Visual Communication 2012 Abstracts
The icon of the Egyptian revolution: Using social media in the toppling of a Mideast government • Sadaf Ali, Wayne State University; Shahira Fahmy, University of Arizona • On June 6, 2010, policemen beat 28-year old Khaled Said to death on a public street in Alexandria, Egypt. In less than one week a Facebook page ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ was created. The page became the most popular Facebook entry in Egypt, attracting almost half a million users. It posted images of him smiling juxtaposed with graphic battered pictures of his face. These images made available in social media make the studying of such visuals of interest to both professional and citizen journalists.
Hot Metal, Cold Reality: Photographers’ access to steel mills • Howard Bossen, Eric Freedman, & Julie Mianecki, Michigan State University • Hot Metal, Cold Reality explores how photographers gained access to steel mills and how the type of access gained influenced their image-making. It explains legal and ethical issues associated with gaining access to industrial sites, as well as how the right to publish or exhibit may be restricted even after access is granted. It incorporates extensive face-to-face interviews and uses archival documents and images to illuminate challenges facing photographers of steel and industrial facilities.
Richard as Waking Nightmare: Barthesian Dream, Myth, and Memory in Shakespeare’s Richard III • Brian Carroll, Berry College • This paper applies French semiologist Roland Barthes’s conceptions of sign, symbol, metaphor, and myth to Shakespeare’s Richard III, focusing in particular on the playwright’s use of dreams and dream worlds in the creation of a national memory. The fascination with dreams and dream worlds by Elizabethans, a more than passing interest reflected in the era’s drama, is well documented and extensively researched, and by or from many different disciplinary perspectives.
Images of Injustice: A Visual-Rhetorical Analysis of Inside Job • Anthony Collebrusco, University of Colorado – Boulder • Since media in the United States are increasingly visual, the field of rhetoric must consider images and text when addressing persuasive media. The 2010 documentary film Inside Job argues for political reform in the United States through explicit logical appeals, but also visual symbolism. This paper uses a visual-rhetorical analysis, Barthes’ three message analytical tool, to deconstruct three different sequences in the film and explicate the anti-inequality messages within them.
Seeing the world through a different lens: Examining visual gatekeeping via East African photojournalists’ experiences with news organizations • Steve Collins, University of Central Florida; Kimberly Bissell, Gyro Newman, University of Alabama • The present study used in-depth interviews with four Western photographers working in East Africa to examine visual gatekeeping in the context of new media and in the context of news flow outside of the United States. Using gatekeeping and media sociology theories to guide the study framework, four photographers were interviewed to discuss their views on the way news content is produced and distributed from the East African countries of Uganda and Kenya.
A story of a somber remembrance: Visual framing and iconicity in the 10-year commemorative coverage of 9/11 • Nicole Dahmen & Britt Christensen, Louisiana State University • The goal of this study is to understand how the news media—specifically newspapers—visually told the story of 9/11 ten years later, and in doing so, how they visually “framed” our collective remembrance of that significant day. In addition, this study considers the tenants of iconicity in studying news photographs. Through analysis of 170 photographs, researchers found that visual frames of the physical site of the attack and the people affected dominated coverage.
She Poses, He Performs: A Visual Content Analysis of Male and Female Professional Athlete Facebook Profile Photos • Betsy Emmons, Samford University & Richard Mocarski, University of Alabama • Using branding theory and a content analysis of the visual components of male and female professional athlete Facebook profile photos, this study suggests that hegemonic gender portrayals persist in visual representations of athletes. Female athletes were more likely to pose for the photos and smile while male athletes were more likely to look away from the camera and be in motion. Athletes most often were visually represented in their uniforms, while sexualized visual portrayals of athletes of either gender were not affirmed in this study.
Picture This: Employing Social Proof To Identify Media Bias • Michael Friedman, Michigan State University • The research presented in this study will compare photographic news coverage on Twitter of the Occupy Wall Street Protests from two competing New York City tabloid newspapers on opposite sides of the political spectrum, the New York Post (conservative) and New York Daily News (liberal). The study applies the principles of social proof to determine if photographic coverage of the protest by both tabloids can be used to show support or rejection of the movement.
A tale of two icons: Photographic representations of reconciliation In Peru and Guatemala • Robin Hoecker, Northwestern University • This paper examines the photographic icons used by the Peruvian and Guatemalan Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. By examining the symbolic elements embedded in the photographs and the conditions in which they were produced, this project explores how the images could be understood to represent the commissions’ different approaches towards reconciliation. Of special interest are how the images address the concepts of “truth” and “justice.”
Picturing the World • Hwalbin Kim & Soo Yun Kim, University of South Carolina • Through a quantitative content analysis, this study examines how the international news photographs are presented in three major U.S. newspapers – The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times – from 1984 to 2005. With time, the whole amount of international news photographs considerably increased. The study found that three major U.S. newspapers conveyed world images as an unbalanced way in showing regions and topics.
Adopting Situational Ethics in Photojournalism • Yung Soo Kim, University of Kentucky • Photojournalists frequently face serious ethical dilemmas in choosing between acting as dispassionate observers and “Good Samaritans” while documenting human tragedy. Using an online experimental design with multiple stimuli, five situational characteristics were tested. Results showed that ordinary citizens (N=100) generally adopted a situational ethics rationale rather than insisting on an absolutist or utilitarian rationale. It is clear that certain, if not all, distinguishable situational characteristics are indeed important in assessing photojournalistic behavior.
The iconic Situation Room image and its appropriations: A study of Internet memes and their rhetorical messages • Natalia Mielczarek, University of Iowa • A day after the Osama bin Laden mission in May, 2011, the White House released the now iconic Situation Room image, which became an Internet meme. This study set out to find out why people appropriated the icon, what rhetorical messages they wanted to convey and how social media helped in the meme replication process. The central finding was that some of the intended rhetorical messages of selected memes were not always communicated. The study relied on three qualitative methods, including interviews with meme producers, to answer posed research questions.
How the Visual Fits into the Framing Process • Sarah Merritt, American University • As visual communication as a discipline is new, this literature review serves as a comprehensive review of visual framing literature in order to develop and combine visual framing concepts and theoretical approaches into a more unified paradigm. Within the fractured paradigm of framing theory itself, visual framing is distinguished apart from conventional framing through a concept explication in this paper. Visual framing is then positioned back in the appropriate location in the framing process.
Storytelling with Interactive Graphics: An Analysis of Editors’ Attitudes and Practices • Jennifer Palilonis & Mary Spillman, Ball State University • Are interactive graphics an important storytelling tool? Are they cost effective in this digital age? This study finds that while editors value interactive graphics, few newspapers devote prime website real estate to graphics, making it difficult to assess their worth. The authors also use the results of a national survey, a content analysis and personal interviews to determine the frequency with which graphics are produced and to identify the barriers to their production.
A Poker Face: Rhetorical Analysis of Prototypical Images of Luxury Brand Advertising • E. Soo Rhee, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire & Wan Seop Jung • By analyzing advertising visuals in visual rhetorical perspective, this study aimed to reveal how luxury brands advertising creates aspirations and fantasies for purchasing these luxury brands. Commonalities found from analyzing the luxury brand ads in visual rhetoric perspective were that ads were either highlighting its brand image or the users’ image. Ads either arrange the product or the user in the center of the ads with ample blank spaces, or position in the middle of disorder.
The Influence of Mood and Symbolic Value on the Evaluation of Destination Logos • Sela Sar, Lulu Rodriguez, Suman Lee, & Supathida Kulpavaropas, Iowa State University • This study examines the effects of mood and symbolic value on the evaluation of destination logos. It hypothesized that mood differences activate either holistic or analytic cognitive processing styles that, in turn, influence country logo evaluations. The results show that people in a positive mood engaged in holistic elaboration and consequently evaluated country logos more favorably than those in a negative mood. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Visual Exploration of Environmental Issues • Michelle Seelig, University of Miami • Though controversy regarding the scientific data continues, the focus of this research pertains to the overwhelming visual proof of global warming. Many photographers have taken to visually document environmental concerns to raise public awareness of environmental issues concerning endangered cultures, threatened environments, global warming, and other social issues relevant to conserving and protecting our natural resources.
The Visual Representation of Campaign Communication: Candidate Images in Partisan Blogs • Shuo Tang, Indiana University • Through a framing analysis of 546 candidate images published on 10 partisan blogs during the early stage of the 2012 presidential campaign, the present study discussed how partisan bloggers visually framing the presidential candidates. The results suggested that partisan blogs did not represent their preference fully by framing image structures or showing certain candidate traits. They did, however, illustrated certain facial displays of candidates to show which party they supported and which they disapproved of.
Framing the Bureau: Legitimacy and the Public Relations Photographs of Hoover’s FBI • Jennifer Tiernan & Matthew Cecil, South Dakota State University • This study asserts that the public relations photographs created by the FBI were selected specifically to communicate legitimizing themes of science and responsibility along with the steady leadership of Director J. Edgar Hoover. Those themes, evident throughout the body of photographs reviewed for this study were public relations messages intended to portray the FBI as a dispassionate, useful and careful agency, publicly countering critics who frequently charged the Bureau was too powerful, an “American Gestapo.”
Multimedia Use on News Websites: A Look at Photo Slideshows and Videos Through the Uses and Gratifications Theory • Jin Yang, Rachelle Pavelko, & Sandy Utt, University of Memphis • Undergraduate students were surveyed about their motivations to view photo slideshows and videos and to identify which variables might predict the use of them. Employing the uses and gratifications theory, salient motivations identified were the multimedia elements’ “realistic content” features and the “physical” and “mental relaxation” functions. Demographic variables didn’t predict multimedia use, but the frequency of visits to news websites and perception of innovativeness had the greatest impact on predicting use.
Does Negativity Prevail? A Content Analysis of Award-Winning News Photos • Carolyn Yaschur, University of Texas – Austin • Photojournalists understand the impact of emotion in their images, in particular negative emotion. Adding to the evidence of a negativity bias, a content analysis of winning photos from the Pictures of the Year International contest revealed winners were more likely to depict negativity. Adults and international subjects exhibited more negative emotions than youth or those in the United States. Visual stereotyping was also found with regard to age and international subjects.
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