Week 3-Journal Post

 

   Many of the conceptual representations described in Chapter 3 of Kress & van Leeuween (2006) are used within the corporate world.  In my own experience within marketing & creative departments we used these types of representations in both the informational and technical sense.  When developing new department process to manage projects linear representations such as flow charts were used.  Covert Taxonomy structures were used when a hierarchical representation was needed.  These tree diagrams were used to show a department structure and to lay out the page structure of a web site.  Web site development begins with the laying out of pages within a hierarchical structure.

  Conceptual Representation using Green’s Model can be defined as the following:

                Operational- The classification tools allow for language to be decoded and described using visual tools.  The use of taxonomy and structure allows for the text to be laid out visually for better understanding and clarity.

                Cultural-Using Operational Strategies to receive and transmit meaning and develop an understanding of content and context.  When classification tools are used they develop an understanding of content and its meaning.  Kress and van Leeuwen discuss the use of the timeline on page 94 with the illustration to represent the development of man.  This illustration accompanies the text to visually describe the content.

                Critical-Symbolic processes could be considered a critical visual tool.  According to Kress and van Leeuwen symbolic processes are about what a participant means or is.  The viewer uses a critical eye to establish meaning.  Symbolic attributes have held a very important place in history and are recognizable in many notable works of art from the renaissance.  An example of this symbolism is show on page 106, where an apple is part of a painting of St Jerome’s place.  The apple is out of place in the photo but during the time this artwork was painted apples were the symbol of the fall, temptation and original sin.  This painting takes the critical eye to decipher its true literary meaning.

Using a visual model to represent the three dimensions of Literacy Green was able to establish a visual understanding of the concept.  Green has been able to explain visually that there are three distinct areas of literacy but each of these areas can overlap with each other.  

   Jenkins (2010) concept of Participatory Culture could be described by using a Network diagram.  According to the reading “Networks seek to show the multiple interconnections between participants.”  Participatory Culture is the concept that with the introduction of web 2.0 the internet is a place of engagement, support of sharing creations with others, informal mentorship, members believe their contributions matter and they care about others opinions of self &work.  All of these concepts overlap one another to make up the concept of Participatory Culture. 

References:

Jenkins, Henry. "TEDxNYED - Henry Jenkins - 03/06/10." Online video clip. Youtube. Uploaded on April 13th, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFCLKa0XRlw. January 29th, 2015.

Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.