The importance of spirituality in shaping contemporary visual culture has mostly been disregarded. Mentioning art and spirit in the same sentence was considered embarrassing. In contrast, most of the significant twentieth-century art movements developed in conjunction with spiritual inspiration. This book explores the topic through the lenses of media ecology, art history, and psychology. Media ecology is a theory that media shapes how messages are delivered. The non-commercial nature of spiritual concepts would prevent messages from being offered through commercial media. As a result, many respected artists whose works are familiar have escaped understanding because people haven't yet pierced the spiritual history of modern art. Images once considered devoid of meaning are now being re-examined in terms of their spiritual underpinnings. Kandinsky thought that he could correct nineteenth-century materialism by replacing it with twentieth-century spirituality. However, it was not until the twenty-first century that modern art's spiritual value started to be publicly recognized through scholarship and gallery exhibits. Abstraction provides the opportunity to explore design as a psychological self-revelation of the artist. Automatic drawing, once a tool for spirit messages, became a psychological method with the introduction of Surrealism. Psychology introduced the notion of creative dissociation to replace the idea of mediumship as a basis for art created in altered states. Art, as a personal and reflexive expression, can be used to steady our culture from one that denies spirituality to one that embraces it. We can all use artistic techniques to become more balanced people. Spiritual and psychological artistic techniques created the world of art we experience today. Understanding these influences can help us to better know the world in which we live.

The importance of spirituality in shaping contemporary visual culture has mostly been disregarded. Mentioning art and spirit in the same sentence was considered embarrassing. In contrast, most of the significant twentieth-century art movements developed in conjunction with spiritual inspiration. This book explores the topic through the lenses of media ecology, art history, and psychology. Media ecology is a theory that media shapes how messages are delivered. The non-commercial nature of spiritual concepts would prevent messages from being offered through commercial media. As a result, many respected artists whose works are familiar have escaped understanding because people haven't yet pierced the spiritual history of modern art. Images once considered devoid of meaning are now being re-examined in terms of their spiritual underpinnings. Kandinsky thought that he could correct nineteenth-century materialism by replacing it with twentieth-century spirituality. However, it was not until the twenty-first century that modern art's spiritual value started to be publicly recognized through scholarship and gallery exhibits. Abstraction provides the opportunity to explore design as a psychological self-revelation of the artist. Automatic drawing, once a tool for spirit messages, became a psychological method with the introduction of Surrealism. Psychology introduced the notion of creative dissociation to replace the idea of mediumship as a basis for art created in altered states. Art, as a personal and reflexive expression, can be used to steady our culture from one that denies spirituality to one that embraces it. We can all use artistic techniques to become more balanced people. Spiritual and psychological artistic techniques created the world of art we experience today. Understanding these influences can help us to better know the world in which we live.

Once only a sign, technologies have helped to transform brands into symbols that we constantly encounter in our natural and mediated environments. Moreover, the branding of culture marks a commercialization of society. Almost everywhere we look, a brand name or logo appears. By combining a scholarly approach with case studies and examples, this text bridges the worlds of communication and business by providing a single vocabulary in which to discuss branding. It brings these ideas together into a coherent framework to enable discussions on the topic to occur in a variety of disciplines. A number of perspectives are also provided, including brands as signs and symbols, brand personality, history, communication, cognitive factors, loyalty, personal branding, community, and social issues. Providing a comprehensive overview of the branding process - from the creation of brands to analysis of their messages - readers will begin to understand the communicative impact of branding.

Technological changes have radically altered the ways in which people use visual images. Since the invention of photography, imagery has increasingly been used for entertainment, journalism, information, medical diagnostics, instruction, branding and communication. These functions move the image beyond aesthetic issues associated with art and into the realm of communication studies. This introductory textbook introduces students to the terminology of visual literacy, methods for analyzing visual media, and theories on the relationship between visual communication and culture. Exploring the meanings associated with visual symbols and the relationship of visual communication to culture, this book provides students with a better understanding of the visually oriented world in which they live. From cave art to virtual reality, all visual media are discussed with methods for evaluation. Student-friendly features such as boxed topics, key terms, web resources, and suggestions for exercises are provided throughout.

Once only a sign, technologies have helped to transform brands into symbols that we constantly encounter in our natural and mediated environments. Moreover, the branding of culture marks a commercialization of society. Almost everywhere we look, a brand name or logo appears. By combining a scholarly approach with case studies and examples, this text bridges the worlds of communication and business by providing a single vocabulary in which to discuss branding. It brings these ideas together into a coherent framework to enable discussions on the topic to occur in a variety of disciplines. A number of perspectives are also provided, including brands as signs and symbols, brand personality, history, communication, cognitive factors, loyalty, personal branding, community, and social issues. Providing a comprehensive overview of the branding process - from the creation of brands to analysis of their messages - readers will begin to understand the communicative impact of branding.

Socializing the Classroom: Social Networks and Online Learning, by Susan B. Barnes, examines how social media can be used in education through two research grants and real-world applications. Barnes analyzes social media including Facebook, Courseware, and Second Life, while providing a theoretical foundation for examining social software. A new generation of students is surrounded by digital technologies, leading scholars and teachers to consider virtual worlds to engage students. By bringing together human-computer-interaction theories with social theory, Socializing the Classroom creates a theoretical foundation for future research in the area of social media, online learning technologies, and the development of social networks. Readers will gain a better understanding of how students use online learning environments to communicate task-oriented messages and maintain social interactions. This is an essential text for scholars, students, and those interested in social networks and the implementation of technology in education.

Mediated interpersonal communication is one of the most dynamic areas in communication studies, reflecting how individuals utilize technology more and more often in their personal interactions. Organizations also rely increasingly on mediated interaction for their communications. Responding to this evolution in communication, this collection explores how existing and new personal communication technologies facilitate and change interpersonal interactions. Chapters offer in-depth examinations of mediated interpersonal communication in various contexts and applications. Contributions come from well-known scholars based around the world, reflecting the strong international interest and work in the area.

Mediated interpersonal communication is one of the most dynamic areas in communication studies, reflecting how individuals utilize technology more and more often in their personal interactions. Organizations also rely increasingly on mediated interaction for their communications. Responding to this evolution in communication, this collection explores how existing and new personal communication technologies facilitate and change interpersonal interactions. Chapters offer in-depth examinations of mediated interpersonal communication in various contexts and applications. Contributions come from well-known scholars based around the world, reflecting the strong international interest and work in the area.

This book won the Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Social Interaction 2014 Technological changes have radically altered the ways in which people use visual images. One such impact has been the transformation of computer-mediated-communication (CMC) into social networking. With a focus on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, and YouTube, this book describes the theoretical and historical background of computer-mediated communication alongside the cultural changes occurring with the introduction of digital media in society. Designed for students, this text introduces CMC terminology, methods for analyzing online exchanges, and theories on the relationship between CMC, social networks, and culture. By exploring both the meanings associated with CMC and social networks, and the relationship of CMC to culture, the goal of this text is to provide students with methods to better understand the socially-oriented world in which they live and to understand the characteristics that make social networks successful. Special features including terms, examples, CMC theory, and suggestions for student exercises.