Invited Speakers
Visual Manipulation: How Memes, Photos, And Videos Reshape Reality
Some of the most viral and compelling online misinformation is visual. This talk will look at examples of visual misinformation, the role it plays in accelerating polarization and division, and offer insight into how journalists investigate and track it.
Craig Silverman is an award-winning journalist and author and one of the world's leading experts on online disinformation, fake news, and digital investigations. He is the media editor of BuzzFeed News where he covers platforms, online disinformation, and media manipulation. Craig is also the editor of the European Journalism Centre’s Verification Handbook series. These free online books offer world-class guidance on how to verify online content and investigate disinformation and media manipulation. He was named to the Politico 50 for his work exposing fake news and its effect on American politics and is the recipient of the Carey McWilliams Award from the American Political Science Association, which honors “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.” His 2019 series exposing a global Facebook advertising scam was named investigation of the year by the Canadian Association of Journalists. His journalism and books have also been honored by the Mirror Awards, U.S. National Press Club, National Magazine Awards (Canada), and Crime Writers of Canada.
Maria D. Avgerinou and Rune Pettersson - Visual Literacy Theory: Moving Forward
Despite numerous efforts, Visual Literacy (VL) scholars have not yet arrived at a general consensus for the theoretical organization of this field. To address the lingering issue with problematic implications for VL research and practice, we have put forward a framework that may not only describe and explain how VL has performed to date, but also afford a better understanding and possibly prescribe how it may manifest itself in the future. Our proposed VL theory is grounded on five pillars, namely areas of study that according to the literature have underpinned VL for the past 50 years at least. These areas are (1) visual communication, (2) visual language, (3) visual learning, (4) visual perception, and (5) visual thinking. It is critical that visual literacists embrace a framework that both brings together and represents these significant areas of study.
Maria D. Avgerinou, Ph.D., has focused her work on the Theory, Research, and Assessment of Visual Literacy over the past 25 years. As a former academic in American, British, and Greek universities, she has taught, published, and presented extensively on the research and practice of visual literacy for education and training. Maria has served IVLA as President, Editor of the Selected Readings, and since 2012 as the Editor of the Journal of Visual Literacy/JVL (Routlege/Taylor & Francis). Among her other recognitions, she is the recipient of IVLA's Research award.
Rune Pettersson, Ph.D., was appointed Professor of Information Design at Mälardalen University in Eskilstuna, Sweden, in May 1999, and he retired in December 2008. Before that, he had worked in publishing, in R&D, in Technical Training and in University Teaching and Research. Rune has been President, and Vice President of the International Visual Literacy Association, IVLA, and Vice President of the International Institute for Information Design, IIID. For 7 years, Rune taught online courses at Appalachian State University in the USA. Since 1990 he is active in the Institute for Infology. He has published 300 papers and 100 books.
