WORLDWIDEJIMMY

Hello Rotterdam! Lets the fun begin!

The first post on my new/first blog in my life.

This blog is my creation to be able to present my interpretation of visual knowledge building and also show results of different assignments during the minor.  I have summarized different parts from the minor and have also try to give my own examples, to show how my understanding are about the subject. The material in this blog comes from power points, teachers lessons, Internet and the book Visual Language: Perspective for both makers and users” by Jos van den Broek et al.

Teachers for this minor:

 Jaap Jansen, Simon Palser and Linda Deutz.

The power of the image

Interpreting of images and usage of implementation of visual language can provide a new and wider understanding for a subject, environment and personality. A interpretation are personal and have their base in a persons previous experiences and culture and so on and when you create a image you must have this in mind, which are my clients and who will interpret my creation and what is my purpose. By using text, symbols and other visual aids may pictures message be clearer and misunderstandings can be avoided in a wider range. Sometimes is the purpose from the artist to send these misunderstandings to the audiences, this is very common in the political context when the try to send out their message. Visual languages can roughly be divided in three steps.

• Observe/describe: what do you see?
• Interpret: what do you think that it means? What do you make of it?
• Assess: how ‘good’ is the product?

Use of visual communication has many advantages and there is lot of methods to perform it.

I will give my view of the subject in this blog and try to summarize the material from the course and the three different classes (Visual communication, Visual knowledge building and Training VC and VKB), which I have seen as most interesting and instructive. I have also include my sketchbook, there I hav put pictures from different assignments and inspirations images. 

VC AND VKB

The term visual knowledge building is a combination of two definitions, which are visual knowledge building and visual communication.

During the minor have the definition of visual knowledge building appear clearer for me then before. It’s not just improves knowledge bye visual aids and in that way embrace new knowledge.  By including creativity approaches and different interpretations methods, which can be supported by text, different shapes, environment and etc. can a visual knowledge building be performed.

The term communication in this field have also been develop a greater impact of the subject then before for me. It’s only to convey a message; it’s how the makers have chose to convey the message and which methods have been used to target the right interpretation.

I like to take photographs and I think I’m a visual person. But during this minor have I learn and understand the affect to combine visual aids in pictures. By include a powerful text for example, may the whole interpretation be easier or totally different. This can perform many benefits and misunderstandings can be avoid be using different visual aids as text, signs symbols, logos and etc.

Visual Knowledge Building 

The learning systems have been changed during the years and physical things as a book and teacher in classrooms have been replaced by Internet courses and E-books.  Sources as social medias has created an opportunity for people to embrace and interact with new knowledge by the easy ability to meeting different kind of people and cultures. By using Internet as a connection point are classrooms for teaching as well unnecessary, by using connection points as Blackboard can course material for example PowerPoint’s be uploaded.

That has been a of a great use in this minor to have the opportunity to went back at the PowerPoint’s at Blackboard again after the lesson in try to get a better understanding of the material and combined that with new found knowledge from the course book, Visual language.

Visual communication

I think visual communication include everything in our surrounding. Everything we can see everyday and everywhere. If you walk at the street can you see them everywhere, sign, symbols and images and by the semiotics can this things be correct interpreted.

This can be difficult because different countries and cultures may have different sign and symbols and can lead to misunderstands and wrong interpretations. In many cases can the combination of text and images work well as a visual aids to clarify the message but it has their disadvantages too if the languages are unknown.

 

Figure 1 – Swedish stop sign

Figure 2 – Chinese stop sign

Here is an example of a stop sign, one from Sweden and one from China. We can understand there main purpose that we have to stop before this sign, but because of the text differences can a misunderstand happen. That’s why the visual understanding are so important today and I will explain later on how this can be performed as a great tool to use.

Visual Communication and Visual Knowledge Building is a growing form of our modern age learning and by this minors have I start to understand things different then before, which I know will helpful in the future. By using different technologies and visual aids am I able to learn faster and understand things more easy then before.

Knowledge and knowledge building

Culture, locations, family, experiences, education and so on are sources for knowledge building, theoretical and practical understanding.

To create knowledge in different subjects has you to pass two steps, data and information gathering. You can understand a subject and have “data” about it.  To be able to collect more data and understand their relation between each other, you need to understand their pattern, why the different data have a relation to each other (information). When this are performed in a different context in purpose to understand something other, you have created knowledge about the subject. This is how you create new knowledge and proof it by understanding the implementation in different subjects and the recognition of the pattern. Without this knowledge you don’t have the confident understanding of a subject with ability to use it for a specific purpose.

I seen knowledge building as an ongoing process (see picture above), by gather information, interpret and process it and gather more during the time (Definition of building by oxford dictionaries; The creation or development of something over a period of time). This will give sporadically outcome of knowledge during the time of the ongoing process.

Knowledge building can be explained as a process of creating new cognitive aspects as a result of common goals, ideas, discussions and so on. It can also be a deep constructivism, which is based on experiential learning through real life experience.

According to Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2003, p. 13 is knowledge building may be defined simply as “the creation, testing, and improvement of conceptual artifacts. It is not confined to education but applies to creative knowledge work of all kinds”.

Example: 
You want to learn to drive a snow mobile. You read about it so you know how the theoretical information is about the machine and how to drive. Now you only have the information about it, not the knowledge. When you start to use the theoretical information and try to drive a snow mobile and in that way learn by doing and also implement constructivism may this information fast turn to knowledge. The more practices you done, the more knowledge will you create and by implement the theoretical information about this environment and combined it with constructivism will you with time create a good base of knowledge and can have use of it in other different fields.

By achieving learning and knowledge by book and lectures and different learning sources as mentioned before, by embrace information, put it in a context, memorize, acting and practice, it will give a meaning and create useful knowledge.