The Relevance of BAGnews

With the staggering investment that goes into advertising and advocacy images in this country, is it any wonder nobody’s teaching, let alone preaching visual literacy?

Let’s face it, pixels are playing a fundamental role both in the political and culture wars, as well as the commercialization of visual culture. For an example very close to home, in fact, just look at how inflamed right-wingers helped commandeer the BAG’s discussion thread yesterday on our post on the Palin Newsweek cover based on a link to our write-up from YahooNews.

If you read our exciting announcement yesterday, the aim of our expansion is to make BAGnews the watchdog, the home — among progressive, visual academics, and the photojournalism community — for reading media and political pictures, and speaking truth to visual power.

Can you donate $5, $10 or $25 dollars to our expanding and critical mission? Can you contribute $50 or $100? Or, can you take on a benefactor role and invest $500 to $1000 to help us pay for our web designers, and the stipends for our photo-contributors, and our other expenses while a growing group of us realize this photo-activist commitment?

To make a TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution, following this link. Or, if you’d prefer to write a check, please make it out to “Fractured Atlas,” with “BAGnewsNotes” on the memo line, and send it to: BAGnewsNotes / c/o Michael Shaw, Ph.D. / P.O. Box 3217 / Manhattan Beach, California 90266.

Oh, and the picture above? That’s a shot from a lab Disney is operating very quietly down in Austin. Using behavioral science and human subjects, they are tracking heart-rate, skin temperature, facial muscles and eye movements to cognitively engineer irresistible web pages and on-line advertisements

If you’d like to discuss a benefactor role, please email me at: OpenBag [at] BAGnews [dot] com.

Otherwise, please join us. …Because these pictures, spun as they are, are getting way too deep into people’s heads.

BAGnewsNotes.com is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of BAGnewsNotes may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Let’s face it, pixels are playing a fundamental role both in the political and culture wars as well as the commercialization of visual culture.