14. Internationaler Kongress der Deutsche Gesellschaft für Semiotik (DGS) an der Universität Tübingen, 23. bis 27. September 2014
Panel: The Semiotics of Visual Literacy. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Writing and Iconicity
Deadline: 31. März 2014
Visual literacy is notoriously hard to define. In a narrow sense, it is often conceived as the competence to understand („read“) different kinds of images. In this context, the main question is whether the term „visual literacy“ is a useful or rather a misleading metaphor. The term „visual literacy“ in this sense inherits each and every of the enormous problems posed by the traditional dichotomy of the verbal and the pictorial.
But this dichotomy itself has become more and more problematic: Differenttypes of representations „between“ writing and image, such as diagrams, have become the focus of recent work in semiotics (Stjernfelt) and picture theory (Elkins), and the „mixed“ nature of all visual representations (Mitchell) as well as the visual and iconic aspects of writing (Krämer) have been recognized. Seen against the background of these developments, „visual literacy“ in a wider sense could be defined as the ability to understand visual representations in general.
5. – 13. April 2014
