Journal of Visual Literacy 

About: Journal of Visual Literacy is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Visual literacy & Visual rhetoric. It has an ISSN identifier of 1051-144X. Over the lifetime, 368 publications have been published receiving 3840 citations. The journal is also known as: JVL.

The Levels of Visual Framing.

Abstract: While framing research has centered mostly on the evaluations of media texts, visual news discourse has remained relatively unexamined. This study surveys the visual framing techniques and methods employed in previous studies and proposes a four-tiered model of identifying and analyzing visual frames: (1) visuals as denotative systems, (2) visuals as stylistic-semiotic systems, (3) visuals as connotative systems and (4) visuals as ideological representations. These four tiers are defined and the process of identifying frames at each level is explicated. The proposed system can be applied to analyzing any type of visual media content or audiences’ perception of that content.

Visual Cues in Computer-Mediated Communication: Supplementing Text with Emoticons

Abstract: Increased usage of e-mail brings a variety of communication patterns. One way of clarifying verbal meaning within e-mail messages is through the use of visual symbols, or emoticons. Emoticons are visual cues formed from ordinary typographical symbols that when read sideways represent feelings or emotions. This paper reports results of a study about emoticons that appear in list e-mail traffic in higher education.

Toward a Cohesive Theory of Visual Literacy.

Abstract: Despite the fact that to date Visual Literacy (VL) scholars have not arrived at a general consensus for a theoretical organization of the VL field, important conceptual investigations have emerged over the past four decades. In this paper we discuss and synthesize those studies. We then present a first attempt toward a cohesive theory of VL. The main components of the proposed VL theory are Visual Perception, Visual Language (ViL), Visual Learning, Visual Thinking, and Visual Communication. Here we focus on discussing ViL and its constituent parts: 1) ViL exists; 2) ViL is holistic; 3) ViL must be learned; 4) ViL may improve learning; 5) ViL is not universal; 6) ViL often needs verbal support.

Visual Literacy and the Digital Native: An Examination of the Millennial Learner

Abstract: The so-called millennial learners who currently populate college classrooms are purportedly digital natives whose repeated exposure to a host of new technologies has allegedly resulted in enhanced skills in several areas, including those related to technology and visual communication. By extension, the argument has been made that digital natives have a significant degree of visual literacy. This article reports the results of an empirical study that examines these claims by assessing post-secondary students’ use of visually-oriented technologies and their interpretation of visual material. The survey data suggest that participants are not particularly adept at producing and interpreting visual communication.

Visual Literacy Defined – The Results of a Delphi Study: Can IVLA (Operationally) Define Visual Literacy?

Abstract: A relatively new approach to visual thinking and the grammar of imagery is visual literacy. Visual messages have existed before text-based messaging in the forms of prehistoric pictured communications and other symbols, however, a definition of visual literacy that enjoys the consensus of the visual literacy scholarly community does not exist. The purpose of this study was to solicit a first generation definition of visual literacy as a result of a Delphi study. Inconclusive results lead the authors to challenge the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) to construct and adopt an operational definition of visual literacy