Visual Research Methods: Creating Visual Narratives

Visual media are central to much of what we do in the I School, as well as other professions and research domains. Easy and low-cost video and still cameras, cameraphones, and audio recording devices make it easy to record such things as activity and interviews. Reports and presentations, face-to-face and distant, online and off, rely heavily on the visual. In design work, media are used both to inform design and to present design concepts and use scenarios.

However, our knowledge about how to effectively make, use, summarize, and present these media trails far behind our ability to create hours and gigabytes of content.

In this seminar, we will address both theoretical and practical issues of capturing video, audio, and still images and creating narratives and presentations. We will read from such areas as visual anthropology and visual studies; and we will get hands-on experience creating and editing our own media.
This is not a technical course; nor is it a media production how-to. But we will cover some of the basics of making and editing media. Both theory and hands-on practice are needed to really delve into this domain.

No prior experience is necessary, but students who are already grappling with visual (and audio) media will find this course especially useful.

This course is appropriate for master's and Ph.D. students from the I School and other disciplines. 

It would be an excellent companion to I214, User Experience Research, or to I272, Qualitative Research Methods for Information Systems and Management, or equivalents, although there are no prerequisites.

For second year I School master's students, we'll pay special attention to visual media for final projects and presentations.