a 'figure' with a definite contour) from what our current concerns relegate to 'background' (or 'ground'). An illustration of this is the famous ambiguous figure devised by the Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin.

Images such as this are ambiguous concerning figure and ground. Is the figure a white vase (or goblet, or bird-bath) on a black background or silhouetted profiles on a white background? Perceptual set operates in such cases and we tend to favour one interpretation over the other (though altering the amount of black or white which is visible can create a bias towards one or the other). When we have identified a figure, the contours seem to belong to it, and it appears to be in front of the ground. In addition to introducing the terms 'figure' and 'ground', the Gestalt psychologists outlined what seemed to be several fundamental and universal principles (sometimes even called 'laws') of perceptual organization. The main ones are as follows (some of the terms vary a little): proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure, smallness, surroundedness, symmetry and prgnanz. The principle of proximity can be demonstrated thus:

What you are likely to notice fairly quickly is that this is not just a square pattern of dots but rather is a series of columns of dots. The principle of proximity is that features which are close together are associated. Below is another example. Here we are likely to group the dots together in rows.

The principle also applies in the illustration below. We are more likely to associate the lines which are close together than those which are further apart. In this example we tend to see three pairs of lines which are fairly close together (and a lonely line on the far right) rather than three pairs of lines which are further apart (and a lonely line on the far left).

The significance of this principle on its own is likely to seem unclear initially; it is in their interaction that the principles become more apparent. So we will turn to a second major principle of perceptual organization - that of similarity. Look at the example below.

Here the little circles and squares are evenly spaced both horizontally and vertically so proximity does not come into play. However, we do tend to see alternating columns of circles and squares. This, the Gestalt psychologists would argue, is because of the principle of similarity - features which look similar are associated. Without the two different recurrent features we would see either rows or columns or both...

A third principle of perceptual organization is that of good continuity. This principle is that contours based on smooth continuity are preferred to abrupt changes of direction. Here, for instance, we are more likely to identify lines a-b and c-d crossing than to identify a-d and c-b or a-c and d-b as lines.

Closure is a fourth principle of perceptual organization: interpretations which produce 'closed' rather than 'open' figures are favoured.

Here we tend to see three broken rectangles (and a lonely shape on the far left) rather than three 'girder' profiles (and a lonely shape on the right). In this case the principle of

closure cuts across the principle of proximity, since if we remove the bracket shapes, we return to an image used earlier to illustrate proximity...

A fifth principle of perceptual organization is that of smallness. Smaller areas tend to be seen as figures against a larger background. In the figure below we are more likely to see a black cross rather than a white cross within the circle because of this principle.

As an illustration of this Gestalt principle, Coren, Ward and Enns (1994, 377) argue that it is easier to see Rubin's vase when the area it occupies is smaller. The lower portion of the illustration below offers negative image versions in case this may play a part. To avoid implicating the surroundedness principle I have removed the conventional broad borders from the four versions. The Gestalt principle of smallness would suggest that it should be easier to see the vase rather than the faces in the two versions on the left below.

The principle of symmetry is that symmetrical areas tend to be seen as figures against asymmetrical backgrounds.

Then there is the principle of surroundedness, according to which areas which can be seen as surrounded by others tend to be perceived as figures.

Now we're in this frame of mind, interpreting the image shown above should not be too difficult. What tends to confuse observers initially is that they assume that the white area is the ground rather than the figure. If you couldn't before, you should now be able to discern the word 'TIE'. All of these principles of perceptual organization serve the overarching principle of pragnnz, which is that the simplest and most stable interpretations are favoured. What the Gestalt principles of perceptual organization suggest is that we may be predisposed towards interpreting ambiguous images in one way rather than another by universal principles. We may accept such a proposition at the same time as accepting that such predispositions may also be generated by other factors. Similarly, we may accept the Gestalt principles whilst at the same time regarding other aspects of perception as being learned and culturally variable rather than innate. The Gestalt principles can be seen as reinforcing the notion that the world is not simply and objectively 'out there' but is constructed in the process of perception.

Perception and Interaction

Dr. C. George Boeree Shippensburg University

Perception Perception -- seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, feeling the positions of joints and the tension of muscles, balance, temperature, pain... -- begins with the stimulation of sensory neurons. Each sense involves highly evolved cells which are sensitive to a particular

stimulus: Pain receptors respond to certain chemicals produced when tissues are damaged. Touch receptors involve cells with hairs which, when bent, cause signals to travel down the cell's axon. Balance, movement, and even hearing involve similar hair cells. Temperature sensitive neurons have hairs that expand and contract in response to heat and cold. Taste and smell receptors respond to environmental molecules in the same way that other neurons respond to neurotransmitters. And the neurons of the retina respond to the presence of light or the specific frequency ranges of light we perceive as color. But perception is more than just passive reception of information. Perception is an active process: Touch, for example, requires movement -- something that nowadays we call "scanning." Touch includes information about you (e.g. your muscles, joints) as well as about what you are touching. We can say the same about hearing. We should really call it listening! The sound itself is intrinsically moving, of course -- it is constantly changing. If it didnt, we would stop hearing it! And the same is true about vision. Vision involves constant movement -- of our eyes, head, and body, or of the things we see or all of the above. The outer parts of our retina are particularly sensitive to motion -- so when something comes into our field of vision, our attention is drawn to it. Even the fact that we have two eyes (binocular vision) is a kind of movement -- the two views are slightly different! If we kept our eyes and the scene we are looking at perfectly still, everything would all become white! We should also keep in mind that perception is not something done with the eyes or the ears or any specific sense organ. It is a multi-sensory, full bodied thing, totally involving: "A oneyear-old child standing on the floor of a room will fall down if the walls are silently and suddenly moved forward a few inches, although nothing touches him." (Neisser, p. 116, referring to Lee and Aronson, 1974)

The "raw material" of perception The perceptual process has a lot to work with from the very beginning: We are not in the position of having to make sense of a mosaic of meaningless dots of light or disconnected sounds or smells. Even as far back as the 1890's, William James pointed out that we not only perceive things but relationships such as "and" and "or" as well. Take your hands and hold them up in front of you, separated by a few inches. You see your hands, of course, and it isn't hard to imagine that perceiving them is a matter of certain patterns of light followed by similar patterns of neural firings. But notice that you are also perceiving your hands as "next to each other," while in fact that perception is not directly presented to you as a stimulus in the way your hands themselves are. Much of what we experience comes "pre-packaged," ready for our consumption. Nature provides "edges" -- changes in light patterns, transitions of sounds -- for us to use to pick objects out from their environment. For example, we see things as standing out from their background, something called the figure-ground phenomenon, introduced by the Danish phenomenologist Edgar Rubin (1886-1951).

Rubin demonstrated the phenomenon by creating his classic example of an ambiguous figureground situation:

Basically, we perceive one aspect of an event as the figure and the other as the ground. In Rubin's figure, there is no true figure and ground. It is a drawing that pretends to be an object. We are forced by the ambiguity of it to use the shifting attention we give the vase or the faces to see one thing or the other. Depth is a major example of something we experience directly, without the need for anticipatory interpretation. Traditionally, it has been assumed that we construct depth from such clues as perspective and relative size, as well as the slightly different images we get with binocular vision. But we only need to use such clues when we are looking at pictures that are faking depth! Actually, we see true depth because it is there to see. Again, it is the fact that vision involves movement that shows us the truth of the matter. For example, things that are closer to us change position more quickly than things that are farther away, and distant objects form the backgrounds for the closer ones. Remember from childhood how the moon seems to follow you as you drive along, while telephone poles whip by at a million miles an hour? Even binocular vision -- the disparate images of each eye -- is a kind of movement. Eleanor Gibson won her place in the history of psychology books with her visual cliff experiment. She built a special table: One half had plexiglass with a checkerboard pattern stuck beneath it. The other half also had plexiglass, but the checkerboard pattern was a couple of feet below, on the floor. In between was a board. Infants were then placed on the board, and their mothers were asked to coax them to crawl over one side or the other. Guess which side they didn't want to try? Apparently, babies are quite capable of seeing depth with very little, if any, experience with "cliffs."

Gestalts

The Gestalt psychologists (Wertheimer, Koffka, and Kohler) discovered many other ways in which what we perceive is already organized. Gestalt psychology is based on the observation that we often experience things that are not a part of our simple sensations. The original observation was Wertheimers, when he noted that we perceive motion where there is nothing more than a rapid sequence of individual sensory events. This is what he saw in a toy stroboscope he bought at the Frankfurt train station, and what he saw in his laboratory when he experimented with lights flashing in rapid succession (like the Christmas lights that appear to course around the tree, or the fancy neon signs in Los Vegas that seem to move). The effect is called the phi phenomenon, and it is actually the basic principle of motion pictures and television! If we see what is not there, what is it that we are seeing? You could call it an illusion, but it's not an hallucination. Wetheimer explained that you are seeing an effect of the whole event, not contained in the sum of the parts. We see a coursing string of lights, even though only one light lights at a time, because the whole event contains relationships among the individual lights that we experience as well. We are built to experience the structured whole as well as the individual sensations. And not only do we have the ability to do so, we have a strong tendency to do so. We even add structure to events which do not have gestalt structural qualities. In perception, there are many organizing principles called gestalt laws. The most general is called the law of pragnanz. Pragnanz is German for pregnant, but in the sense of pregnant with meaning, rather than pregnant with child. This law says that we are innately driven to experience things in as good a gestalt as possible. Good can mean many things here, such regularity, orderliness, simplicity, symmetry, and so on, which then refer to specific gestalt laws. For example, a set of dots outlining the shape of a star is likely to be perceived as a star, not as a set of dots. We tend to complete the figure, make it the way it should be, finish it. Like we somehow manage to see this as a "B"...

The law of closure says that, if something is missing in an otherwise complete figure, we will tend to add it. A triangle, for example, with a small part of its edge missing, will still be seen as a triangle. We will close the gap.

The law of similarity says that we will tend to group similar items together, to see them as forming a gestalt, within a larger form. Here is a simple typographic example: OXXXXXXXXXX XOXXXXXXXXX XXOXXXXXXXX XXXOXXXXXXX XXXXOXXXXXX XXXXXOXXXXX XXXXXXOXXXX XXXXXXXOXXX XXXXXXXXOXX XXXXXXXXXOX XXXXXXXXXXO It is just natural for us to see the os as a line within a field of xs. Another law is the law of proximity. Things that are close together as seen as belonging together. For example... ************** ************** ************** You are much more likely to see three lines of close-together *s than 14 vertical collections of 3 *s each. Next, theres the law of symmetry. Take a look at this example:

[ ][ ][ ]
Despite the pressure of proximity to group the brackets nearest each other together, symmetry overwhelms our perception and makes us see them as pairs of symmetrical brackets. Another law is the law of continuity. When we can see a line, for example, as continuing through another line, rather than stopping and starting, we will do so, as in this example, which we see as composed of two lines, not as a combination of two angles...:

The gestalt psychologists also pointed out that, when we see a duck and an elephant, there is little in their natures that would cause us to perceive them as belonging together. But if they are both walking together in the same direction across a field, their common path is immediately perceived as a connection between them. But the gestalt principles are by no means restricted to perception -- thats just where they were first noticed. Take, for example, memory. That too seems to work by these laws. If you see an irregular saw-tooth figure, it is likely that your memory will straighten it out for you a bit. Or, if you experience something that doesnt quite make sense to you, you will tend to remember it as having meaning that may not have been there. A good example is dreams: Watch yourself the next time you tell someone a dream and see if you dont notice yourself modifying the dream a little to force it to make sense! Gestalt theory is well known for its concept of insight learning. People tend to misunderstand what is being suggested here: The Gestalt psychologists are not so much talking about flashes of intuition, but rather solving a problem by means of the recognition of a gestalt or organizing principle. The most famous example of insight learning involved a chimp named Sultan. He was presented with many different practical problems (most involving getting a hard-to-reach banana). When, for example, he had been allowed to play with sticks that could be put together like a fishing pole, he appeared to consider in a very human fashion the situation of the out-of-reach banana thoughtfully -- and then rather suddenly jump up, assemble the poles, and reach the banana. A similar example involved a five year old girl, presented with a geometry problem way over her head: How do you figure the area of a parallelogram? She considered, then excitedly asked for a pair of scissors. She cut off a triangle from one end, and moved it around to the other side, turning the parallelogram into a simple rectangle. Wertheimer called this productive thinking.

The perception of utility Many psychologists, including phenomenologists and Gestalt psychologists, talk about the direct perception of the use of objects. Some things "afford various possibilities for action, carry implications about what has happened or will happen, belong coherently to a larger context, possess an identity that transcends their simple physical properties." (Neisser, p. 71)

Rubin called it utility determination: "We see immediately that a hammer is meant for hammering, a pencil for writing, a pipe for smoking." (From, p. 15) Koffka called this demand character: "Each thing says what it is...a fruit says 'Eat me;' water says 'Drink me;' thunder says 'Fear me...'" (Koffka, p. 7) J.J. Gibson calls them affordances: "The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill.... the 'values' and 'meanings' of things in the environment can be directly perceived." (Gibson, p. 127) "An elongated object of moderate size and weight affords wielding. If used to hit or strike, it is a club or hammer. If used by a chimpanzee behind bars to pull in a banana beyond its reach, it is a sort of rake. In either case, it is an extension of the arm. A rigid staff also affords leverage and that use is a lever. A pointed elongated object affords piercing -- if large it is a spear, if small a needle or awl." (Gibson p. 128) And likewise for objects that afford cutting (knives) or throwing (balls) or binding (rope) or "trace making" (a pen, brush, pencil...). "The different places of a habitat may have different affordances. Some are places where food is usually found and others where it is not. There are places of danger, such as the brink of a cliff and the regions where predators lurk. There are places of refuge from predators. Among these is the place where mate and young are, the home, which is usually a partial enclosure. Animals are skilled at what the psychologist calles place-learning. They can find their way to significant places." (Gibson, p. 136) "The medium, substances, surfaces, places, and other animals have affordances for a given animal. They offer benefit or injury, life or death. This is why they need to be perceived." (Gibson, p. 143) "The different substances of the environment have different affordances for nutrition and for manufacture. The different objects of the environment have different affordances for manipulation. The other animals afford, above all, a rich and complex set of interactions, sexual, predatory, nurturing, fighting, playing, cooperating, and communicating. What other persons afford, comprises the whole realm of social significance for human beings." (Gibson, p. 128)

Person perception As the last quote suggests, this idea of directly perceiving the meaning of things applies to ourselves as well as other animals! Philosophers sometimes talk about the "problem of the other:" How is it that we know that another person is in fact another person, like us, conscious, capable of thought and feeling? Do we notice that there are similarities to how we ourselves behave, and somehow reason our way to that conclusion? Or is it that we just see their person-hood? I believe the latter. The phenomenological psychologist Franz From had people look at a variety of movies and describe what they saw. He discovered that "When we have to describe a behavior sequence,

we generally do so by indicating a perception of some psychological state in the behaving person." (From, p. 7) "...when we perceive human behavior as action...implicit in the percieved material sequence there is a certain sens. By this, I mean that we are perceiving the behavior as being governed by a mental factor." (From, p. 69) This mental factor is also called intention, purpose, or meaning. We can see "sens" in the behavior of animals, even insects: I can't tell you how impressed I've been with praying mantises and garden spiders. They really look at you, follow your movements, respond with great care... even though their brains are as small as a grain of rice! This even applies to things that aren't really alive at all -- i.e. we can be quite mistaken about "sense!" Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel did an experiment involving a film of triangles moving about in "purposeful" ways: People saw the triangles as having intentions! Rubin refered to other people, animals, and even apparently purposeful triangle as psychoid entities. When we observe people, the absence of meaning is actually the special case! From tells this story: "One afternoon when Professor Rubin and I had already put on our overcoats, ready to go home from the laboratory, Rubin said: 'See here, From.' At the same moment he sat down at is desk and looked straight ahead while he made short abrupt horizontal movements right and left in the air in front of him with his right hand, keeping the index finger and the thumb closely together. I just managed to think something like 'What on earth has happened to Rubin,' when he got hold of a pencil and a piece of paper, drew a system of small arrows and pushed the paper across to me, saing: 'Here is the code to the safety lock on my bicycle. Would you mind riding the bike home for me?' The earlier perception of something completely incomprehensible was immediately replaced, and the purpose of his behavior, i.e., to note down the code which he 'had in his fingers,' became quite apparent...." (From, p. 13)

Anticipation Perception in the broadest sense is a matter of interaction between the world and the self. At its simplest, the world gives us events; we in turn give those events meaning by interpreting and acting upon them. There are some obvious details here: we have sensations (input from the world, stimuli) and actions (output to the world, responses). There was a time when psychologists thought this was enough. Now we know better, and we add two more details, which are called anticipation and adaptation.

Anticipation is a little difficult to explain. We have a certain knowledge of the world, a "model" of it. This model includes everything from little details like which shoe you put on first to complex things like how you feel about yourself and your life. We use this model to anticipate -- expect, predict -- what will happen in the next moment or in the next ten years. If I close my eyes, I expect that when I open them you will still be there, the room will still be there, I will still be there, and so on. If all you of you were to disappear on me I would be seriously surprised. We also anticipate on a more long term basis: We have expectations about what college will and won't do for us, about love being forever, and the sun rising, and so on. If I keep my eyes closed and focus on the expectation, rather than on you and the world "out there," I can imagine you. We can understand images and thoughts as anticipations temporarily detached from the stream of events! "Images are not pictures in the head, but plans for obtaining information from potential environments.... When you have an image of a unicorn at your elbow -- while quite certain that unicorns are purely mythical animals -- you are making ready to pick up the visual information that the unicorn would provide, despite being fully aware that your preparations are in vain." (Neisser pp. 131-132) Thinking, says Neisser, is also a matter of imagery: "The ability to divide, detach, and manipulate our own anticipations is immensely important. It is, I believe, the fundamental operation in all so-called higher mental processes." (Neisser, p. 133) He goes even further by suggesting that perception, imagery, learning, memory, behavior... are all of a piece, which he refers to as cognition: "Cognition is the activity of knowing; the acquisition, organization, and use of knowledge." (Neisser, p. 1) Anticipation is a major factor in much of perception. For example, when we are looking at some rather poor handwriting, we can still make it out. But we may interpret the very same blob of ink in very different ways depending on the context -- that is, depending on what we anticipate should be there!

Take a look at the next drawing. An infant is likely to react to this by sticking pieces in his or her mouth. A young child may see them as little people or "finger-clickers." An adult who does not play chess may see them as chess pieces on a board. When asked what the two

pieces in the foreground are, they might say they are castles. A beginning chess player would call them rooks, and might add that the white bishop can take the black queen (or vice versa). They "see" the moves of the pieces, the rules of the game. A good chess player might note that it is checkmate in one or two moves. None of these is wrong; they are simply different meanings applied to the same events.

You might ask: What is the event really? But what do you mean by that? Really to whom? Somebody must always do the seeing, give the meaning. A physical scientist looking at the pieces and noting their chemical compositions is still giving his or her meaning to the event. Note, of course, that the "board" is 6 by 6 instead of 8 by 8, that there is no black king, which means there is no game going on, and that in fact this is a drawing -- a set of lines -- and not a set of three-dimensional objects at all. All of this is an indication of how much our interpretations add to what is "really" there. Notice how much this adds to the complexity of person perception: In order to understand and predict and control people's experiences and behaviors, we have to understand the meanings they apply to reality. No easy trick! Anticipation is particularly significant in understanding language: from moment to moment, we anticipate which sounds are likely to come next, which grammatical constructions, which meaningful combinations... We can make sense even of a fuzzy, somewhat jumbled conversation. Anticipation also helps us to understand how we manage to pay attention to some things and not others. How is it we can be listening to a friend in a noisy bar and manage to somehow "filter out" all the other conversations and yet "let in" our friend's voice? We dont perceive everything that stimulates our senses. How do we 'filter out" the unimportant (less meaningful) stuff? We don't: We just dont select it! We select things by means of anticipation. We hear the conversation that we are busily involved in, the one we are

anticipating moment to moment. The rest is just noise. Likewise with the other senses: We see what we are looking for, we dont see what we are not looking for. There are, of course, a few exceptions: certain built-in attention-getters, e.g. loud noises, flashes of light, painful stimuli, sudden movements. These involve inborn responses!

Adaptation Adaptation is also more difficult to explain. Sometimes, we don't anticipate well. For example, you think you see a friend coming at you and you prepare to give a hearty "hi!" but just as you raise your arm to wave and begin to open your mouth, you realize it's not your friend at all but a complete stranger. (If possible, you convert the raised arm into a backscratch, and the open mouth into a yawn. If it's too late and you've already said hi, just pretend you know them. This will drive them crazy.) Whenever you make mistakes, you need to figure out what went wrong, what to do about it, how to make sense of it. As you do, you are improving your understanding of the world and your relation to it; you are improving your "model." This is adaptation. In our example, you may now have a model of the world that includes look-alikes, embarrassing mistakes, and a tendency to hold-off a little in the future before being so exuberant with your hello's. Adaptation is learning, and we will discuss it in depth later. This additional layer to interaction of anticipation and adaptation is crucial: It means that our behaviors and experiences are not just a function of some common reality. We, ourselves, our understandings of reality, are inevitably and intrinsically a part of our behaviors and experiences. Without "self," reality would be meaningless.

References From, Franz (1971). Perception of Other People. (Erik Kvan and Brendan Maher, Trans.) New York: Columbia University Press. Gibson, James J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Gibson, James J. (1966). The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Heider, Fritz and Simmel, Marianne (1944). An Experimental Study of Apparent Behavior. American Journal of Psychology, 57, p. 245 James, William (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Holt. Koffka, Kurt (1936). Principles of Gestalt Psychology. New York.

Lee, D.N. and Aronson, E. (1974). Visual proprioceptive control of standing in human infants. Perception and Psychophysics, 15, 529-532. Neisser, Ulric (1976). Cognition and Reality. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.

LECTURE NOTES FOR VISUAL COMMUNICATION

sense, select, and perceive | light and color eye, retina, and the brain visual cues: color, form, depth, and movement visual theories | visual persuasion media stereotypes visual analysis perspectives typography | graphic design informational graphics | cartoons photography | motion pictures television and video | computers world wide web the more you know; the more you see

Chapter 1: To Sense. To Select. To Perceive. The Visual Process

Aldous Huxley o Brave New World o Retinal Disease o The Art of Seeing o Sensing, Selecting, and Perceiving o "The more you know; the more you see." How is that True in Your Life?

Abstract Analysis

How Can You Find a Picture's Meaning? o Graphic Clues o Symbolic Clues Look for the Literal and Symbolic Messages There is No Meaning Without Words

Other Examples

Moving from Sensing to Perceiving

Visual Communication's Circle Dance

The More You Know; The More You Sense, Select, Perceive, Remember, Learn, And Know

Possible Visual Materials: Child's drawing, confusing photograph, abstract art, Nick Park's Creature Comforts return to the top Chapter 2: Light and Color What is Light?

The Nature of Light

Where Does Light Come From?

Empedocles (Light Comes from the Eyes) Alhazen (Light Comes from Light Sources)

What is the Speed of Light?

Albert Michelson's Experiment

Is Light Particles or Waves?

Sir Isaac Newton (Particles called Corpuscles) Thomas Young (Light Acts as Water Waves) Max Planck (Light Photons Work Both Ways) Albert Einstein (Proved Planck's Theory)

Electromagnetic Energy and Other Forms

William Herschel (Each Light has a Unique Temperature) James Clerk Maxwell (Combined Electricity and Magnetism for the Word) Heinrich Hertz (Radio Broadcast Waves) Albert Einstein (Ultraviolet Radiation)

What is Color?

Physical Aspects of Color Leonardo da Vinci (Six Primary Colors) Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz o Tri-Color Theory of Color

Sociological Uses of Color

Red (Power and Curative Agent) Purple (Dignity, Sadness, and Tinky Winky's Favorite Color) Blue (Protection since the Gods Live in the Sky) Green (Fertility or Envy) Yellow (Activity and a Cure for Jaundice)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides showing technical and artistic aspects of light, paintings of Edward Hopper and Claude Lazar, scenes from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner return to the top Chapter 3: The Eye, the Retina, and the Brain Historic Eyes

At Least 50 Million Years Old Eyes Evolved for Walking and Safe Eating Windows to the Soul

Parts of the Eye

Sclera ("White of the Eye") and Cornea (Clear Front) Iris (Color) Pupil (Where Light Enters) Aqueous Humor (Gel in Front) Lens (Focuses the Image) Vitreous Humor (Gel that Gives Shape to the Eyeball)

The Retina

Foveal (Sharp Focus and Color) and Peripheral Regions (Movement and Dark Vision) Rods (Movement and Dark Vision) and Cones (Sharp Focus and Color) Optic Nerve ("Blind Spot") Optic Chiasma (Newton's Discovery - Redundant Vision)

The Brain

Thalamus (Sense information is Filtered Except from the Eyes) Visual Cortex (Back of the Brain-Where Images are Processed) Hippocampus (Where Long-Term Visual Messages are Stored)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides showing the technical and artistic aspects of the eye, clip from Alanis Morissette music video, scene from Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein return to the top Chapter 4: Color, Form, Depth, and Movement What the Brain Sees

Nobel Prize Experiment o David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel Brain Cells Combine to Show Color, Form, Depth, and Movement

Color

Objective Color (Scientific) o Wavelengths o Temperature Comparative Color (Definitional) o Sky Blue o Fire Engine Red Subjective Color (Emotional) o Symbolic and Emotional Responses

Form

Dots
o

Pointillists and Halftones

Lines
o A Series of Dots Gives Lines Power Shapes o Parallelograms (Rectangles) o Circles o Triangles o Polygons (All Other Shapes)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides showing the artistic aspects of color and form, Nick Parks' Wrong Trousers (color), and Bill Plympton's Your Face (form). Depth (A Matter of Foreground and Background)

Space (Frames Matter)

Size (Small Objects in Front) Color (Red in the Front; Blue in the Back) Lighting (Backlighting for TV Studios and Photography) Textural Gradients (Sand Dune Effect) Interposition (Something in Front of Something Else) Time (The Higher the Interest, the More it Will Be in Front) Perspective (The Most Complex) o Illusionary (Eyes Can Be Fooled) Linear (Painters Had to Learn the Technique) o Geometrical (Placement of Elements is Important) Ancient, Native, and Children's' Artwork o Conceptual (Relies on Symbolic Definitions) Multi-frame (Many Views at Once) Pablo Picasso Social Dominance (Who is in Front?)

Movement

Real (Not a part of this Class) Apparent (Motion Pictures Give Illusion of Movement) Graphic (Directing Eyes Through a Design) Implied (Using Designs and Colors for Internal Vibrations)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides showing the artistic aspects of depth and movement, scene from Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (deep focus--depth), opening sequence of "NYPD Blue," and scene from Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (movement) return to the top Chapter 5: Theories of Visual Communication Sensual Theories

Gestalt ("The Whole is Different From the Sum of Its Parts") o Max Wertheimer (While Riding on a Train) o Gestalt Psychology (Holistic Way of Treating Patients) o Visual Organization (How Does the Eye Notice Elements?) o Camouflage (Edgar Rubin-What the Eye Doesn't Notice) Constructivism (Short-Term Memory Builds Images) o Julian Hochberg (Columbia University) o Eye Tracking (Machines that Measure Eye Movement Through a Design) Ecological

J. J. Gibson (Importance of Ambient Optical Arrays and Environmental Testing)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides demonstrating each sensual theory above. Excerpt from Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio, director, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and music by Philip Glass (imagine yourself as a brain cell). Perceptual Theories

Semiotics (The Study of Signs) o Ferdinand de Saussure (Swiss Linguist) o Charles Peirce (American Philosopher) iconic signs (Direct One-to-One Relationship-Photographs)) indexical signs (An Assumed Connection--Smoke From an Exhaust) symbolic signs (Meaning Must Be Learned--Words) o Codes (Collections of Complex Rules and Elements) Metonymy (Viewer Makes Assumptions--Advertising Images) Analogy (Viewer Makes Comparisons) Displaced (Viewer Is Not Shown the Truth--Phallic Symbols) Condensed (Viewer Creates New Messages--Music Videos) Cognitive (Your Mind at Work) o Memory (The Past Affects the Present) o Projection (Giving Objects Added meaning--Tarot Cards) o Expectation (Assumptions About What Must Be Present) o Selectivity (Active Looking) o Habituation (Normal Appearances Can Dull Vision) o Salience (Relative Importance to the Viewer) o Dissonance (Distractions--Noise, Personal Problems, Temperature) o Culture (What and How We Learn to Get By) o Words (Explanations Are Always Needed)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides demonstrating each perceptual theory discussed above. Excerpts from David Lynch's Fire Walk With Me and Lost Highway, "Wayne and Garth" on "hello" (confusing) music videos, "Losing My Religion," REM

music video directed by Tarsas (the myth of Ithacus), and a "Saturday Night Live" clip demonstrating the importance of words. return to the top Chapter 6: Visual Persuasion Mixing Advertising, Public Relations, and Journalism

Benetton Clothing Company Campaign Shock Advertising (Created to cause Public Outcry) Journalism Condemnation Free Public Relations Free Advertising Jump in Sweater Sales

Persuasion

Aristotle (How to Persuade Someone) o Ethos (Credible Source) o Logos (Logical Argument) o Pathos (Emotional Appeal Including Images)

Propaganda

"Propagating the Faith" (From a Catholic Church Directive) Negative Connotation (From Dictatorships and One-Sided Information)

Advertising

Buying Space or Time o Commercial o Non-commercial Advertising Growth Since the industrial Revolution Movie/TV/Web Placements Advertorials (Fake Stories in Print) Infomercials (Fake Shows on Television)

Public Relations

Free Space or Time WWI and Rise ("Four-Minute Men") Advertising and PR Firms Combine Lobbyists and Spin Doctors Journalism and PR

Most Stories (75 Percent) Are from PR Sources

Journalism

Reporting the News Corporate Influences Sixty-eight Percent of a Newspaper is Advertisements

Back to David Kirby

Life Mixes Advertising and Journalism

Possible Visual Materials: Slides demonstrating various points above. Excerpt from Stop the Church (showing propaganda). return to the top Chapter 7: Pictorial Stereotypes Stereotyping in the Media

Jerry Lewis Telethon (Helpful or Harmful?) What is Stereotyping? Dominant Culture in Control of Media Messages Media Coverage and Prejudicial Thinking

Common Stereotypes

Irish Americans (Drunk and Disorderly) Jewish Americans (Greedy and Powerful) African Americans (Criminals, Sex-Crazed, and Musical) Latino Americans (Illegal Immigrants and Gangsters) Asian Americans (Smart, Greedy, and Bad Drivers) Women (Place is in the Home and Sexual Objects) Gays and Lesbians (Outlandish, Child Predators, and AIDS Carriers)

Possible Visual Materials: Pink Floyd's "On the Turning Away," concert film, "NYPD Blue" excerpt, "Jerry Lewis Telethon" clip, repeat Young Frankenstein clip opening, "Chess for Girls" from "Saturday Night Live," Volkswagen commercial, "Da, da, da," spoken introduction to slide show with music by Enya, "Boadicea" and Joan Osborne, "One of Us."

return to the top Introduction To Chapter 8: Six Perspectives for Analysis Personal

Initial, Gut Reaction

Historical

The Images' Place in Time

Technical

What Makes the Image Possible?

Ethical

What is the Moral Responsibility of Those Who Create Images? o Categorical Imperative A Rule is Always Followed (News Justification) o Utilitarianism Greater Good is Served to Educate the Public o Hedonism Live for the Moment (A Personal Motivation for Actions) o Golden Mean A Compromise Between Two Extreme Points (Aristotle) o Golden Rule First Do No Harm (Do Not Add Grief to Others) o Veil of Ignorance Empathy for Others (Greatest Hope for Overcoming Stereotypes)

Cultural

Societal Impact (What Messages are Produced?)

Critical

Reasoned Opinion (From Subjective, Quick, and Emotion Responses the Viewer Moves to Objective, Long-Term, and Rational Analyses)

Possible Visual Materials: Slides demonstrating each perspective above.

return to the top Chapter 8: Typography Johannes Gutenberg

Born in Mainz (Learned Metallurgy Early) Fled to France because of Guild Wars Borrowed Heavily (Experiments were Expensive) Hot-Tempered Personality (Sued because of his Anger) "Secret Art" (Afraid to Tell of his Idea) Lost his Press in Court Case with Johann Fust A Broken Man (Poor and Frustrated) Buried in Mainz (Not Sure Where)

Gutenberg Bible

50 Pounds Two Volumes 11 x 16 Inches 180 on Paper; 30 on Vellum (Completed in 1456) 47 Exist Today Johann Fust's Printing Mark is in the Book Fust Died from the Plague while Selling Bibles in France

Gutenberg's Secret Art

Acceptable Type Mold (Gutenberg Invention) Removable Type (Already Well-Known) Suitable Alloy (Gutenberg Invention) Suitable Ink (Already Well-Known) Suitable Paper (Already Well-Known) Book-Making (Already Well-Known) Converted Grape Press (Gutenberg Invention) All Combined to Create a Commercial Press

Gutenberg's Legacy

In 50 Years, 1,120 Print Shops in 17 Countries Established a Need for Literacy Spread Humanism, Democracy, and the Renaissance Began the Dominance of the Word Over the Picture

Personal Perspective

"Typography is to writing what a soundtrack is to a motion picture" ---Jonathan Hoefler

But Typography Decisions Are Seldom Noticed

Historical Perspective

History of Writing o Cave Paintings o Sumerians (Where Iran and Iraq are Located) Cuneiform (Highly Stylized Letting System) o Egyptians Hieroglyphics (Aesthetically Beautiful Letterforms) o Chinese Letters (Originally Over 50,00 individual Forms) o Phoenicians (Concept of the Alphabet--Symbols Stand for Sounds) o Greek Symmetry (Natural Forms for Letters) o Romans (Completed Western Alphabet) Hot Type (Hot Metal) o Richard Hoe's Press Cold Type (Photo or Computer Technology) o Photo, Digital Typesetting, and Desktop Publishing

Technical Perspective

Typeface Families (Each has a Mood and Purpose) o Blackletter (Religious Mood, Seldom Used) o Roman (Most Common and Readable) o Script (Invitations and Diplomas) o Miscellaneous (Advertising Roots) o Square Serif (inspired from Egyptian Conquest) o Sans Serif (Art Deco and Computer Uses) Typeface Attributes o Size o Color (Type and Background) o Font (Bold, Italic, and so on) o Text Block Size (Column Width) o Justification (Left, Right, Centered, and Justified) o White Space (Kerning, Leading, Alleys)

Ethical Perspective

Readable versus "Garbage Fonts" (Conflict Between Literal and Symbolic Messages Conveyed--Is It More Important to Read the Words or to Derive Emotions from the Pictures?)

Appropriation and Theft (Easy Because of Computer Technology)

Cultural Perspective

Pre-Gutenberg Era (Before 1455) o Words as Pictures (Both Were One) Gutenberg Era (1455 - 1800) o Printing and Word Dominance Industrial Era (1800 - 1900) o "Dark Ages" (Because of Advertising Uses) Artistic Era (1900 - Present) (Showed Designers Displays Could Be Pleasing) o Art Movements (Discussed Fully in Graphic Design Chapter) Digital Era (1984 - Present) o Desktop and Online Publishing

Critical Perspective

The best typographical designs match the mood of the aesthetics with the content of the piece. Designers must always consider the audience.

Future Directions

Web Zines and Personal Typefaces

Possible Visual Materials: Slide examples, excerpt from James Burke's television program concerning Gutenberg, Van Halen's music video, "Right Now" return to the top Chapter 9: Graphic Design Saul Bass

Born, 1921, NYC Bauhaus Influenced (Read Books on the Train to Work) Warner Bros. (Champion--First Poster that got him Noticed) Howard Hughes and RKO (But Didn't Like Control over his Work) Formed his Own Agency in 1952 with his Wife Bass/Yaeger Associations in Brentwood, California Died, 1996

Saul Bass's Work

Posters and Titles o Movie Posters o Carmen Jones to Casino Film Work o Psycho o Why Man Creates (Won Academy Award) Logos o Quaker Oats, Minolta, GSA, United Airlines, AT&T

Personal Perspective "Design is thinking made visual." ---Saul Bass

Multivariate Decisions are Often Overlooked by a Viewer

Historical Perspective

Pre-Gutenberg (Before 1455) o Cave Paintings o Books of Dead o Greek Symmetry Gutenberg Era (1455 - 1800) o Printing Remained the Same Industrial Era (1800 - 1900) o Steam Presses (Richard Hoe Press, 1847) o Lithography (Aloys Senefelder, 1800) o Photography (Joseph Nipce, 1827) o Advertising Uses Artistic Era (1900 - Present) o Art Movements Digital Era (1984 - Present) o Desktop (Personal Computers and Laser Printers, 1984) o Online (World Wide Web, 1994)

Technical Perspective

Contrast o Color o Size o Symbolism o Time o Sound Balance o Symmetrical

o Asymmetrical Rhythm o Arrangement of Elements in a Display o Number of Elements in a Display Unity o Related Content o Stylistic Consistency

Ethical Perspective

Utilitarianism (Educating) or Hedonism (Personal Messages) Pictorial Stereotypes Harmful Products Appropriation of Designs

Cultural Perspective

Free Form Styles o Art Nouveau (Inspired from Japanese Art) Henri Toulous-Lautrec, Will Bradley, Max Parrish o Dada (Anger Over World War I--Break All the Rules) Marcel Duchamp, Sergei Eisenstein, George Herriman o Art Deco (Commercial Version of Dada) Erte, Chrysler Building, Miami Beach District o Pop Art (Everyday Objects are Special) Andy Warhol, Robert Frank, Peter Max o Post Modern Punk (Modern Dada) New Wave (Commercial Version of Punk) Hip Hop (Clothing, Music, Display Art) Grid Approaches o De Stijl (Harmony After World War I) Piet Mondrian, Stefan Lorant, Modular Design o Bauhaus (Designs, Furniture, and Skyscrapers) Paul Klee, Gyorgy Kepes, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Critical Perspective

A "Good" Design is a Cultural Artifact--the Audience Matters

Future Directions

Virtual Reality (Get Inside a Design) Teleputers (Telephone, Television, and Computer Combination)

Possible Visual Materials: Slide examples, selected movie titles by Saul Bass, and a scene from "Mad About You". return to the top Chapter 10: Informational Graphics USA Today Weather Map

Allen Neuharth Gannett Newspaper Chain Eye-catching, Easy to Read, National, and Much Copied

Weather Maps

Edmond Halley (Known More for his Comet) Newspaper Fad NASA Satellites TV Weather Segments The Weather Channel (Began Same Year as USA Today) George Rorick and the USA Today Weather Map, 1982

Personal Perspective "God is in the details." ---Mies van der Rohe

Converts Data into Pictures. Shows Information that is Hard to Grasp Otherwise.

Historical Perspective

Sumerian Maps Greek Maps Chinese Maps Three Infographic Pioneers o William Playfair (Scotland--Economic Charts) o Dr. John Snow (England--Discovered a Cause for Cholera Outbreak) o Charles Minard (France--Visually Described Napoleon's Downfall) Infographics In Newspapers Infographics Used for War Explanations Computers Make Production Much Easier

Technical Perspective

Statistical Infographics (Convert Numbers to Pictures) o Charts or Graphs Line, Relational, Pie, and Pictographs o Data Maps Snow, Minard, and Weather Maps Non-statistical infographics (Relies on Pleasing Aesthetic Values) o Fact Boxes (From Little Space During World War II) o Tables o Non-Data Maps Locator Explanatory o Diagrams (Most Complex) o Miscellaneous Courtroom Drawings TV Schedules Icons and Logos Time Lines Editorial Illustrations

Ethical Perspective

Inaccurate Charts, Inappropriate Symbolism, and Chartjunk

Cultural Perspective

Be Clear about the Cultural Context of Signs

Critical Perspective

Computers Make Production Almost Too Easy Infographics Should Always Be Filled with Content

Future Directions

More, not Fewer Informational Graphics in All Media

Possible Visual Materials: Slide examples, videotape from a WGN weather segment, diagram from C/Net showing the Nicole Simpson/Ron Goldman murders. return to the top Chapter 11: Cartoons

"The Simpsons"

Matt Groening (From Springfield, Oregon) Son of Homer, a Filmmaker "Life in Hell" (Original Idea for TV Show) Tracey Ullman Show (First Appearance of Simpson Characters) James L. Brooks and Sam Simon Producers Marketing Genius (More Money Made in Toys and Shirts)

First Aired January, 1990

Show Has Working Class Television Roots Social Satire (Makes Fun of Society's Conventions) "Itchy and Scratchy" (Toon Within the Toon--Ultra Violent) Syndicated, 1994 Made in Korea Longest Running Cartoon in Television History

Personal Perspective "From a purely semiotic point of view, comic strips constitute one of the most complex and sophisticated areas of drawn communication." ---Clive Ashwin

Not Considered Serious One of the Oldest Forms of Communication One of the Most Complicated Art Forms

Historical Perspective

Single-Framed Cartoons o Caricatures (Anti-Portraits in England) Cave Drawings (Exaggerations) Egyptian Artwork (King Tut and Cleopatra Despised) Pompeii Ruins (Drawn on Buildings) Leonardo da Vinci (Notebook Drawings) The Carracci Family (Agostino, Annibale, and Ludovico Carracci) Al Hirschfeld (The New Yorker) o Editorial Cartoons William Hogarth (England, Always Controversial, Died Penniless) Benjamin Franklin (American, Revolutionary Cartoon) James Gillray ("Little Boney" Cartoon of Napoleon)

Thomas Nast (American, Santa Claus and "Boss" Tweed) Bill Mauldin ("Willie and Joe" and Civil Rights Cartoons) Herbert Block (Nixon's Five-O'clock Shadow) Paul Conrad (Inspired by Bauhaus Movement) o Humorous Cartoons Sigmund Freud, "Wit and Its Relationship to the Unconscious" New Yorker Magazine (Premiere Place to Find Cartoons) Charles Addams ("The Addams Family") Gary Larson ("The Far Side") Multi-Framed Cartoons o Egyptian Continuous Paintings o Greek Vases that Turn o Japanese Continuity Paintings o Bayeux Tapestry (Mural Tells Story of the Battle of Hastings, 1066) o Flip Books (Animation Beginnings) o John Newberry (Children's Books) o Comic Strips Wilhelm Busch (German Master) Richard Outcault (First American Strip, 1895) "Yellow Kid of Hogan's Alley" Hearst and Pulitzer Fought over Outcault ("Yellow Journalism") George Herriman, Krazy Kat (Dada-Inspired Violent Cartoons) Buck Rogers (Action-Adventure) Peanuts (Charles Schultz, Enormously Popular) Robert Crumb (Strange and Disturbing) Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau--Controversial) o Comic Books Max Gaines (Cheap Little Books) Superman (Two High School Students) MAD Magazine (William Gaines) Spiegelman's MAUS Japanese Manga (Popular With Adults) o Animated Films George Melies (Magician and Master of the "Jump Cut") A Journey to the Moon Walt Disney (Anti-Dada Family Values) Snow White (Traditional techniques) A Bug's Life (All-Computer Techniques) Looney Tunes (Dada-Inspired Zaniness)

Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and Friz Freleng of Warner Bros. Hanna and Barbera "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons" Japanese Anime (Popular World-Wide)

Technical Perspective

Frames (Word Placement) Settings (Simple or Complex) Characters (Crude or Sophisticated Drawings) Motion Lines o Agitrons (Wavering) o Briffits (Puffs of Smoke) o Dites (Diagonal) o Hites (Horizontal) o Plewds (Sweat Beads) o Vites (Vertical) o Waftaroms (Smells) Typography (Readers Become Actors) Balloons (bubbles, icicles, perforated lines, spiked outlines, tiny words, trailing tails, unbroken lines, zigzagged lines) Types of Animation o Cel (Looney Tunes and Walt Disney) o Dimensional (Willis H. O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, George Pal, Henry Selick, Nick Park, and Will Vinton) o Paper (Terry Gilliam and South Park) o Computer (Dennis Muren, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Cool World, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Antz, Tin Toy, Toy Story, The Matrix)

Ethical Perspective

Marketing to Children o "Yellow Kid" fans to A Bug's Life Backpacks Stereotypes Supported o Racism during WWII Political Messages o "Li'l Abner," "Pogo," and "Doonesbury" Inappropriate Themes o Sex and Violence (Conflict over Compromise)

Cultural Perspective

Our First Introduction to Reading

Symbols Change with the Times and Culture

Critical Perspective

A Sophisticated Art Form Worthy of Serious Study

Future Directions

Cartoonists as Rock Stars; More Collectibles A Wide Range of Offerings o Fox ("The Simpsons" "King of the Hill" "The PJs" "Family Guy" "Futurama") o UPN ("Dilbert" "Home Movies") o WB ("Baby Blues") o MTV ("Beavis and Butt-head" "Daria" "Celebrity Death Match") o Comedy Central ("South Park" "Dr. Katz") o Cartoon Channel (All Day All the Time) o Motion Picture Productions Continued Concerns Over Harm to Society

Possible Visual Materials: Slide examples, clip from "Futurama," a "Ren and Stimpy" cartoon, Tin Toy, Bambi vs. Godzilla, "Believe in Me," music video clip from Smashing Pumpkins, racist cartoon, "All This and Rabbit Stew," Tex Avery, 1942, various cartoons on video. return to the top Chapter 12: Photography The Migrant Mother

Photographer (Dorothea Lange) o Columbia University o San Francisco Portraits o Paul Taylor--Husband (Concerned with Homeless) o Joined the FSA (Farm Security Administration) o Life Magazine Photographer o Complained About Being Labeled A One Shot Wonder Subject (Florence Thompson) o 32-years old o Five Children o Nipomo Camp, 1936 o Complained about Privacy and Payment Issues

o o

Colon Cancer Public Support When News was Reported

A Moving Portrait

Close-up Portrait with Few Distractions Is she sad or wishing the photographer would leave?

Personal Perspective "I would willingly exchange every single painting of Christ for one snapshot." ---George Bernard Shaw

Our First Visual Imaging Machine Frozen Memories of Time, Space, and Relationships Reminds of Watching versus Participating

Historical Perspective

Heliography (Joseph Niepce, 1827, Eight-Hour Exposure) Daguerreotype (Louis Daguerre, 1839, One-of-a-Kind, Middle-Class Popularity) Calotype (Henry Talbot, 1839, "Negative" and "Positive" Terms) Wet-Collodion (Frederick Archer, 1851, Civil War and Western Images) Color Materials (James Maxwell, 1861, Louis Ducos du Hauron, 1869, Lumiere Brothers, 1903, Kodak Laboratories) Gelatin-Bromide Dry Plate (Richard Maddox, 1871, Made Amateur Photography and Motion Pictures) George Eastman (Kodak camera, 1888) Holography (Logos and National Geographic cover) Instant (Edwin Land, 1948, Polaroid) Digital (Mavica camera from Sony, 1984)

Technical Perspective

Lens Type (Wide, Normal, and Telephoto) Lens Opening (Small or Large) Shutter Speed (fast or Slow) Film Type (Color, Black & White, Fast or Slow) Camera Type (Throw-Away, Instamatic, Instant, Rangefinder, SingleLens Reflex, Twin-Lens Reflex, View, Press, Digital) Lighting (Available and Artificial) Image Quality (Exposure and Contrast)

Ethical Perspective (Five Major Journalism Concerns)

Victims of Violence Right to Privacy Manipulation Stereotypes Persuasion (Corporate Control Over Images)

Cultural Perspective

Portraits o Julia Margaret Cameron, Richard Avedon Paintings o Oscar Rejlander, Henry Robinson Landscapes o Timothy O'Sullivan, Ansel Adams Artists o Alfred Stieglitz Documentaries o Jacob Riis Lewis Hine Mary Ellen Mark

Critical Perspective

Photography did not cause the death of painting Tells stories sometimes better than words alone Pictures entertain, educate, disturb, and persuade

Future Directions

Digital Camcorders (Still or Moving Options) There Will Always Be the Need for the Still Moment

Possible Visual Materials: Slide examples from the above. return to the top Chapter 13: Motion Pictures Citizen Kane

Shown April, 1941 Rated the Best Film Ever by Critics Cast and Crew o Joseph Cotten

Agnes Moorehead Herman Mankiewicz, screenplay o Robert Wise, editor o Vernon Walker, special effects o Bernard Hermann, music o Gregg Toland, cinematography Financial Disaster Because Link with William Hearst
o o

Orson Welles

Wisconsin Born "Boy Genius" First American with the Abbey Players of Ireland Mercury Theatre, "War of the Worlds" and Martian Panic Hired by RKO Given Complete Independence Labeled a Trouble-Maker Wine Commercials and the "Tonight Show"

Innovations

Images and Words Combine Deep Focus Ceilings in the Shot Optical Effects Sound Effects (from his radio days)

Analysis of Citizen Kane

Such Independence is Rarely Given Obvious Link with Hearst A Brilliant Work of Art is a Composite of Many Elements

Personal Perspective "A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." ---Orson Welles

Movies Capture our Imagination Many Terms Describe the Medium (Movies, Film, Cinema) Movies Tell Human Stories we Respond To Theaters are Magical Places Fun to Watch with Other People (success of Stars Wars: Episode I)

Historical Perspective

Side-Show Amusement o Gelatin-Bromide Dry Plate Photo Process Thomas Edison o Individual Works for Fiction Dramas Auguste and Louis Lumiere o Audience for Documentaries Action-Adventures o Edwin Porter's The Great Train Robbery o D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation First Feature-Length Film, 1915 Tremendous Cost Ku Klux Klan was Reborn Protests Throughout the US for Controversial Content Formed United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford Silent Era o Motion Pictures Became a Business o Directors Learned the Craft o Hal Sennett Max Roach, Cecil B. DeMille, Sergei Eisenstein, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton o Star System Developed with Tremendous Profits o Scandals (Fairbanks and Pickford, "Fatty" Arbuckle) Academy Awards Established for Positive Publicity Sound Innovations o Vitaphone (Disk), Edison's invention Warner Bros. The Jazz Singer, 1927 Problems with Synchronization CD-ROM Sound (The Last Action Hero, 1993) o Phonofilm (Film) 20th Century Fox Made Widescreen Films Possible Color Innovations o Hand-Tinted Color (The Great Train Robbery) o Cartoon Color (Disney's Flowers and Trees) o Technicolor (None But the Brave) o Public Acceptance of Color (The Wizard of Oz) Widescreen innovations o Cinerama, 1952 (Not Widely Accepted) o CinemaScope (Later, Called Panavision), 1953 (The Robe and How the West Was Won) o Imax and Omnimax (Tremendously Expensive, yet Popular) Other Innovations

o o o

3D and "B" Movies for Drive-In Movies Fall of Single Theaters; Rise in Multiplexes Rise in Television Production

Technical Perspective

Visual Considerations o The Shot (Static or Dynamic, Objective or Subjective) o Film Stock Choices (Color or Black and White) o Text (Credits, Headings, and Translations) o Special Effects (Backscreen and Digital) Audio Considerations o Speech (Narration and ADR) o Music (Sets the Mood) o Noise (Wild Sound, Foley, and the Lout behind You)

Ethical Perspective

Stereotypes o African Americans, Native Americans, and Women, Among Others Sex and Violence o More Explicit than Mainstream Television o Many Movies Produced for Overseas Market

Cultural Perspective

Myths and Symbols of a Culture are Employed by Directors o Comedy (City Lights and Something About Mary) o Crime (Basic Instinct and LA Confidential) o Epic (Malcolm X and Elizabeth) o Horror (Frankenstein and Bride of Chucky) o Musical (The Sound of Music and Blues Brothers 2000) o Romance (Casablanca and You've Got Mail) o Science Fiction (2001 and Lost in Space) o Social Impact (The Grapes of Wrath and Smoke Signals) o Thriller (Jurassic Park and Psycho) o War (Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line) o Western (Stagecoach and Unforgiven)

Critical Perspective

Motion Pictures Adapt to Competition with Innovations As a Business, Bottom Line is Stressed Few Mainstream Movies Break New Ground

Future Directions

Continued Rise in Independent Movies Better Food, Seats, and Other Inducements Movies on Large, High Quality Home Sets

Possible Visual Materials: Excerpts from various motion pictures (The Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith, 1915 (silent era); The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming, 1939 (color); Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, 1941 (words and image combination); Rebel Without a Cause, Nicholas Ray, 1955 (close-ups); Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock, 1960 (subjective camera); In Cold Blood, Richard Brooks, 1967 (terror of black and white); Woodstock, Michael Wadleigh, 1970 (montage); The Passenger, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975 (slow rhythmic pace); Annie Hall, Woody Allen, 1977 (documentary style); Blue Velvet, David Lynch (symbolic images); Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese, 1991 (slow zoom-in); Boyz N the Hood, John Singleton, 1991 (family values); Freejack, Geoff Murphy, 1992 (terrible art direction); Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, 1982 (beautiful art direction). return to the top Chapter 14: Television and Video Rodney King

Troubled Family, Alcoholic Father Newly Released Convict Difficult Finding Work High Speed Chase Beaten and Arrested

George Holliday

Oil Executive's Son Grew Up in Argentina Plumbing Company Manager Heard Commotion Outside Apartment New Video Camera, a Sony HandyCam

Video and Its Consequences

Sold to KTLA; Distributed Through CNN An Example of Reality-Based TV ("Cops" and "Funniest Home Videos")

An Instant Public Uproar (Everyone Knew What they Saw) April, 1992 Riots (After Police Were Acquitted in Criminal Trial)

Analysis of the Rodney King Video

Shocking Content Reminds Many Civil Rights Pictures from the 1950s Dramatic, Subjective Camera Work Hedonism Wins as All involved Want Money Stereotypes Supported (Police, Criminals, Lawyers) Shows the Power of Television When the Public is Linked

Personal Perspective "Our lives have been irrevocably transformed in ways that make pre-TV America seem like the dark ages." ---Meg Greenfield

Easy to Criticize (Chewing Gum for the Eyes) Always the Promise of a Better Program Part of our Culture and Society--Pervasive Medium But How will it Change with the World Wide Web?

Historical Perspective

Allen Dumont and the Cathode Ray (His Network Failed) Phil (Philo) Farnsworth (High School Student with Working invention) NBC, 1926 (First Broadcast Network) RCA, Felix the Cat (Cartoon Character Transmitted During First US Test) David Sarnoff (RCA, Invented the term, "Television") 1940s o FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Regulation to prevent Channel Overlapping o WWII Freeze (Due to Parts and Labor Needed for the War Effort) o Networks Begun (After World War II the Freeze was Lifted) 1950s o "Golden Age" of Television with Classic Programs (Form Established) o Dominance with Public Over Other Media o Game Show Scandals (Serious Public Relations Debacle) o Blacklisting (As with Motion Pictures, Joseph McCarthy Communist Hunt) 1960s

Cable (Initially to Bring in Pictures for Remote Locations) Video (Discussed Below) o Violence Shows Condemned ("The Untouchables") o Inane Shows Criticized ("The Beverly Hillbillies") o Satellite Technology Offers Live Broadcasts 1970s o FCC Becomes More Politically Aggressive (Not Just Regulating Technical Items) o Spin-Offs Become Popular o TV Criticism Increases 1980s o Cost-Cutting of News Operations o Buy-outs from Unrelated Companies (Westinghouse, General Electric) o Mergers with Movie Studios for Added Production Work 1990s and Beyond o One Billion Sets Worldwide o Major Networks in Decline with Competition from Cable and Other Media o New Media Delivery Methods and Equipment (HDTV and World Wide Web) Videotape o Charles Ginsberg Inventor, 1956 o Ampex System o Initially Used for West Coast News o Hand-Held Equipment o Reality-Based Ethical Problems (Amateur Video) o Video Tape Rentals Helped Movies, not Television
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Technical Perspective

Cameras o Scanned Images Transmission Modes o Air Broadcast (Traditional Method) Satellite (Powerful Dishes with Short Orbit Satellites-DirecTV) o Earth Cable (Digital Television with Cable Set-Top Box Converters) Fiber Optic (Makes Teleputers A Reality) Receivers o 525 Lines (Initial American System) o 625 Lines (European System--Better Quality)

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HDTV (High Definition Television--Motion Picture Quality) DTV (Digital Television--Linked with Telephone and Web Services)

Ethical Perspective

Ratings (Almost Anything to Bring in Viewers) Stereotypes (Any Group Can Find Offense) Sexual and Violent Themes o But Most Shows Are Not Violent

Cultural Perspective

Television is a Combination of Theatre, Radio, Motion Pictures, and Comic Books Television Brings Familiar Stories in Serial Form Into Homes

Critical Perspective

All Other Media Suffered, But Not Out Television as Baby Sitters Wars and Tragedies are Diminished Social Problems are Exaggerated Finding Quality is a Viewer's Responsibility

Future Directions

Television in Movie Theaters Home Teleputers Linked to the World Wide Web

Possible Visual Materials: Rodney King video by George Holliday, The Accident, "NYPD Blue" episode, and The Contest, "Seinfeld" episode. return to the top Chapter 15: Computers Computer-Generated Images (CGI)

Edward Zajac at o Bell Labs, 1963 2001, 1968 (HAL Computer Diagrams) Futureworld, 1976 (Peter Fonda's Face) Star Wars, 1977 (Deathstar Blueprints)

Tron, 1982 (Greatly Publicized for "Cycle Race" Scene, But a Financial Disappointment) "Sharkey's World" (Music Video from Laurie Anderson) Labyrinth, 1986 (Brilliant Work from Muppet Master, Jim Henson) Jurassic Park, 1993 (Seven Minutes of Effects by Stan Winston) Toy Story, 1995 (First All Computer-Animated Motion Picture, John Lasseter) Twister, 1996 (Well-Done Tornado Effects) The Matrix, 1999 (Virtual-Reality Fears Featured)

James Cameron

Born in Canada Grew up in Brea, California Worked with Roger Corman The Abyss, 1989 ("Water Weenie" Effect) Terminator 2, 1991 (Anything Conceptualized Can Be Realized) Titanic, 1997 Terminator 3, 2000

Personal Perspective "Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." ---Arthur C. Clarke

A Dominating Technology Almost Invaluable Symbolic of a New Age Access, Privacy, and Many Other Concerns The Potential is Still Largely Unknown

Historical Perspective

Charles Babbage o Analytical Engine (First Computer, but Never Made a Working Model) ENIAC and UNIVAC (Room-Sized Computers) IBM o Herman Hollerith o Punch Card Electronic Calculator Used by Census Bureau, 1890 o Started the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) o Thomas Watson (Worked for CTR--Became President) o Renamed CTR to IBM in 1924 o Son, Thomas Watson, Jr. Started Computer Interest

o Eighty Percent of All Computers in the World are from IBM Microsoft Corporation o Altair Computer (First Amateur Computer) o Bill Gates Harvard Dropout Richest Person in the World ($60 billion) o IBM DOS (IBM Paid Royalties for System Software) o Paul Allen (Also a Multi-Billionaire, No Longer with Microsoft) Charter Communications (Cable, Telephone, and Computer Alliances) Seattle Seahawks Football Team and Portland Trailblazers Basketball Team Apple Computers o Stephen Wozniak (Technical Genius) and Steven Jobs (Business Sense) o Apple II, 1977 (A Great Success) o Macintosh, 1984 (Started Desktop Revolution) o iMac, 1999 (Reborn Macintosh)

Technical Perspective

Memory and Storage o From Bits to Gigabytes and Beyond o RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read-Only Memory) o From Floppy Disks, Zips, R-CDs to Network Storage Central Processing Unit o The Heart of the Computer o Clock or Chip Speed (The Faster the Better--500Mhz) PowerPC (Motorola Product) IBM PCs (Intel Products) Pentium III (Intel Product) Switching Devices o Connectors (Fancy Electrical Cords--SCSI and Bus Interfaces) o Peripherals Incoming (Keyboard, Mouse, Tablet, Voice, Scanners) Outgoing (Monitor, Printer) Interactive (Touch-Screens, Modems, Direct Internet Connections) Software o Word, QuarkXPress, PhotoShop, FrontPage

Ethical Perspective

Violent Themes

Mortal Kombat Doom, Quake II (Violence in Littleton, Colorado Partly Blamed) Sexual Themes o Sex Drives Media (From Printing to Videos) o "Teledildonics" (New Term for Virtual Sex) o Virtual Valerie (Popular Teledildonic Program) Manipulations o Journalism Concerns with Credibility of Images
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Cultural Perspective

Computer Nerd, Fear of Computers, Computer Mystique are Fading But a Fear of Virtual Reality Seen in Motion Pictures (Blade Runner, 1982, Dark City, 1998, eXistenZ, 1999, The Lawnmower Man, 1992, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, 1996, The Matrix, 1999, Open Your Eyes (Abre los Ojos), 1997, The Thirteenth Floor, 1999) Y2K (Prepare as if for an Earthquake or Hurricane)

Critical Perspective

Computers Reflect on Culture that Makes and Uses Them Computers Cannot Solve All Problems While Causing Some Equal Access to Computer Technology is Vital for Participation by All

Future Directions

Better Encryption for More Commercial Applications "Invisible" Computers (Wired Without Knowing It) Teleputers

Possible Visual Materials: Apple's "1984" Macintosh commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, short portfolio pieces from various companies, excerpts from cgi motion pictures: Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, Tron, The Abyss, Terminator 2, The Lawnmower Man, and others. return to the top Chapter 16: World Wide Web Interactive Multimedia

From Alice to Ocean Alone Across the Outback (First Photography Book with a CD-ROM) o Robyn Davidson

Rick Smolan National Geographic Photographer Day in the Life of Australia (And Other Countries)

Many Uses for Interactive Multimedia

Government Programs Business Training and Sales Consumer Education and Entertainment o Myst and Riven But Still a 600mg Controlled Program to Be Replaced by the World Wide Web

Personal Perspective "The World Wide Web is the most important single outcome of the personal computer. It is the Gutenberg press that is democratizing information." ---Bill Atkinson

Bill Gates (Interactive Multimedia is a Transitional Phase) Fiber Optic Links Offer Unlimited Data and Speed

Historical Perspective

Dr. Vannevar Bush and the "Memex" ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense--Communicate Despite Nuclear War), 1969 o Quickly Used by Educators for E-mail Videotex (Television/Telephone-Based Interactive Networks) o Ceefax, 1974 (British) o Minitel, 1981 (French) o Viewdata, 1981 (US, Coral Gables, Florida--A Failure) Bulletin Boards (Computer/Telephone Based Networks) o America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy Internet, 1983 (ARPANET Renamed with International Use) CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics, Switzerland) o Tim Berners-Lee Creates the World Wide Web, 1990 Mosaic, 1994 (Marc Andreeson, University of Illinois Student Creates a Practical Web Browser) Netscape, 1995 (Andreeson Forms His Own Browser Company) Internet Explorer (IE) (Microsoft Corporation's Browser) o "Browser Wars" Unfair Advantage Claimed by IE Competitors Cable Regulations

AT&T Breakup, 1984 ("Baby Bells" Established, Telephone Companies Couldn't Provide Programs and Services While Cable Companies Couldn't Provide Telephone Service) Telecommunications Act, 1996 (Telephone, Cable, and Satellite Companies Can Offer Telephone, Programs, and Services)

Technical Perspective

Fiber Optic Cable o Enormously Expensive to Install o But a Great Potential for High Profits o Number of Possible Channels is 1,000 Greater Than all Radio and TV Channels Combined Digital Convergence (Media Becoming One--Makes Teleputers Possible)

Ethical Perspective

Free Speech vs. Censorship Privacy Concerns Equal Access

Cultural Perspective

Portal/Commercial Sites are Used the Most What Does that Say About the Medium? (Same as All the Others?)

Critical Perspective

How Do You Use the Web? Look Up Details in the Starr Report or Take Courses Through an Online University?

Future Directions

Little Difference Between Newspapers, Television, and Portals

Possible Visual Materials: Demonstrations of Passage to Vietnam and Riven. My bookmarks on the World Wide Web. return to the top Chapter 17: The More You Know; The More You See

Pictures aren't Simple o Key is Using Words and Pictures in Equally Respectful Ways to Help Educate, Entertain, and Persuade Light is the Link o Light of Day o Light of Reason o Light of Compassion

Possible Visual Materials: Slides from all the previous lectures.