Whenever I think about blogging something I get a mental picture of the classroom I teach in everyday. I think about the faces staring up at the screen as I show examples or at the glazed looks in the students' eyes when I am trying to make a point about something.
For me, blogging is an extension of this experience. The blog is a chance for me to push the window of opportunity for learning out of the classroom and into the real world in real time.
Blogging is the equivalent of an open source for the mind and soul. Expanding on the idea of how computer programmers use the concept of open source, I see blogging as serving a similar function in society.
According to The Open Source Initiative:
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
We in the open source community have learned that this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed model, in which only a very few programmers can see the source and everybody else must blindly use an opaque block of bits.
Taking a classroom lecture on photo illustrations into the "open source of the mind" environment of the blogosphere means that my role as an authority in visual journalism may be called into question by not only my students but by anyone and everyone who takes the time to read what I have to say. Blogging as a kind of "open source of the mind" is an adventure in critical thinking that may mean taking a few risks. This is the most exciting part about blogging -- it's dangerous (sort of).
During this ongoing discussion concerning Harper's decision to manipulate a news images for a cover illustrating desertion in the military my hope is that students and others will enter the fray. My hope is that when my students read this post they are thinking of the relevance this issue may have to their lives. I would like to think that my students are reflecting about the times when they were challenged by a similar situation while working on the Spartan Daily newspaper or during an internship.
As a rule, I usually start out each semester with a story about a conversation I once overheard between two students walking out of a mass communications class. "You know," one student confides to the other. "There are are only two kinds of classes at this school." After a slight pause and look of acknowledgment from the other student, the conversation concludes. "There are two kinds of classes here. There are required waste of time classes and then just waste of time classes."
What I overheard that day profoundly impacts why I teach and why I think blogging can be a tool for transformative learning.
Although I can show countless examples of what photo illustrations are in my classes during the 75 or so minutes I share with my students, I feel it is carrying this conversation out into the world that makes all the difference. The Harper's situation is a perfect example of this.
Recently my introductory visual journalism class as well as during critique of the Spartan Daily we have discussed how photo illustrations differ from news images. However, for some reason, the idea of illustrative journalism can be a little obscure for many. Now comes the Harper's case. After reading about the story online I make a few notes and start a post. Realizing I am out of my league on this I call upon an expert, Kenny Irby at The Poynter Institute. Kenny deals with this sort of thing a lot so I figured I would leave a message on his voice mail and eventually he would get back to me. Within a few hours I get a call from Kenny who is sitting at an airport on his way to present a visual journalism ethics session at the South Carolina Press Association. Kenny talk was on Photographic Reporting: Where to draw the line. This is so cool, I think to myself after I get off the phone.
Kenny is not only a well-respected leader and expert in his field, he is also easy to talk with about complex issues. Within a few minutes, after making a few notes of our conversation, I'm back to blogging. I'm back to blogging not because I don't have anything else to do, but because it is important to continue the conversation for my students.
Kenny has thought and written about what photo illustrations are and even if he couldn't have returned my phone call, there is the Internet. In a few seconds online, I track down a December 2002 article Kenny wrote about magazine covers.
In his article, "Magazine Covers: Photojournalism or Illustration?" Kenny gets some help from professionals in answering this question.
Here are a few excepts from the pros offered in the article:
"Covers are more conceptual, offering the viewer a "quick read" to determine if they should buy/read the story."
-- Hillary Raskin, Deputy Photo Editor, Time
"The general feeling is that the covers of magazines are commerce, they're selling tools, a commodity, and that anything is acceptable. And honestly, I think readers realize that and don't necessarily assume that what they're seeing on a cover is a true image.Where this gets tricky is where manipulation is passed off as reality. But in the world of celebrities and models, what is reality?"
-- Robert Newman, Art Director, Inside.com
"There are two categories for discussion. The first is photo illustration, which we do a fair amount of and are careful to label explicitly. The second is manipulation of 'real' or 'news' images. I'm guessing this is more what you're concerned with."
-- Lynne Staley, Assistant Managing Editor/Design, Newsweek
Yes Lynne, this is exactly what we are concerned with.
Class dismissed.