Nowadays images define our cultures and societies, anywhere and everywhere across the world. According to multiple estimates, images make up more than 90% of all digital data.
Images might serve to entertain, influence, manipulate or persuade us. Sometimes images merely fill up unused spaces, in other occasions they define our personal feelings and social activities. We tend to look at images, particularly so today because of their abundance, without thinking, often taking them for granted at a face value. I see therefore I believe.
Current developments in the form of Deepfakes or AI-produced visuals question the role of images and their significance, profoundly challenging their relation to the real. And because the visual form is immediate and everywhere, Visual Literacy has become more important than ever.
During the interactive course contained within MIA - the Meta-Image Application - you will explore and enhance your Visual Literacy capability and skillsets, learning how to use Visual Literacy to empower your creative thinking and cultural awareness as much as across your professional requirements and in academia.
The process of learning is an active one, which requires experimentation and practicing with the knowledge that you have gathered. The MIA course includes interactive exercises for each lesson, to help you to develop your critical understanding and skills in visual literacy. Each exercise has a number of potential outcomes, which allow you to explore different approaches and receive feedback on your learning.
The interactive exercises can be conducted individually or in groups, and results can be shared with a course tutor through the app’s Export feature. There is an interactive quiz included for each lesson, so you can self-track your own understanding and identify what might require more exercise.
Reflecting on your own knowledge and learning is fundamental to developing lifelong skills in any field. For each lesson you are therefore asked to reflect on what you have done and what you have learnt. At this point it’s valuable to consider the following questions: What did you learn that you didnt know before? Which concepts were challenging to understand and will deserve more learning? What aspects did you enjoy learning about? Which aspects of this lesson will be useful to your creative practice and professional activities? What will you do next to take the knowledge of these concepts to a higher level? The reflection text can be shared with the tutor via the app Export feature, as well as to facilitate a 1-to-1 session or a class discussion.
In short, MIA – The Meta-Image is a developing toolbox to be complemented with the tutoring learning platform MASSIMEDIA.TRAINING where you will be offered complementary opportunities to develop your visual literacy competencies and practical skills.
MIA was developed by Dr Massimiliano Fusari and RT Sixty Ltd in collaboration with the University of Westminster, London, UK, and was generously funded by the Quintin Hogg Trust.