Visual Media and Communication Autumn 2020 Thursday 12:00 PM AVC Lecturer: Tae-Sik Kim, PhD Office Hour: Wed 14:00 – 16:00 & Wed 13:00 – 14:00 Contact Information: beinkid@mail.muni.cz Office Number: 5. 50 Ø Course Objectives This course examines the cultural meanings of visual communication on various media. Grounded in the understanding of various theories from semiotics and cultural studies, this course looks closely at media practices delivering visual messages firmly based on certain sociocultural contexts. This course also covers broader issues related to visual messages and our everyday lives. By reading a variety of research articles assigned in the course and participating in class discussions, students learn to develop their own research projects focusing on visual communication and cultural understandings. · Comprehend the cultural meanings of visual communication · Understand the role of the media in distributing visual messages · Review and analyze a variety of research articles on visual communication. · Find important themes and methods of semiotics · Lead insightful discussions. Ø Syllabus Week 1. Introduction to the course Week 2. Semiotics Theories: Saussure, Peirce, Barthes, and more Week 3. Semiotics and Culture – Theories: Geertz and Bourdieu Week 4. Visual Representation Week 5. Reading Week Week 6. Visual Public Communication Week 7. Public Holidays Week 8. Advertisement Week 9. Images of Spaces: Cities as Visual Media Week 10. Image Analysis Presentation Week 11. Digital Photography - Interpersonal Media Week 12. Visual Social Media Week 13. Student Conference Ø Literatures Reading Articles: See, below. Ø Teaching Methods The format of the course is a combination of brief lectures and controlled discussions of various assigned readings. All students are expected to read all articles assigned and to develop appropriate discussion questions. Each student is a discussion leader for an assigned week. Students submit a research paper (topic of student’s choice in consultation with instructor; minimum 14 pages). Ø Assessment Methods v Attendance(50) : 3 unexcused absences during a semester shall be denied academic credit v Three Essays (450) Each 3-4 Pages ü 1. Semiotics of our everyday life: Exemplify visual symbols used in our everyday life. Explain how it has been contextualized in our society by using theories from Week 2 and 3 readings (Due. 19. 10. 2021). ü 2. Urban Visual Media: Analyze your own pictures taking in Brno (Due. 21. 11. 2020) ü 3. Decoding Culture: Analyze a visual material on social media by using theories covered in class (Due 9. 12. 2021) ü No Late Paper Accepted v Class Presentation (100) ü Class leader: Summarize reading materials and introduce relevant cases v Final Paper + Presentation (500): Due- 11 February 2020 (Late Paper – Subtract 5% for each day after the due date) Ø Study Materials All materials, with the exception of book chapters available in the library and articles available online, will be provided in PDF format. Week 2. Semiotics Theories: Saussure, Peirce, Barthes, and more Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang. Chapter, Myth Today. Aiello, G. (2020). Visual semiotics: Key concepts and new directions. The SAGE handbook of visual research methods, 367-380. Week 3. Semiotics and Culture: Geertz and Bourdieu Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of culture. New York: Basic Books. Chapter 1 Swartz, D. (1998). Culture and power: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Chapter 4. Week 4. Visual Representation Hall, S. (1997). Representation and the Media. Lecture. Ben‐Porath, E. N., & Shaker, L. K. (2010). News images, race, and attribution in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Communication, 60(3), 466-490. Week 6. Visual Media as Public Communication Eberhardinger, M. J. (2012) "A Semiotic Analysis of Iconicity in Japanese Manner Posters." Joffe, H. (2008). The power of visual material: Persuasion, emotion and identification. Diogenes, 55(1), 84-93. Week 8. Advertisement Bianchi, C. (2011). Semiotic approaches to advertising texts and strategies: Narrative, passion, marketing. Semiotica, 2011(183), 243-271. Kara-Jane Lombard (2013) From Subways to Product Labels: The Commercial Incorporation of Hip Hop Graffiti, Visual Communication Quarterly, 20:2, 91-103 Week 9. Images of Spaces: Cities as Visual Media Kim, T. S. (2011). Three faces of Chinese modernity: Nationalism, globalization, and science. Social Semiotics, 21, 683-697. Kim, T. S. (2021). Center and margin on the margin: A study of the multilayered (Korean) Chinese Migrant Neighborhood in Daerim-dong, South Korea. Geoforum, 120, 165-175. Greenberg, Miriam. "Branding Cities A Social History of the Urban Lifestyle Magazine." Urban affairs review 36.2 (2000): 228-263. Week 11. Digitized Visual Media Machin, D. (2004). Building the world’s visual language: the increasing global importance of image banks in corporate media. Visual Communication, 3(3), 316-336. Van House, N. A. (2011). Personal photography, digital technologies and the uses of the visual. Visual Studies, 26(2), 125-134. Week 12. Visual Social Media Kim, T-S. (2015) Defining the Occupy Movement: Visual Analysis of Facebook Profile Images Posted by Local Occupy Movement Group, Visual Communication Quarterly, 22(3), 174-186 Borges-Rey, E. (2015). News Images on Instagram: The paradox of authenticity in hyperreal photo reportage. Digital Journalism, 3(4), 571-593