Fourteenth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

We can no longer realise images solely through semiotic theories of interpretation and judgement fixed to earlier modes of communication, such as print. Instead, we engage with images through various networked digital devices and online social interactions. These engagements offer many possible experiences with images, some of which we have agency and others that are purely autonomic and some interactions resembling a healthy-bodied manifestation of visual agnosia. This paper utilises research from a study of graphic design students and practitioners and their views on photographic image use comparing print and online media. The author uses an interpretive approach supported by mixed data-gathering methods, including photo-elicitation, interviews, and semi-structured questions. This discussion encourages advancing visual literacy and visual culture discourses to incorporate the effects of emerging technologies and online social practices on photographic image use. These effects include sensory and cognitive responses to images, those precipitated by online social interaction and the influences of external stimuli on the way we ultimately apprehend images.