The Conference Book
Visual Literacy (New York: Routledge, 2008) is intended to survey the meanings of the expression, and related notions such as visual competence. Some contributors are interested in the theory of literacy when it pertains to the visual; others in its rhetoric; and others in its implementation at college and secondary school level. The book is intended to serve as a resource for conversations about what comprises minimal or desirable visual ability, competence, or literacy in a university or secondary-school setting.
First International Conference on Visual Literacy (14-15 April 2005)
This was the first international conference on visual literacy. Organised by UCC's History of Art, this unique event took place on 14-15 April 2005 and brought together major theorists (WJT Mitchell, Barbara Stafford, Jonathan Crary) and a range of innovative scholars.
A tremendous force of rhetoric has been brought to bear on the notion that ours is a predominantly visual culture. Theories concerning the visual nature of experience have been proposed in art history, cognitive psychology, anthropology, artificial intelligence, women’s studies, neurobiology, linguistics, and by various philosophers from Bishop Berkeley to Baudrillard. Recently the new academic discipline called visual studies or visual culture has begun to spread through academia, beginning in the
The first day of the conference was dedicated to comparing the places of visuality and literacy in the educational systems of different countries. The second day had speakers from various fields, including Law and Medicine, talking about how images are used in their discipline. The conference was accompanied by an unusual exhibition, Visual Practices Across the University.
