The Visual Literacy Dimension of Community Communication: Illustration Preferences of a Rural Community in South Africa

• Rolf J. Gaede ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Technology

     University of Technology

     Rusia

     
• Localización: Exploring Visual Literacy Inside, Outside and Through the Frame / Aundreta Conner Farris (ed. lit.), Frieda Pattenden (ed. lit.), 2012, ISBN 9781848881129, págs. 23-29
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The chapter discusses the role of visual literacy in a community communication setting and specifically focuses on the process of identifying pictorial communication preferences in the Thibela community of the rural Qwa Qwa region in South Africa. The aim was to collect empirical information on the basis of which easily comprehensible and appropriately illustrated nutrition education material about growing and using soya beans, produced in a visual style acceptable to the community, could be developed. The data collection and analysis procedures were guided by core concepts from the visual literacy literature, including the notion of visual representational latitude (VRL) as described by Pauwels, as well as the contractual axis of semiosis, which forms part of Johansen’s semiotic pyramid model. The data collection approach involved a ten to fifteen minutes long, voluntary and anonymous session in the respondent’s home language during which a field worker completed a questionnaire in the presence of the participant (n=75). The questionnaire was designed with a view to accommodate low-literate participants and comprised items relating to pictorial referent recognition, varying degrees of visual abstraction, as well as a range of illustrative styles, including pictograms, clip art and hand-drawn images. The outcome was that a clear consensus emerged among the participants about the type of pictorial signs that should be included, and the manner in which they should be used. The questionnaire data also illustrate the main strengths and weaknesses associated with the different illustrative styles according to the views and opinions of the respondents, and underscore the widely accepted view that inappropriate visual images have the potential to generate an extensive range of unintended meanings.

    On the strength of the data collected, a visually illustrated nutrition education calendar was produced and then distributed free of charge in the community.