Creativity is good for the soul and we all should have more than one passion in life. For a while now I've thought of bringing my love for cooking and photography together in my own way. Braised Mustard Pork with... Continue reading

Tax Day by Dennis Dunleavy 2010 For the past few years, students in Dr. Paul Lester's Visual Communication class have been writing to me asking about this picture. As part of their studies students are asked to analyze an image... Continue reading

Once in a while, while looking around for interesting books about the subjects I teach, I find something that stands out. During a recent Amazon book search on digital photography books, Tony Northrup's DSLR Book: How to Create Stunning Digital... Continue reading

I am thinking of giving a new assignment out to my digital photography spaces. This image, made yesterday, really sums up what I mean by "quiet space." Continue reading

Not every student that takes a photography class will become professional photographer, but we still need to teach them as if they could be. We have an obligation to introduce students to a discipline that enriches all of society and not just the individual. Continue reading

The ever-present presence of Chavez in the news cycle represents a link in a chain of associations imposed upon the public -- a rhetorical strategy not uncommon in the ceaseless need to establish a national mythic narrative as well as maintain power and dominance. Continue reading

In a state of two minds, where the spiritual and physical are delineated and dichotomous by individual will rather than the will of God, “instructions” fail to reach the heart of hearts. A photograph helps us to see the world in new ways, but it also can prevent us from seeing for ourselves. We accept the vision of another for one’s own because have become accustomed to merely looking at the world and not seeing. Continue reading

Seeing is not a passive process, looking at things is. A cursory glance, something catching the eye, sensing but not feeling – means to look and not truly see the world as it is. Seeing is an act of the conscience. By seeing the beauty of all things we open ourselves up to interpreting the will of God. Continue reading

The camera became a shield to protect me from my emotions. I have witnessed humanity at its best and its worst. Through the lens, I have descended into the darkness of deprivation and war, as well as learned to find beauty in the quiet moments. The camera, for me, created a separateness from reality. In the mirror of my soul, my conscience, I peer out into the world with bewildered eyes. Continue reading

Analyzing anything can be a daunting task, but interpreting images is fraught with problems. First and foremost, we don't read visual messages lineraly like say a book. Visual perception begins with sensing contrast, patterns, shapes, and forms. Next, we are drawn to specific areas of a frame based what stands... Continue reading

Finding the perfect definition that fits the term “new media” is problematic at best. Part of the problem is in qualifying the noun “media” by using “new” as a descriptive adjective. In any case there seems to a temptation to say “new” has replaced “old” equivocally. Such a dichotomy– oversimplifies... Continue reading

Principles of Visual Communication introduces students to ways of seeing. That is, students learn to become visually literate by acquiring skills in the analysis and creation of visual messages. In order for you to become a great visual communicator, through art, design, photography, video, or in advertising, it is critical... Continue reading

Despite all of the advantages of having so much information at our fingertips, we often feel overwhelmed and frustrated when it comes to searching for a job online. Understanding how to manage content online, collect and share information is increasingly... Continue reading

Multimedia Storytelling ASSIGNMENT: Write a review of “The Hidden Life of Guns”, multimedia package by the Washington Post, using as many of Mark Berkey-Gerard’s Lexicon for digital story telling. OVERVIEW This assignment challenges students to "unpack" the efficacy or desired result of multimedia content as found in the news today.... Continue reading

"Two Thirds of American teenagers have uploaded self-produced material to the Internet, in the form of YouTube videos, photographs, blogs, stories, remixes etc." -Pew Internet Rockaway Needs Us Rockaway Needs Us from everyone and company on Vimeo. Glimmer of Hope “Mountaintop Library Expands Horizons,” by Room to Read Deadly Choices... Continue reading

Americans complain a lot, but there is a lot to day for democracy when a frustrated voter becomes a citizen journalist. Now they have to fix the machine. Continue reading

It's 5:30 a.m. in the Midwest and the Tweekdeck streams are beginning to heat up from the east coast. There are Instagram snaps of people lining up to vote in New York and shots empty streets in L.A, these are... Continue reading

Credit: Valerie Jeanne #electiongrams Links: https://election.twitter.com/ https://www.facebook.com/2012.US.Presidential.Elections?filter=2 http://www.reuters.com/politics/elections-2012 http://blog.hootsuite.com/2012-election-tracker/ http://www.politico.com/2012-election/candidate-map/ http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll http://www.electionprojection.com/blog/ http://www.halfwaytoconcord.com/polls/who-will-win-2012-u-s-presidential-election/ http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/2012-elections http://projects.wsj.com/campaign2012/polls#cand=Romney&race=5&region=US&src=rcpo http://pollingmatters.gallup.com/ http://www.polltrack.com/presidential Continue reading

I made this infographic as a demo for my new media class. Visual data is becoming increasingly important on the web. We've been moving toward a visually-based culture for information for a long time. Using data to create quick reads,... Continue reading

Graphic produced using Picktochart How to Create Outstanding Infographics Data Journalism CNN Casualities Infographic Free Dive Picktochart Visual.ly Info.gram Interactive graphics (Yale) Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots U.S. Voter Participation Data Visualization Visually Statistics (informational) Other Things of Interest Facts about YouTube (say what?) Facts about... Continue reading

It's hard finding anything positive to say about the impact Hurricane Sandy after it slammed into the Atlantic Coast around 8 p.m. on Oct. 29. At the same time, what we have witnessed before, during and after the storm, is the unprecendented use of social media. Social media is broadsiding... Continue reading

Data visualization refers to the creation of graphical and often interactive representations of statistical and numerical information. The visualization of data is not really anything new. Think about how numbers symbolically and visually represent data. How persuasive are numbers unless they can be visualized and compared to other numbers? KEY... Continue reading

Here's a link to some of the most popular social bookmarking sites on the web. Top 15 Social Bookmarking sites Did you know that when you share a link to a website with a friend through e-mail that you are social bookmarking? Did you know that most people that use... Continue reading

We are working on our second project: Service to Others. Here are a few links. Catholic Charities United Way: Great Kansas City Areas United Way: Atchison City of Atchison: Volunteer Information COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Atchison Art Association Contact Gloria Davis :: 913-367-4278 Atchison County Historical Society Contact Chris Taylor :: 913-367-6238... Continue reading

TRENDS USA TODAY is crediting four twitter users linked to mainstream media for launching a viral torrent over the "Big Bird" uproar recently. Paul Singer reports: "Within 15 minutes after the first tweet by @InvisibleObama, the account had been mentioned on Twitter by Mental Floss magazine, the news website Salon,... Continue reading