Visual Communication 2002 Abstracts
Visual Communication Division
Jane Campion’s The Piano: The Female Gaze, the Speculum and the Chora Within the H(y)st(e)rical Film • Jaime Bihlmeyer, Southwest Missouri State University • This paper presents a glimpse into the traces (semios) of the female gaze in Jane Campion’s historical film, The Piano. Campion’s filmic text creates a space in mainstream movies where cinematic enunciation intersects with the linguistic and psychoanalytical innovations of the last half-century. The Piano presents an overwhelmingly clear demonstration of the female gaze and does so within the limitations of mainstream film conventions.
Where We’ve Been — Where We’re Going: An Analysis of Visual Communication Research in Communication Journals • Kimberly Bissell, University of Alabama • This study analyzes the inclusion of visual communication research articles in journals published with a journalism, mass communication or visual communication focus. It is the beginning of a larger project that may give visual communication researchers some insight into the acceptance of our field under the umbrella of mass communication research. All of the issues published under 22 different journals in the last 10 years were analyzed.
At Ground Zero: How Photojournalists Survived the September 11th Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center • Brandon W. Bollom, Texas at Austin • During the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, while most people were trying to escape chaos, a few were running toward it. Included in that group were photojournalists, but in the weeks and months following that day, little research appeared as to why they were willing to risk their lives for their profession. This project attempts to fill that gap in coverage with personal interviews, research, and historical data.
Perceptions, Exceptions, and Stereotypes: Visual Representation and the Monster’s Ball • Yolanda R. Cal, Texas at Austin • This paper explores the film Monster’s Ball as an example of stereotypical media images of Black women in contemporary society. Halle Berry’s performance is the first to break both the color and gender barrier in the Academy Awards seventy-four year history. The author examines the visual representation of difference as well as how current notions of race form a discourse with which to investigate stereotypical representations of African-American women.
Sex Appeals that Appeal: The Moderating Role of Women’s Sexual Self-Schema in the Accessibility of Sexual Constructs in Memory • John Davies, He Zhu & Brian Brantley, Alabama • Priming methodology has shown that media exposure can increase women’s accessibility of constructs in memory. While prior research has focused on pornography’s effects on subsequent cognitions and behavior, little research has focused on the effects of sex appeals in advertising. In this study, the authors measured the effects of exposure to magazine ads using sexual appeals. Results indicated that exposure to sex appeals increased accessibility of sexual constructs in memory. Sexual self-schema moderated priming effects.
Evaluating animated Infographics: A step toward Multimedia Research: An Experimental Approach • Klaus Forester, Sabine Stiemerling & Thomas Knieper • Visualization and animation can be seen as two main characteristics of multimedia applications. In our study we compared animated infographics with their still versions and textual representations of the same information. According to our results it is not always appropriate to visualize and animate certain topics but in most cases visualization can enhance information transfer. The results are indicating that animations should be preferably used in complex fields of knowledge.
A Virtual Extension of Public Art: An Analysis of Municipal Websites as Public Art Venues • Tamara L. Gillis and John Syphrit, Elizabethtown College • According to research by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), public art projects commissioned by local communities and corporations give the community or organization a common expression and identity. These installations are often tied to community events, history and lore. As communities enter the virtual environment with the construction of websites, do these websites representing the communities serve as public art installations in the virtual environment?
Newspaper Photo Editors? Perceptions of Women Photojournalists • Ken Heinen and Mark Popovich, Ball State University • With an increasing number of women photojournalists streaming into the newsroom, this study was concerned with how newspaper photo editors would perceive their abilities in comparison with their male counterparts. Nineteen newspaper photo editors replied to a 57-statement Q Sort asking them to rate their perceptions about the skills of women photojournalists. Two patterns of perceptions emerged. One group was labeled as the “professionals,” and the other group as the “pragmatists.”
Television News and the Palestinian Israeli Conflict: An Analysis of Visual and Verbal Framing • Rasha Kamhawi, Indiana University • The presentation of international events on television news has often been criticized for oversimplification and stereotyping. This study is a content analysis of the presentation of one international conflict on the evening network news. It identifies the frames, both verbal and visual, through which the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is presented and any leaning for either side of the conflict. While overt bias is not found, episodic frames that give little or no context are found to be dominant.
Visual Components of Source Credibility for Non-Profit Organizations on the World Wide Web • Linda Jean Kensicki, Minnesota • Limited research has examined the impact of visual communication on the web and none has explored how wired visual constructions influence an organization’s credibility. This research tested a model of visual credibility on 133 individuals through sample web pages for two types of non-profit organizations. Contrary to previous work, a structured design was not uniformly seen as more credible than an organic design.
Framing the Presidential Candidates in Editorial Cartoons • Hyoungkoo Khang & Eyun-Jung Ki, Florida • In the 2000 election campaign, the character and competency issues of the presidential candidates emerged as the most dominant agenda. This result indicates that the agenda of personal character and competency of a presidential candidate could have more influence on the public than did a candidate’s issue stance of policy. Many cartoonists use exaggeration and dishonesty frames to portray Al Gore. Accordingly, the frames in the editorial cartoons could overshadow the image of Gore as a viable presidential candidate.
Photography Editors as Gatekeepers: Choosing Between Publishing or Self-Censoring Disturbing Images of 9-11 • Renee Martin Kratzer & Brian Kratzer, Missouri • Photography editors are gatekeepers who decide what visual images appear in print. This study examines how these gatekeepers chose whether to publish disturbing images of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In-depth interviews with 22 newspaper photography editors were conducted to gain an understanding of the decision-making process. The results show that many of the photography editors published the images despite the graphic content because they helped communicate the horror and devastation of that day.
Seeing and Believing: A Case Study of Weber’s Schema of Charisma and institution Building as Seen in Visual Images of students at a Christian Liberal Arts College, 1900-1940 • Michael A. Longinow, Asbury College • This study uses the template of Max Weber’s notion of charisma and institution-building to examine visual depictions of students at a Christian liberal arts college in Central Kentucky as these visuals appeared in a nationally-distributed religious newspaper. The analysis compares the images of these students with visual images of those same students in the campus weekly newspaper.
Vision of a New State: Israel as Celebrated by Robert Capa • Andrew Mendelson, Temple University and C. Zoe Smith, Missouri • As we show in an analysis of primary sources, photojournalist Robert Capa’s photographs of the birth of the State of Israel reveal the rightness/naturalness of the Jewish state, arguing that the Israelis were creating a state ex nihilo by turning a desolate, unpopulated strip of land into both an urban and agricultural oasis. His images tap into the reclamation of what the settlers thought was rightly theirs and their spiritual connection to the land.
Of Photographs and Flags: Uses and Perceptions of an Iconic Image Before and After September 11 • Meg Spratt, April Peterson & Taso Lagos, Washington • After the September 11 terrorist attacks, media pundits summoned the memory of Joe Rosenthal’s classic “Flag-Raising on Iwo Jima” photograph, comparing it to a new image of a flag raising at Ground Zero. Such use of an iconic photograph reflects a widely held belief: Photographs have a direct and powerful effect on public consciousness. However, this powerful effects approach has not been supported by empirical evidence.
Print friendly
