Presenting My Selfie to the Digital World: Visual Composition for Better Representation

Abstract

The intention that motivates an online image's creation might be ignored by overwhelmed media consumers as images wash over them as they scroll through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat. Consumers of commercially and personally produced images tend to focus on how those images make them feel as opposed to the narrative or reportorial information embedded in images. Since both "experts" and "novices" create online images, discerning an imagemaker's level of expertise is difficult, if not impossible, to grasp due to lack of attribution, the availability of sophisticated online photo editing tools, and a steep learning curve among many novice creators. To discourage merely skimming images and to develop greater visual literacy, five principles of visual composition can be applied to access and analyze the intended and unintended denotative and connotative messages embedded in personal or commercial images posted on various social media platforms. Once those are understood, both novice and experienced image curators and creators can expand their acumen analyzing existing images for their emotional and narrative content. They could then produce effective images that include selfies, photograph-based narrative storyboards, and Vine videos to strengthen their ability to share images that require more than a cursory skim and demonstrate an understanding of digital citizenship in knowing not only what is worth posting but also where it should be posted.

Exploring Constructed Visual Representation of Self: A Semiotic Analysis of Facebook Selfies

“…The term representation signifies an object, an indication of how someone can be seen. Currently, people's selfie, tweet or status on social media are considered as representation (Peraica, 2017;Busetta & Coladonato, 2015;Christel, 2015).…”

Ortaokul Türkçe Ders Ki̇taplarinin Okuryazarlik Türleri̇ Açisindan İncelenmesi̇

“…(2015) okuryazarlık becerilerinin her vatandaş için bir sorumluluk olduğunu bu becerilere sahip olmanın toplumda katılımcı bir rol üstlenmeye yaradığını belirtmektedir. Benzer şekilde Christel (2015) görsel okuryazarlık ve eleştirel medya okuryazarlığı gibi becerileri edinen vatandaşların demokrasiye daha aktif bir biçimde katılabildiklerini aktarmaktadır. Çünkü bu türden okuryazarlık becerileri aynı zamanda "sosyo-ekonomik kalkınmaya, sosyal farkındalığa ve eleştirel düşünme kapasitesinin geliştirilmesine" de katkı sağlamaktadır (UNESCO, 2006).…”