Semiotics analysis-The last assignment

This is my text:

1. Briefly describe the medium used, the genre to which the ‘text’ belongs and the context in which it was found.

The text is an Indoor graffiti artwork of Banksy- a well-known pseudo-anonymous English graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol and born in 1974, but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details

The text depicted a combination of fictional characters (Mickey mouse and McDonal’s clown) and real person (the little girl) 

2. Why did you choose this ‘text’?

How does the ‘text’ relate to your own values?

I choose this text because I like what Banksy does, he brought street graffiti to a higher level and considered, recognised by public, government bodies as and actually some of his outdoor graffiti is protected against invasion.

This “text”, together with other “texts” from him containing a deep insight, expresses his philosophy, vision about life and all the things around him. I especially like this ‘text’ because of the creativeness he has put in it. With the Mickey Mouse and the Clown, the first impression we might have is some kind of happiness because of this two characters, but soon when look at the little girl in the middle, I recognised that happiness was not Banksy first intention while creating this text, especially I have seen the picture of this girl long time ago and it’s a part of Vietnam-America war’s history, where I come from…it’s world well known and named Vietnam Napalm, taken by photographer Nick Ut in 6/8/1972, in TRANG BANG Vietnam.

That is also the reason why I have such a strong feeling for this ‘text’, was born and grow up in Vietnam 8 years after the war ended, I know how miserable and tragedy a war could affect every person’s life.  Then, I told my self I will try my best to help others, be responsible and respect each other...that I believe will make life better. This ‘text’ appeals to me with two different meaning (1) since the Mickey mouse and the clown are from America, I wondering is Banksy made this ironically targeting America or not (2) These characters also represent happiness for the children, and they are holding the little girl’s hands and walk her out of the past…Isn’t it nice?

3. What reality claims are made by the ‘text?’

War is bad and we should together make life better with all its meaning or children deserve happiness.

4. Does it allude to being fact or fiction?

 I think it’s both, fact and fiction…In my opinion; this is always Banksy’s unique style of creating his texts

5. How might a change of medium affect the meanings generated?

I think if there is a change of medium, this will affect the meanings of the text...By using two colours black, white and graffiti-way to express this ‘text’, he want this to be acknowledge as a strong, simple artwork which will stay in their mind and make them think, rather than an striking painting then fade away 

6. Describe the paradigm sets used (such as shot size: long shot, mid shot, close up). Why have you used this particular shot and not a different one?

The paradigm sets used is mid shot to capture all of the three characters and put them into the focus point, in which the central focus is the little girl.

It’s interesting that in the original photo “Vietnam napalm”, the girl was also captured in the central focus, also using mid-shot technique. By that, we can also have the overview about the background and the situation when the photo was taken.

7. How might a change of shot size affect the meanings generated?

I think if we change a shot size, meaning from mid-shot to long-shot or close up, we will limit and decrease the impact of the text to audiences.

8. How does the sequential or spatial arrangement of the elements influence meaning?

The only arrangement with the text here is the position of each character. If we change their position, push them backward or move them forward; the meaning of the text will be changed and doesn’t transfer the right message to audiences as it supposes to. For example, if we move the girl to the right hand side or left hand side, audience will loose their concentrate for her, instead of her, the focus now will be moved to Mickey mouse or the Clown, which I believe certainly is not what Bansy intend to create.

9. What relationships does the ‘text’ seek to establish with its readers?

In my opinion, the “text” is definitely constructing relationship with its readers. To the readers who already the story behind, it encourage them to think further about what they are having in life and what should they do to make things better in a good way. For those who are happening not to know the story, this I think will strike them with some question such as: who is that girl, why would she cry, why, why… These questions will encourage them to find the answer and soon lead them to the first situation. Therefore, the relationship between the text is a positive one, the text will not only lead readers to discover more about the text itself but also help them to cherish more what they have.

10. How direct is the mode of address and what is the significance of this?

 In this case, I will say it is very direct, from the straight angle to the clear background, the colour back and white…very clear, direct and constructive.

11. What insights has a semiotic analysis of this ‘text’ offered?

From what I have perceived, this text has done its best job. It constructed deep meaning toward readers, made them think and lead them to gain their own perception about the text and the whole story about it. It also enables Banksy to once again, set his tone in the art of street graffiti.

My Vision of VKB

Visual ePedagogy and the Support of Computer

A Learning Process

involving different senses,

looking, touching and speaking,

connecting object and image with language

and vice versa -

Prof. Sonvilla-Weiss

Head of Master ePedagogy Design / VKB

That is actually what we always do while learning and adapting new knowledge, since when some one was a child till grown up adult. It is also how we develop memories and experiences which contribute as a part of knowledge and how someone portrait the world around him/her

However, with VKB, “The impact, visions and innovations of

Jan Amos Comenius (1592 - 1670) in pedagogical thinking is important” because it involves more with picture and visual object which help to develop relationship between things and words. All 5 senses should be all in collaborate in order to achieve a throughout knowledge about something or some event and then each individual develop their own meaning, experiences, and perceptions about life. Which we call Constructivism.

“Constructivism is a learning theory that argues that humans construct meaning from current knowledge structures”

Constructivist theory by Jean Piaget, who articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners. In addition, through processes of accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences.

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Assimilation vs. Accomodation:

Assimilation:

When individuals assimilate, they incorporate the new experience into an

already existing framework without changing that framework.

Accomodation:

In contrast, when individuals' experiences contradict their internal

representations, they may change their perceptions of the experiences to fit their internal representations. According to the theory, accommodation is the process of reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences.

In this modern world nowadays, when one can travel across borders, to other environment and culture; the differences of each place will help them to develop a high level of adaptation and integration, in order to adjust to the new life, new accommodation. This process will be smoother and more transparent with the innovation of VKB. This is not only about education inside school-area but also is a further education with anything matter to each individual, and it does not stop anywhere or have any limitation because there is no boundary for sharing and developing knowledge

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If I do not have my computer for one day , I would really freak out and going crazy because not only it disconnect me with my friends, and families far away, it disconnects me with the world and other activities around me. Time by time, I realize that the television doesnt satisfy my thirst of updating meself with what is happening around me. I got more from the internet via computer. And eversince I began with this study, the computer is such a powerful and useful equipment which support me a lot in catching with classmates, teacher and being informed with any latest news from school.

Now, VKB came with blended learning and e-pedagogy, there will no VKB without computer and the Internet. What are we suppose to share knowledge and forming an online-class? No, we can not do that with hand, paper and pen. With the help of computer, there are many communities rising up with various common hobby, purpose and background. The blog community or Wikipedia community are good example. There is extremely fast and popular way to expose new knowledge, developments and so on... We use to the act of looking for anything in Wikipedia and unintentialy we trust those information. Fortunately, since anyone could view the same source of information, we keep on update with latest news, correct any wrong input. It grows so quick and strong that actually some off-line conferences have been held in several places around the world. Is it beautiful, the help of computer in the era of VKB

VKB- Infodesign- Isotypes

Isotype is a set of pictographic characters used “to create narrative visual material, avoiding details which do not improve the narrative character (neurath 1936: 240) (lecture)

(Wikipedia) In graphic design and sociology, an Isotype is a system of pictograms designed by the Austrian educator and philosopher Otto Neurath and the illustrator Gerd Arntz to communicate information in a simple, non-verbal way. It means International System of Typographic Picture Education.

Infodesign appeal for me as Information Design in which the term "Information" means anything related to language, pictogram, letters, etc. Thus, Infodesign is a way to structure those information in to a more comprehensive, yet simpler form so any one could easily understand its meaning and avoid any wrong interpretation. Then, later on it became popular and being recognised by people, that makes those design transfer into standard in some business, such as airline, clothing

Isotypes and Infodesign are important parts of Visual Knowledge building because as we first immediate think about VKB is learning and expanding our Knowledge with the help mostly from Visualisation. Not only that, in the modern life, where everywhere is a fast pace environment, in which every one is constantly moving and getting new knowledge every day; the use of symbol, signals is significantly over our estimation. Imagine, you have to catch your flight in 30 mins, all you could do or I could do is looking for a symbol depart-information, then check-in counter, then boarding gate. On the way of doing that, you ignore other interfierce information and symbol, and why we are able to do that, because we know the meaning of each symbol, by learning from time to time, from each environment we are in, intentional or unintentional.

Same thing occurs to VKB learning, there are thousands of information, knowledge about anything in the world around us and how could our small brain is able to process all those data and communication flow. In my opinion, it depends alot in to Infodesign because that what simplify all the informations; furthermore, it clarify and structurize data in a world standard form. So, people from different part of the world would be able to learn the same knowledge and more or less have the same interpretation which is a crucial thing for international communication and as well as global bussiness development.

VKB-knowledge management- mind map vs. concept map

Wikipedia says:

Knowledge Management ('KM') comprises a range of practices used by organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge. It has been an established discipline since 1995 with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Most large companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a part of 'Information Technology' or 'Human Resource Management' departments, and sometimes reporting directly to the head of the organisation. As effectively managing information is a must in any business,and knowledge and information are intertwined, Knowledge Management is a multi-billion dollar world wide market.

Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organisational objectives and are intended to achieve specific outcomes; these can include improved performance, competitive advantage innovation, lessons learnt transfer (for example between projects) and the general development of collaborative practices.

One aspect of Knowledge Management, knowledge transfer, has always existed in one form or another. Examples include on-the-job peer discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forums, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. However, with computers becoming more widespread in the second half of the 20th century, specific adaptations of technology such as knowledge bases, expert systems, and knowledge repositories have been introduced to further simplify the process.

Knowledge Management programs attempt to manage the process of creation (or identification), accumulation and application of knowledge across an organisation. As such Knowledge Management is frequently linked to the idea of the learning organisation although neither practice encompasses the other. Knowledge Management may be distinguished from Organisational Learning by a greater focus on specific knowledge assets and the development and cultivation of the channels through which knowledge flows

So, Knowledge management is not something new but actually has been existing since the beginning of human-developing process. Especially with organisations, it has always been there, it is the organisation's mission statement, objectives, history, employment guidelines...Basically anything related to the existence and development of the organization. The knowledge could be hierachy deliver from the top management board, or conducted and implemented by a group of professionals. They could be HR department, or Corporate Communication department which only has to directly report to the Management board. Those departments gather information, conduct research, work it out, seek approval from Management Board, then publish, update organisation activities, achievements, strategy and performance staffs member, clients/customers...

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In order to organise any information, thoughs, idea more stucture in categories, we have the help of mind map and concept map which are

Mind mapping and concept mapping aim to assist in very different tasks.

Mind mapping aims to enable users to break free of their habits and to think creatively. Mind map is a form of brainstorming; it can not be right or wrong, but only be useful or not useful. The aim of making a mind map is to help though and actions can be proceed more clearly, helping user clarify and plan their idea.It is a tool that aims to assist in the opening parts of a mental process.

In some ways mind mapping finishes where concept mapping begins. Therefore, when one already has his/her idea sorted out, the concept of what he/she is trying to write about, he/she could begin to concept-mapping the relationships between ideas under one concept.

Photography and VKB (P3)

What have I learn from Photography?

- Visual Communication
- Visual Education

(my big thanks to Google, where I found most of these pictures below)

Love-Peace


Cultures


Art


Sympathy


Politics


The world


...

Myself

Photography and VKB (P2)

Later on, when the first permanent photograph was produced by the French inventor Nicephore Niepce (1820s), that was the beginning of an continously growing evolution. Inventors and photographers passionately discovered new way of taking picture and editing them. Besides drawing and painting, we now have another method to portrait images, people and catching moments in time.

Photograph pictures are also found more in literacy, it depicts something or someone better, clearer and more realistic illustrated. Soon, it appears everywhere and before we even noticing, education is nothing without pictures and illustrations

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E-learning vs. Blended learning

“ ...technology should not be used to replicate existing classroom practices, but should be exploited to do what is not possible in the classroom.”

– Diana Laurillard, Head of the E-Learning Strategy Unit, Ministry of Education UK

Obviously, E-learning is becomming a common term now in Education, it offer a great opportunity for whom who doesnt have anough time to go to school like normal student, or they lives too far from the wished-school, or just because of some personal reasons. E-learning is mostly executed with the help of Internet and online voice-call services. However, there is a lack of face2face (F2F)interaction, and the chance to improve one's social skill and develop any possible relationship between student and teacher, student and his/her fellow classmates.

Therefore, Blended learning is refer to be a more comprehensive way of learning. It involves several approaches of technology, F2F interaction and collaborations between individuals..in short, virtual and physical resouces.
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Either with E-learning or Blended learning, photography plays a vital role in the process of these leaning methods.
E-learning and Blended learning are using technology as a MUST in order to publish any information to students. Internet, online database, websites, blogs... have been developed to satisfy students' needs of learning new thing with a new way. Right at this, we recognise the importance of photography. There is no other way to portrait an real object or an event except taking photo, and upload them. Therefore, after the invention of cameras, a lot of other machines and equipments are produced to develop picture into other forms and formats, such as photocopy machine, fax and scanner. Nowadays, with the big help of digital camera, broadband internet, every one can easily populate any picture as fast as possible...

Certanily, E-learning and Blended learning will have to give Photography a big thank of what it has been done to the society now. Not only for entertainment business, but also to education, that's what make it growing so quick and strong.