Visual literacy concepts and practices

¶ … Value of Access to Excessive Visuals

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Assessing Value of Access Excessive Visuals

The paper will consider visual literacy with respect to legal and ethical implications of the access to numerous visuals to users of the Internet in the 21st century. The overall subject matter of the Youtube video students were to watch has to do with copyrights and use. The Internet is a vast and useful resource. There is no doubt that its existence has changed and in many ways improved humanity and human relations around the world. As part and parcel of the Internet, users in most countries have at their fingertips access to an innumerable amount of material, including a vast number of visuals such as photographs, diagrams, and charts.

On the one hand, access to numerous visual sources can have positive effects. People can be exposed to works of art, to data infographics, and to compelling photography from across cultures and time. Yet, with the advent of new technology, there is a learning curve. Users must be careful to develop information and visual literacy to sift through and understand what they are viewing and perhaps using and very likely sharing with others. The video about copyright basics made concise and animated explanations of what is permissible, what is legal, and what is illegal.

In a way, the video is a discussion upon visual literacy. Many cultures, such as American culture, people are becoming more visually dependent; that is, more people are consuming visuals more than audio and traditional reading. This greater shift to a more visual culture makes visual literacy and copyright basics very relevant. In an ideal situation, as people consume more visuals, they would become more visually literate.

There is a very distinct danger and practice of copyright violations. People become excited about images and other visuals they encounter through their use of the Internet and often have the desire to share those visuals with friends, colleagues, and other members of their community, even to repost or share the visuals for the general public somewhere online. The instinct to share may be good in some cases, but without visual literacy and awareness of copyright basics, sharing visuals could be illegal and violate the rights of the party that created the copyrighted material that was distributed. Basically, without knowledge of copyright basics, people who share photographs and other visuals act recklessly and irresponsibly. Even people with the best or most altruistic intentions could be violating the law and violating the rights given to each person to produces copyrighted material.

There are not many regulations on the Internet as of yet; many governments and private agencies are moving to increase regulations on the Internet. A number of regulatory changes that may come in the near and distant future will certainly be related to copyright and intellectual property laws. Once the Internet was invented and its use became so widespread, topics such as intellectual property and copyright law came to the forefront of news and current events in many countries.