In a relatively short space of time, the concept of visual literacy has grown from seedbeds of ideas in a small subset of disciplines into a movement of thinking and practice that touches nearly all fields of research. The exponential growth in the digital world in only one example of how visual literacy has become an integrated component of modernity. This interactive inter-disciplinary conference seeks to examine, explore and make multi-disciplinary connections to all issues surrounding visual literacy in regard to current theory and praxis. Perspectives are sought from those engaged in fields such as popular culture, architecture, cinema, youth culture, education, semiotics, art history, visual arts, fine arts, literature, philosophy, psychology, critical theory and theology. These disciplines are indicative only as papers are welcomed from any area, profession and vocation in which visual literacy plays a part.

Papers, reports, work-in-progress and workshops are invited on issues related to, but not limited by, any of the following themes;

1. Visual Literacy as Theory

  • What are the theoretical constructs of your discipline?
  • What are the current debates and directions of your field?
  • What are the various forms of socio-cultural reactions and realizations of visual literacy?
  • What are the modes and nodes of interdisciplinary connections to visual literacy in your field?
  • How will the concept of visual literacy be described in the next decade in your discipline?
  • How does the concept of ‘framing’ fit with visual literacy in your field?

2. Visual Literacy as Practice

  • What are the forms of representation and realization of visual literacy in your field?
  • What are the current debates and issues around the notion of ‘practice’ in your field?
  • What are the current ‘tools, approaches and applications’ of visual literacy in your field?
  • What are the current interdisciplinary connections to the ‘tools, approaches and applications’ of visual literacy in your field?
  • What are the ‘insiders views’ visual literacy? (That is from the perspective of artists, taggers, digital natives, digital or visual immigrants)

3. Visual Literacy as Analysis

  • What are the modes of visual literacy analysis in your field?
  • What are the ‘tools’ of visual literacy analysis in your field?
  • What are the current debates around analysis in your field?
  • What are the current debates and forms of analysis in the areas of art history, fine arts, creative arts, multimodality, cinema, television, drama and IT?

4. Visual Literacy as an Interdisciplinary Overlap

  • How is visual literacy connected to visual rhetoric and/or visual thinking: overlaps, questions and differences?
  • How is visual literacy related to sensory perception?
  • How is curriculum design in, or across disciplines connected to and through Visual literacy?

The Steering Group welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals.