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from advanced science to checking out at McDonalds to answering email—there’s visualizations and  visual interfaces
Miele oven controls.
OLEP= Organic Light-Emitting Polymers
Bank of America (which just bought Fleet)
“As part of its strategy to provide customers with the choice and convenience they want, Bank of America announced today it is rolling out 22 ATMs that will use the technology of the World Wide Web. Using this Web technology, customers may soon be able to view copies of cancelled checks, buy or trade stocks or even get messages from the bank at the ATM. “http://www.bankofamerica.com/newsroom/press/press.cfm?PressID=press.20000914.04.htm&LOBID=11
Refrigerator.
Visuals presented by computers commonplace. Come to  expect them…
Much greater change than even the printing press: free, reaches millions of people, widely available + anything on it can be replicated with no loss of quality. Like a printing press for images AND text, on steroids.
formerly visual communication was the domain of experts: graphics designers, illustrators, etc. Photography let people without any particular education and skill make visual images, but hard to “publish”. Now children can do sophisticated visual things and adults can, and more and more have to do them.
Previously no one would have seen mr walter’s work (and we might have been better off) but now anyone can make their work known…
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SOURCES
http://www.forrestwalter.com/myart.html
Real art: www.guild.com
Visual computing can let us see the invisible (and inaccessible or extremely complex). For example, we can now see formerly non-visual parameters such as wind flow direction and velocity and temperature, all at once, in a scientific visualization system of a wind tunnel. We can also view and work with single atoms and visually analyze data from far reaches of the universe.
Not just the instruments, but processing of the data that is important.
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SOURCES
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html
DNA fragments with 2686 base pairs (914nm length) acquired with Atomic Force Microscope. This sample was prepared and measured by Fernando Moreno-Herrero (Lab. Nuevas Microscopías, UAM) http://www.nanotec.es/img_14.htm
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http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2003/30/
  
Wind = http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/shipt_str.gif
 
  Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy
  View all images This festively colorful nebula, called NGC 604, is one of the largest known seething cauldrons of star birth seen in a nearby galaxy. NGC 604 is similar to familiar star-birth regions in our Milky Way galaxy, such as the Orion Nebula, but it is vastly larger in extent and contains many more recently formed stars. This monstrous star-birth region contains more than 200 brilliant blue stars within a cloud of glowing gases some 1,300 light-years across, nearly 100 times the size of the Orion Nebula.
science meets philosophy…
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SOURCES
Fredkin: Digital Philosophy (DP) is a new way of thinking about the fundamental workings of processes in nature. DP is an atomic theory carried to a logical extreme where all quantities in nature are finite and discrete. This means that, theoretically, any quantity can be represented exactly by an integer. Further, DP implies that nature harbors no infinities, infinitesimals, continuities, or locally determined random variables. This paper explores Digital Philosophy by examining the consequences of these premises
http://www.digitalphilosophy.org/index.htm
http://www.wolframscience.com/thebook.html
Computation new model for thinking about nature
The visual is not always a transparent global language, but it’s often much more transportable than words. The image of the students in Tiananmen Square were readable by both Westerners and those in China. So were images of the Trade Centers collapsing, and more mundane things—what celebrities look like and like to wear. FACTOID: Film and TV are the US’s second largest export after aerospace 3.6b to Europe alone in 1992 (Barber 95:90) Visual Culture , Nicholas Mirzoeff
READ BLURB from TIME
Their summary: “With a single act of defiance, a lone Chinese hero revived the world's image of courage” Almost nobody knew his name. Nobody outside his immediate neighborhood had read his words or heard him speak. Nobody knows what happened to him even one hour after his moment in the world's living rooms. But the man who stood before a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square — June 5, 1989 — may have impressed his image on the global memory more vividly, more intimately than even Sun Yat-sen did. Almost certainly he was seen in his moment of self-transcendence by more people than ever laid eyes on Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and James Joyce combined.
   The meaning of his moment — it was no more than that — was instantly decipherable in any tongue, to any age: even the billions who cannot read and those who have never heard of Mao Zedong could follow what the "tank man" did. A small, unexceptional figure in slacks and white shirt, carrying what looks to be his shopping, posts himself before an approaching tank, with a line of 17 more tanks behind it. The tank swerves right; he, to block it, moves left. The tank swerves left; he moves right. Then this anonymous bystander clambers up onto the vehicle of war and says something to its driver, which comes down to us as: "Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you." One lone Everyman standing up to machinery, to force, to all the massed weight of the People's Republic — the largest nation in the world, comprising more than 1 billion people — while its all powerful leaders remain, as ever, in hiding somewhere within the bowels of the Great Hall of the People. The Unknown Rebel
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/rebel.html With a single act of defiance, a lone Chinese hero revived the world's image of courage Monday, April 13, 1998
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SOURCES
Visual Culture , Nicholas Mirzoeff pp. (Barber 95:90)
[need exact quote, page]
Baum on Tiananmen image (and much more discussion of the image)
http://pekingduck.org/archives/000935.php
TIME 100 most important people of the Century
The Unknown Rebel
http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/rebel.html
First, some non-computer-related observations:
Visual culture:
Art history: painted by Michelangelo in early 1500s, part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, famous painting, commissioned by the Pope Julius II,
uses religious iconography and narrative: we know from title that the figures are God and Adam.
We can look at the styles of the period and of Michelangelo  in particular, etc. realistic yet idealized depiction of human form, Renaissance attention to proportion, use of shading and perspective, all important aspects of this period of painting
Theory: we all recognize this image, why? Walter Benjamin and influence of mechanical reproduction—creating what he termed the “aura” of the original.
Evidence: Over 3million visitors a year to Vatican museums.
So probably at least 2 m people/year see this in person– a lot!
Viewers tell of aggravation of actually going to see the chapel. Hour-long wait typical! Dark, cramped, forced in one direction, etc. recorded tape didn’t work… (link in notes)
Technology: Role of photography and printing essential in creating this situation.
Art and Design: the life-like modeling of the human form, the dynamic composition, the use of color, especially as revealed by the recent cleaning of the chapel ceiling . The challenges of fresco, etc
The effects of the design can also now be analyzed in terms of…
Vision Science (Cog Sci) : how do we recognize those swirls of paint as people?
Why do some colors come forward—red in front, red for God, blue recedes (artists’ rules of thumb but also now confirmed by more scientific methods)
Why easy to discern figure from ground,
How was Michelangelo able to create the  illusion of the painted architectural elements (and the role they play in the image….)
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SOURCES
http://luciano.stanford.edu/~fred/rome.html
Travel reports describe long lines, multi-hour waits, people bribing official to cut the lines, unpleasant viewing conditions, and more
http://www.epinions.com/content_18359946884
“aura” of original increased not only by seeing it in art books, but
You can get a poster, a mug, a mouse pad. (can be done with just photographic reproduction)
But also go online. Unlike big coffee table book, seeing the images is free online.
Vatican web site online with images gets over 50 million hits/month.
www.vatican.va
Image Economy: In a book the image doesn’t replicate itself—on the Web it does. Over 100 versions online (Google image search) and many more with regular search
But are they “legal”?
You can’t just make a mousepad with this image—you need to license it. Gift-o-polis probably did pay photo rights money, but what about the art history students who copy the image for their personal use? What is legal and how can anyone stop  the proliferation of image once it’s in digital form?
Can you download this image and alter it for an art project?
 Vatican uses it as a graphic to advertise itself!
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html
who owns what and what rights do you have to use, change, distribute digital images : as an artist, teacher, reporter, or business? Huge stock photo agencies have emerged on the Web and it costs money to use their images… it’s virtually impossible to find good photos of people for free on the Web because you need permission from the people.
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SOURCES
 http://www.giftapolis.com/creatofadmic.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/24/tech/main560158.shtml
Indicator of success of this economy  -- number of images for sale—and variety of them, as can be seen on this poster web site…  none of these list a date anywhere—art history world and image economy not always well-connected.
“The contents of the site are protected by copyright. Neither the text nor the images may be reproduced, in any from, without the authorisation of the Vatican Museums, 00210 Vatican City.”
Barbara Krueger has a nice comment and when thinking of the image economy her word “invest” here is particularly apt.
Philosophy: What is beauty? What makes this a great painting? (not just reproduction…), what is the role of religion in art (?)
We will get in the habit of looking at images from all these different vantage points…
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SOURCES
1982. Unique photostat. 72 x 48 in. New York: Museum of Modern Art. http://www.courses.rochester.edu/seiberling/AAH128/IMAGES.HTM
So, not too many computer-related issues in the last example, but… now let’s look at impact of reproduction at a whole new level…
 Michelangelo, when he was painting the Sistine chapel really wanted to be creating sculpture—he was forced to paint it against his wishes.
One of his most famous sculptures is his David.
Goal of Digital Michelangelo Project was to make a 3D model that people can explore from any point of view, different lighting, etc.
Visual Culture:
History: It’s David from David Goliath story in the bible.
The statue of David was started by a different artist, Agostino di Duccio, in 1463. He picked out a rather narrow piece of stone, which was customary for artists of his denomination. If you are an art expert, you can see from the side that this is not a piece that Michelangelo would have picked. It is too thin. http://vlsi.colorado.edu/~rbloem/david.html
Politically: resonated with Florence and its situation within the city state of Italy
Also, aesthetically very beautiful sculpture.
Already several full-scale replicas in Florence.
Computer Graphics and Visualization (CS): The Stanford project, led by Marc Levoy, was a heroic proof-of-concept project costing millions of dollars.
Not replicable/scalable at this point. Going to tell you a bit about it because: fascinating project, demonstrates some of the many implications of visual computing for fields from art to tourism to philosophy, as well as technical issues in computer graphics (papers on project published at SIGGRAPH and elsewhere).
3D scanning not new: People scan 3D stuff all the time, cheap devices, used for movie special effects, etc., etc. but really good quality, accuracy of large-scale delicate rare unmovable art works is a different story.
Sampled sculpture at less than 1mm intervals (it’s over 5feet tall)
Scanned with customize device but some parts of surface self shading—had to use hands canners. Still spent hours trying to fill in missing data—holes in the final model.
Dealt with
--had to hire 24 security guard
--had to have shifts and scan all night to get done in time frame of grant and italian gov.
--had to use manual controls and encase parts of the scanner in foam to ensure no accidental damage to sculpture
--had to account for light falloff from actual lighting to create accurate model of surface that could be lit any way a user desires in a 3D scene
--data sets huge (many gigabytes) and hard to deal with.
2mm accuracy
4 million polygons—triangles-- in the head.
8 million for entire statue.
Raw data was over 2 billion triangles
Head takes 12 hours to render.
Veining and reflectance artificial. Renderings include physically correct subsurface scattering, but with arbitrary parameters.
Data for flawless, watertight, full-resolution model of the entire statue, with color = 2 billion polygons and 7,000 color images, occupying 32 gigabytes.
3D graphics in general incorporates most of the concepts learned in 2D graphics—the texture maps and “7000 color images” referred to are all raster data—something we’ll be learning about in a few weeks. Artists , scientists, art historians, and others will need to know the basic terminology and concepts in this field.
Harder to make this data useful than originally thought—needed cleaning” and datatsets are huge. http://graphics.stanford.edu/data/mich/
Digital Michelangelo Project
Model issues: noisy data, misaligned meshes, holes.
Sounds conceptually simple but very challenging—equipment, logistics, angle of laser when scanning, scattered light from marble surface, dirt on sculpture, limits on dataset size (huge but could have captured more info, but dataset would have been unmanageable). Vibrations,
<1mm to 5feet tall for david. Huge dynamic range 20,000 to 1.
“However, reconfiguring the pan-tilt [scanning] assembly proved more problematic. In retrospect, this should not have surprised us; 11 microns of play - 1/10 the diameter of a human hair - in a pin and socket joint located 5 cm from the pan axis will cause an error of 0.25 mm at our standoff distance of 112cm. In general, we greatly underestimated the difficulty of reconfiguring our scanner accurately under field conditions.
Range scanning. A typical range scan consisted of several concentric curved shells separated by translational motion of the scan. We often spent hours positioning the gantry in fruitless attempts to fill holes in our model of the David.
Issues of laser possibly damaging statue –no.
But did have to use manual controls for automatic scanner head movement to ensure no damage. scan head encased in foam rubber.
More Computer Graphics and Visualization (CS)
A detail showing the fine triangular mesh.
Not time to delve into the technical aspects of 3D graphics here, but later in course we’ll come back to some issues such as: --the pros and cons of sampled 3D data  vs. underlying geometric models
--the pros and cons of polygons/triangle vs. curves
--challenges of large data sets (gathering, storing, viewing)
--methods of visualizing 3D data
--use of texture maps, bump maps, reflectance maps and other ways of creating realistic materials.
Image Economy (or model economy; ): Q: Why scan this particular statue? Who should support financially the scanning of heritage objects and sites,?
Who owns the scans?
 If a site is a heritage site should they be free for people in that culture—or the world at large?
Who controls them?
Who determines in what ways they can be altered?
You cannot automatically download this data from the Web :
“The models in this archive are available to anyone, but for scientific use only, and users must first obtain a license in writing from us. Although these licenses prohibit commercial use of the models, permission for such uses can be obtained by applying to the Italian government. “ [DM Project web site]
The license includes permission from the Stanford group as well as the Italian government and indicated that royalties would have to be paid for money-making commercial projects such as selling replicas.
Just as a further note on this, notice that I included an attribution for this particular rendering. So the IP for this image is spread out among at least three people/organizations: Michelangelo (now the Italian government), Marc Levoy and the Digital Michelangelo project, and Henrik Jensen)
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Obviously some technical background is necessary to even know what the description of this model means:
--in general, polygons straight-sided closed shapes, but in CG they refer to the triangles in the triangular “mesh” you saw in the slide before
--”veining” and “reflectance” refer to the commonsense use of these terms when describing a stone. [is the “veining” of the stone or painted veins of the David? I think the stone…]
 --“subsurface scattering” refers to procedural (algorithmic) methods of simulating the scattering of light below the physical surface of an object. Marble has this property, which is one of the reasons it’s such a beautiful stone. Early computer graphics looked like plastic—current CG effects include sophisticated simulation of real physics of light interacting with material [back ref “computation of everything]
3D graphics in general incorporates most of the concepts learned in 2D graphics—the texture maps and “7000 color images” referred to are all raster data—something we’ll at in a moment. Artists , scientists, art historians, and others wil ned to know the basic terminology and concepts in this field.
Which is real? Left is photo, right is model…
Now this statue is still standing, you can go to Florence and feel the “aura” of the original—as well as of several copies in the squares outside.
But what about models of things that no longer exist?
Buddhas at Bamiyan, blown up by the Taliban in March 2001
Visual Culture: cultural history, religious history, art history -- should this be done? Simulacrum, etc. relationship to Benjamin Art and Design: aesthetic value of works, way they are in the rock/landscape interesting…
Vision Science: issues of scale
CG: reconstruction-discuss. Unlike the david, were not scanned at close range. Depth measurement deduced from serios of 2D phtoos. Image Economy: already millions of dollars allotted for shoring up remaining structure. 30m estimated to rebuild. Who will pay? Who will “own “ results? Who owns files? Etc. Philosophy: effect of looking at simulation of “real Sculptures. How different or same as looking at photo (intention different?), how related to simulacra of Lasceaux, or doors of The octagonal baptistery of San Giovanni showing “gates of Paradise” by Ghiberti.
We will be discussing on Thursday... Will read brief description from UNESCO world heritage site:
From UNESCO Site: http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=208 The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara school of Buddhist art. The area contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. The site is also testimony to the tragic destruction by the Taliban of the two standing Buddha statues, which shook the world in March 2001. Threats to the Site:
The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger at the 27th session of the World Heritage Committee simultaneously with its inscription on the World Heritage List. The property is in a fragile state of conservation considering that it has suffered from abandonment, military action and dynamite explosions. The major dangers include: risk of imminent collapse of the Buddha niches with the remaining fragments of the statues, further deterioration of still existing mural paintings in the caves, looting and illicit excavation. Parts of the site are inaccessible due to the presence of antipersonnel mines.
Justification for Inscription
Criterion (i): The Buddha statues and the cave art in Bamiyan Valley are an outstanding representation of the Gandharan school in Buddhist art in the Central Asian region. Criterion (ii): The artistic and architectural remains of Bamiyan Valley, and an important Buddhist centre on the Silk Road, are an exceptional testimony to the interchange of Indian, Hellenistic, Roman, Sasanian influences as the basis for the development of a particular artistic expression in the Gandharan school. To this can be added the Islamic influence in a later period. Criterion (iii): The Bamiyan Valley bears an exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition in the Central Asian region, which has disappeared. Criterion (iv): The Bamiyan Valley is an outstanding example of a cultural landscape which illustrates a significant period in Buddhism. Criterion (vi): The Bamiyan Valley is the most monumental expression of the western Buddhism. It was an important centre of pilgrimage over many centuries. Due to their symbolic values, the monuments have suffered at different times of their existence, including the deliberate destruction in 2001, which shook the whole world.
Let’s return to the world of 2D reproduction and the look at some of the impact that the computer has had on our understanding of visual truth. As any photographer can tell you, no photo is completely objective: contains a choice of subject matter, cropping, work in darkroom, etc.
Bu the issues are much more pronounced in digital photography, which is really a combination of photography and illustration (or painting). Some of you may have read about this, now infamous, example of image editing
This was the cover of the Aug. 26, 1989 issue of TV Guide. It looks like Oprah, but in reality it's only Oprah's head. The body belongs to Ann-Margret. The composite was created without the permission of Oprah or Ann-Margret.
The question of what is real—whole issue of visual truth is an important area of visual computing—intersection of technology , theory, philosophy, perception, etc. Not only in situations where someone is intentionally trying to mislead you—but in many instances where a computer-generated image can be misleading in ways that the producer of the images in not even aware of.
This and others I will show in a minute show an interesting interplay between image interpretation based on perception (fooled by digital photo)  and the actual organization of data making up the image. (which we’re going to look at briefly next)
This was the cover of the Aug. 26, 1989 issue of TV Guide. It looks like Oprah, but in reality it's only Oprah's head. The body belongs to Ann-Margret. The composite was created without the permission of Oprah or Ann-Margret.
There was no demo in class, but you’ll be seeing and using this program soon!
OK, so we all know that images can now be faked.
But unless you’ve taken a CS graphics course or are technically inclined, your knowledge of photo-editing is probably limited to and represented by the photoediting tools in Adobe Photoshop.
But “brush”, “clone” “erase” and “smear” are not inherent features of computer graphics.
They are  defined by programmers at Adobe
(inspired by work done by Bill Atkinson, creator of Mac Paint, and others) and loosely based on traditional painting and photo work.
Let’s look behind the metaphors and  under the hood” for a moment at what’s really going on in a photo editing program.
GTT example-live demo
Goal: correct mental model: Photoshop isn’t about “painting” or “darkroom work” (there used to be a program called digital darkroom. It’s about reassigning pixel values…) Sometimes a UI metaphor helps people understand what is possible—but not always.
SHARK
A real, unaltered photo taken by photographer Kurt Jones on April 19, 2003 (you can order prints of the photo from his website). But that's a dolphin in the wave... not a shark!
ICKY
I hope no one fell for this obvious gag. The man's finger has simply been digitally pasted over his eye.
WOMEN
The tall woman on the left in this picture is a real woman. Her name is Heather Haven, and she has her own website that includes many photos showing off her above average height. But this picture in particular shows evidence of having been digitally altered. To the right of her legs you can see a region where the shadows and light don't match up with the rest of the picture, evidence of a clumsy cut-and-paste job.
Common sense, sometimes examining the photo can help (not usually when this small).
Provenance and meaning of a photo is not obvious. Easy to make something where you cannot tell without some research whether it is real or not.
Visual Culture of faking things with traditional photo techniques. This often stated (even before digital technology entered the picture) by various theorists (Barthes—photo message without a code” now widely disbelieved,
Perception: why do photos look more “real” than painting? Effects of Perspective, color, detail, etc.
 Why, even though we have become more sophisticated viewers of visual material, do we still attribute “reality” to this type of image production?
Perceptual research can also tell us what types of things we can change easily in a photo—why we could replace Oprahs’ body, but not her face, for instance.
The perceptual systems can be tricked—avenues for artistic expression
Economics: (and perception and media) when I found out the fish photo was real, I wanted to buy a print. If it had been fake, I would have been less inclined to—why? I wasn’t there, don’t know the surfer, why would it matter?
CG: we looked at the underlying data representation for photo-editing—but what about pictures made with 3D models, which have a different type of data representation (those triangular meshes, for instance, that we saw earlier).
 Many viewers still assume that if something looks photographic, it was at the worst made up of different photos, or manipulated. But we can make realistic images with only 3D model data.
Philosophical: Since we see many more photos of things that real things, what does it matter if they are real or not? Does it? When does it matter?
The dinosaurs are CG…
Bringing us full circle back to projects like Digital Michelangelo.
With that project there was a real form that was being modeled, but there doesn’t have to be a real reference source….
So if you see a cigarette ad, you might do some research and dig deeper: Recognize when you are being manipulated, check captioning, check provenance, remain skeptical. Maybe you’d find other images that suggest different values..…
Marlboro Man was one of the images in the slide show we saw on the first day
Jack Landry, the Marlboro brand manager at Philip Morris, saw an opening into which the cowboy fit like a glove.

"In a world that was becoming increasingly complex and frustrating for the ordinary man," Landry explained, "the cowboy represented an antithesis -- a man whose environment was simplistic and relatively pressure free. He was his own man in a world he owned."
Clarence Hailey Long, 1949 - Another Landmark Image
LIFE: This is C.H. Long, a 39-year-old foreman at the JA ranch in the Texas panhandle, a place described as “320,000 acres of nothing much.” Once a week, Long would ride into town for a store-bought shave and a milk shake. Maybe he’d take in a movie if a western was playing. He said things like, “If it weren’t for a good horse, a woman would be the sweetest thing in the world.” He rolled his own smokes. When the cowboy’s face and story appeared in LIFE in 1949, advertising exec Leo Burnett had an inspiration. The company Philip Morris, which had introduced Marlboro as a woman’s cigarette in 1924, was seeking a new image for the brand, and the Marlboro Man based on Long boosted Marlboro to the top of the worldwide cigarette market.
Very different Web site: While a government ban couldn't kill the Marlboro Man, the instrument that ended up doing the trick was the product itself. Two Marlboro men, Wayne McLaren and David McLean, died of lung cancer, but not before McLaren could testify in favor of anti-smoking legislation. Wayne McLaren, Marlboro Man, dies of lung cancer at 51
Cancer image: http://www.ggg.ra.bw.schule.de/schueler/nonsmoke/mclaren.htm

Try to teach this to my daughter when she asks for toy advertised on TV--describe ads
Students should recognize
Color of menus has no meaning
Multicolored background (with varying hue and saturation) not desirable
Multicolored single words—hard to read
Moving objects draw attention
No use of alignment—hard to parse objects’ relationships
Etc etc
And be able to fix it
Such as ppt—which you now have to use in almost any job—from lawyer to scientist to artist
Tufte thinks powerpoint is bad—
But for those of us who used to haul slide carousels around, it’s great. Need to understand its visual nature and not compare it to a book…
Can benefit from integrated projection of words and images
 Most disciplines, students create only in grad school
pedagogy of visually based classes has traditionally been different. In many academic subjects-esp early on, one learns things and proves that one learned them. (History, math, etc.) Sometimes one gets to comment on others’ creativity, as in literary criticism, but being creative in a field is usually reserved for advanced courses—graduate school in fact. Message is often that only the gifted or super smart can be creative in an areas, such as, say math or engineering or history or biology… research is something u-grads are often not exposed to.
 
But in visual design (broadly inclusive) one is creative from day 1. This is partially because you need to experiment to learn—much cannot be taught directly—sort of like riding a bike. Also, nature of fields different. Thus involving visual thinking in other fields is not only to bring in a new methodology or avenue of communication, but to actually bring in an unknown, a way of thinking that cannot be pinned down and that requires a leap of faith in its execution that text or math often does not. (esp at early levels).
 
Nature of field: not so cumulative. A novice could make something as beautiful as a expert. Probably not consistently, but even so—not like math where there’s virtually no chance that you will prove an interesting theorem as a freshman, or, in fact, do anything that hasn’t already been done. This is not the case as far as visual design goes. On the other hand, much more subjective—someone may say it’s great and another qualified person that it isn’t. Not like a math problem that is right or wrong and can be graded by a machine. You cant grade any visual art assignment by machine (at least not yet).
 
 
Art and design—students create from day 1. In some ways CS more like studio class then many humanities courses are (tell RISD story: comment on something others have done or make your own work)
Can’t be directly taught, have to do it to learn it—like riding bike.
Who knows what bringing the visual digital literacy into other fields will do?
Possible that bringing more visual thinking and communication, via computer graphics, into more disciplines, will spur new creative thoughts.
Dozens if not hundreds of books